The Joe Budden Podcast is a podcast released twice a week through both Spotify and YouTube. Hosted by Joe Budden, Jamil "Mal" Clay, Rory Farrell and Parks Vallely, it covers a number of topics ranging from music to sports, but primarily focuses on hip-hop and the events pertaining to it in the previous week. Started in February 2015, the original lineup consisted of Budden, Rory Farrell and Marisa Mendez. Mendez left and was replaced by Jamil "Mal" Clay for episode 77, and the show maintains the same hosting lineup to this day. Originally released through YouTube, iTunes and SoundCloud, in August 2018, Budden signed a deal to bring his podcast to Spotify and expand the show to a semi-weekly schedule, with new episodes every Wednesday and Saturday.
History
The show began in early 2015 as I'll Name This Podcast Later, originally hosted by former rapper Joe Budden, Rory Farrell and Marisa Mendez. The first episode was released audio only on February 18, 2015, at a runtime of 1 hour. The content of the podcast was described as "life, music, sex, and more". For the first year of its existence, the show followed this format, releasing episodes at an average run time of 60–75 mins and audio only. After episode 76 in July 2016, Mendez left the show, siding with Drake during his real life feud with Budden, and was subsequently replaced with Jamil "Mal" Clay for episode 77. With the release of episode 92 on December 14, 2016, the show switched to a new video format set in Budden's home studio. Shortly after this, the show's run time switched from an average of 60–70 mins to 90–120 mins, which varied from week to week. After the studio began undergoing renovations, the location for filming was moved to inside of Parks Vallely's living room for episode 126 in August 2017, where they film the podcast to this day. The move to Parks' house also marked the first appearances of Parks and Savon on the show, who make regular appearances to this day. In August 2018, Budden signed a deal to bring his podcast to Spotify and expand the show to a twice-weekly schedule, with new episodes every Wednesday and Saturday.
Tour
During the summer of 2018, The Joe Budden Podcast began its first live tour, with performances taking place throughout numerous venues across the U.S. The tour continued into 2019, with dates added monthly. The live shows feature Q&A's, discussion, and occasional live episodes.
Content
The show is primarily a hip-hop podcast, but other topics such as basketball, politics, social issues and the music industry in general are regularly discussed. The show will occasionally feature musicians or music industry guests, past guests have included:
A regular fixture on the show is a phone-in segment, where Budden will call someone to either ask for their opinion on a subject or question them about an incident involving them in the past week. Past phone-in guests have included:
The Joe Budden Podcast has received positive reviews from critics. Forbes praised it for "delivering sobering reviews and candid takes on trending topics driving culture". The Source called Budden a "natural fit" for podcasting, and The New York Times praised Budden for being "brash, opinionated and blunt, but knowing what he's talking about", calling him "the Howard Stern of hip-hop".
