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The Joe Budden Podcast has hopped to the top of the listener charts due in part to the chemistry lead host Joe Budden and his friends, Rory and Mal, bring to the show. For the second show in the row, Budden’s familiar podcast partners were noticeably absent and fans online are wondering if it’s over for the Patreon Boys.
Since going to a twice-weekly format, The Joe Budden Podcast has soared to become a must-listen show, especially in regards to music, pop culture, entertainment and even breaking news. It was that access to industry leaders and insiders that fans also tuned in for, landing Budden and his cohorts into an exclusive deal with Spotify that soured near the end but catapulted the concept of podcasting as a viable stream of income.
Extraordinarily reliable, the podcast’s Wednesday and Saturday drops were unique in the fact that other popular podcasts stick to weekly, if not bi-weekly release schedules. So when last Wednesday (March 17) when the show didn’t air at all, folks began to wonder if the guys actually took a vacation from the show considering they’ve maintained their release schedule with such consistency.
The show made its return last Saturday (March 20) but with the podcast’s top assistant Savon The Don and Budden’s good friend Ice joining. Parks, a mainstay as well despite not having top billing, was also still in tow, and from the conservation that was had, it didn’t appear to be tension as Budden said Rory and Mal were still on vacation.
Fast forward to this morning and once again, Savon and Ice are back in the spots usually occupied by Rory and Mal, thus sparking concern that the longtime friends and co-workers are on the outs. Considering that The Joe Budden Network is expanding with two women-led podcasts in See The Thing Is… and Girl I Guess, most would imagine things are going well for the business overall.
While Budden has been cryptic in his response via Twitter while allowing fans to speculate to their wit’s end, even retweeting some of the zanier fan theories, Rory has been largely quiet on Twitter although he shared a retweet of a studio session with Conway The Machine, presumably rapping over an Emotional Oranges track, a group that Rory manages and produces for.
Mal, who tweets sparingly as is, hasn’t tweeted since March 20 but his pinned tweet has been dissected and discussed among the podcast faithful for days. His last tweet read, “Respect is non negotiable.”
The reactions on Twitter have been cropping up all morning and we’ve got some of them listed out below.
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Photo: Getty
Them Boys Ain’t Poddin: Rory & Mal Absent From ‘The Joe Budden Podcast’ & Twitter Reacts was originally published on hiphopwired.com
