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Joe Budden Responds To Drake’s ‘No Shopping’ Verse — And It’s Epic

By Antonio J. Newell
Published on: 16:13 PST, Jul 16, 2016

Joe Budden has responded to Drake’s “No Shopping” verse just hours after its release. And, it’s beyond epic. Listen here.

As Budden mentions in his new response to Drake’s diss verse, this isn’t the same type of battle he had with Meek Mill.

Drake seemingly knows what he’s up against. In previous interviews with Joe Budden, Drizzy even gave him props as one of the lyrically gifted.

Why would Drake ever want to go head-to-head with someone that he deems lyrically gifted?

From the sound of Budden’s response, it probably would’ve been best if Drake had just continued to ignore Joe’s taunts.

Via a sample of Drake’s “Resistance” track, from his Thank Me Later album, Budden rapped over Drake’s lyrics — which pose the question, “What am I afraid of?”

You can listen to Joe Budden’s response in the audio below.

Disclaimer: The following audio contains explicit language. Discretion is advised.

Joe Budden – Afraid [in response to Drake’s “No Shopping” verse]

Several Drake fans state that Budden’s “Afraid” was “garbage.”

Seriously?

Although Drizzy is an amazing artist, you can’t possibly discount Joe Budden’s diss track as “garbage” and then be able to still sleep peacefully at night.

Like Disney’s Pinocchio character Jiminy Cricket once said, “Let your conscience be your guide.”

And, from listening to Joe Budden’s “Afraid” track, Drake is probably looking for “no new friends” at the moment.

In Drake’s “No Shopping” verse, he mentioned that he doesn’t start beefs. He just finishes them. Well, this one probably isn’t done at all.

Yet, more realistically, Drake only turned up the heat.

According to Genius, the Drake/Joe Budden beef allegedly started after the “Afraid” rapper mentioned, via his podcast, that he didn’t like Drizzy’s Views album.

If you’re interested in Joe Budden’s “Afraid” lyrics, an excerpt is found below. According to the source, the lyrics been verified by Budden, himself.

“Yeah, Aubrey, that’s the one we trusted / Not this new Aubrey with his stomach sculpted / I’m disgusted, you’re such a f**kin’ incumbent / Can’t govern, trust in the public becoming a f**king puppet.”

If you’re interested in the rest of Joe Budden’s verses — accompanied by Drake’s vocals — you can read them in their entirety here.

As aforementioned, this isn’t the first time that Joe Budden has come at Drake. However, it is the first time that Drake has “bit” on Budden’s taunts and invitations.

While Drake is gaining praises for his “No Shopping” verse, Joe’s “Afraid” is quickly trending as a fierce competitor in their alleged beef.

As it appears, Drake hasn’t fired back as rapidly as Budden during their back-and-forth battle of wits. Although it hasn’t quite been 24 hours yet, Drake does have an unwritten standard to meet now.

Joe responded to Drizzy’s call-out within hours of its release.

Now, non-Drake listeners believe that — if he’s the real writer he claims himself to be — he should be able to fire back at Budden without a problem.

Rap battles are similar to gladiators in an arena, except with words rather than swords.

You wouldn’t see a gladiator hire someone else to swing his sword for him, right? It’s the same with lyrics.

Even though songwriters and singers can get away with it, rappers cannot because this is their craft. And, this is what they’re contesting, lyrical execution.

In the end, who do you think is going to come out on top, Drake or Joe Budden?

What are your thoughts about Drake’s verse on “No Shopping”? Do you think it was adequate enough to warrant such a response by Budden on “Afraid”?

Feel free to share your comments below.

[Photo by Brian Ach/Getty Images]

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