The Joe Budden Podcast recently debated Tommy Richman’s viral claim about not being a hip-hop artist. If you didn’t hear about the debacle, catch up here. “I’m not going to call him [a culture vulture],” the host began. “Because he’s worked hard, he has music, he’s been working on music for a long time.” “Duh,” Ish said about Tommy Richman not being a hip-hop artist before he and Budden talked about how they didn’t like “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” very much. The group then felt like Richman should’ve just said his response to DJ Hed outright instead of simply tweeting out that he’s not a hip-hop artist, given how volatile and reactive social media reactions can be.
“You’ve been busting your a** to break through,” Joe Budden remarked about Tommy Richman. “Didn’t do it for whatever reason. And then you’ve got ‘MILLION DOLLAR BABY,’ and then Black people, and then TikTok, and then culture pushed you to where you needed to be. Now is not the right time for ‘I’m not a hip-hop artist.’ I have no problem with ‘I’m not just a hip-hop artist’ or ‘I’m much more than just a hip-hop artist.’ […] Yeah, why are you even tweeting? You got the easiest job in the world, Tommy Richman: shut the f**k up!
“You and that group of people that can receive your success and never have to talk to Black people,” Joe Budden continued. “But when the first time you speak speaks to the years of – ‘Cause I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with what he said. I don’t look at him as a hip-hop artist either. N***a, you did not have to say that. But you saying it when hip-hop is who has broken you and accepted you, it gives us remnants of all of the white acts who their barrier of entry is hip-hop, and they abandon it, and they throw it to the side, and then they start doing country-folk music and act like that s**t never happened. Tommy Richman ain’t fire enough to do that yet. Sorry, sorry.
“Now, he did clean it up,” Joe Budden conceded. “Thank you, DJ Hed. Thank you, Tommy Richman, for not sounding as stupid as we thought you were about to sound.” However, Ice posited that Richman’s true issue was with media publications labeling him a hip-hop artist, which is a fair and valid theory. Melyssa Ford countered that Richman’s team should’ve been cognizant of how a statement like “I’m not a hip-hop artist” would resonate with the culture. Then, Joe Budden said that “the conversation is deeper” than the COYOTE artist might’ve thought.