As we reported previously, former co-hosts, Joe Budden and DJ Akademiks, recently reunited to record an episode of Ak’s Spotify podcast Off the Record. Apparently, the conversation was a doozy because Ak has decided to release a “Part 1” (already an hour and 39 minutes long) with a presumed “Part 2” to follow.
The first episode has nonetheless already created headlines, as the two hosts revisit their time spent together, be it with Everyday Struggle or with their respective Spotify deals. In one clip from the episode, Joe Budden dives into why he ultimately left the Everyday Struggle podcast.
“Do us right,” Budden says, referencing their treatment and pay at Complex. “That’s the other misconception. I’m never going in there yelling and screaming so Joe can be done right. I’ve been homeless. I’ll be fine. I have people’s houses I can sleep at if times get hard. I’m fighting for y’all to do the right thing by us, the people that made show. You know how many times I went in there and fought for Nadeka’s rights?” He says, referencing their Everyday Struggle co-host.
As the conversation continues, Budden claims he was fighting for the “rights” of Akademiks and others in the crew, and while Akademiks says he still shouldn’t have left, Budden simply replies, “you have to leave.”
“Think about our place in those shows and what it was delivering, and what it potentially could deliver if you ever got the ad side of this right on this show. And now think about what you were being paid, what I was being paid, what the mic and sound people was being paid,” Budden continued.
Akademiks argued that “you have to be realistic, especially when there’s a contract already in place, that you operate in good faith.”
Akademiks went on to reveal that during contract negotiations with Complex, he told them he only wanted to make a certain amount and he would be “straight”– “Give the rest to Joe,” he said. Budden disagreed with Ak’s tactics, saying he wanted to better both of them.
“I was getting $22,000 a month, $19,000 a month after I paid Ian. The next cycle, I wanted it to double. When my contract was up, I wanted $50,000 a month,” Budden said, explaining the crux of why he left Everyday Struggle, “They came back and said something like $40,000. I said, ‘Forty?'” Apparently, they refused to pay the extra $10,000. “They didn’t and they wouldn’t,” Budden said in response to Akademik’s shock at the amount.
Check out the full clip below.