From “tricky” word choices to “sucka” comments, Marc Lamont Hill and QueenzFlip’s viral back-and-forth on the Joe Budden Podcast has set Black social media ablaze. The clip sparked so much conversation that Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers, the hosts of Native Land Podcast, weighed in on a recent episode titled “Joe Budden’s Podcast and the Dumbing Down of America.”
“Of course, Marc is welcome anytime. I don’t know about the rest of them. But I will just say, you know, I don’t think that that means that we should be foreclosed to having discussions that are tough or where we don’t think people are our peers or we’re on the same level. I’m not into that,” Rye said.
“But where I see folks who are constantly unwilling to have conversations that stretch or to have conversations where they at least can appreciate a different perspective, I don’t know that I’m into that,” she continued. “So…I just want Marc to know I’m praying for you, brother. You know that. I just want better for him. I think that he deserves to hold space with people who are at least more compassionate and more eager, um, to learn from his perspective.”
“I think Marc is there intentionally. I think Marc is there purposefully. I think that it adds the dynamic. So I do think that there is an added value to having someone like Marc Lamont Hill being there,” Sellers said. “Guarantee you I know 10 Flips. I know one Marc Lamont Hill because that’s just the level of intellect. But I know 10 Flips at minimum. And I think the way they were able to have that conversation, as cringe as it is, are conversations that happen more often than people actually think or they’re conversations that people want to have.
“The reason why I think I value a voice like Marc’s..being able to cut through in a top 10, top five audience is that at least somebody gets an exposure to his perspective that may not have otherwise had it,” Gillum said.
Though the Native Land Podcast hosts used the moment to unpack the rise of anti-intellectualism, Budden took issue with how Rye and her co-hosts framed the discussion, right down to the episode title.
“You, title it that, and then admittedly say I don’t look at that because that’s not in my ministry. See, that’s why I appreciate what Andrew had to say, because he said one, I’m not familiar with this podcast. I don’t watch the clips from this podcast. I assume this is not their frequency every week. Thank you Andrew,” Budden said in a recent episode of his eponymous podcast. “I took offense to the sentiment…I took offense to a few sentiments, but one is that we/I don’t love Marc.”
“A lot of times in these political spaces, a lot of times in the spaces that are quote, unquote intellectual, we often look at demographics, and we look and pick and choose when we want to play victim and we want to play aggressor. So when the rich white people are doing certain things to us, we cry foul, and then we’ll take the same exact thing and now shun other people that are less than we are, or that we deem less than we are,” Ish, another Joe Budden Podcast co-host, added.
Likening the Native Land Podcast’s categorizing of QueenFlip and his opinions as not credible to the ways in which white people have historically dismissed Black communities’ thoughts and opinions, members of JBP called out the hypocrisy in the Native Land Podcast, which is supposed to be pro-Black, by making those comments.
“In the so-called intellectual community and thought process, not watching or citing your sources is a huge red flag. You can’t just spitball some shit and then claim you’re an intellectual, or go off a 30-second clip and claim you’re an intellectual. Like, if you don’t watch the podcast and admit that you don’t watch the podcast and admit that you only see it in clip, I do have a problem with someone…having a deep opinion about the podcast,” another co-host, Parks Vallely, added.
Budden, who gladly accepted Rye’s non-invitation onto their show, continued to express his frustration with their response.
“Make your point without Joe Button’s name in it,” said Budden. “I’ve been in the business a long time. If we’ve never met, I’m not taking your content…and then just assuming that I know about you or your character. It’s in bad taste, which is why you’ll never see a clip titled up here ‘Angela Rye, anything.’ I don’t have time for y’all looking at content and deciding which departments people are bright in and which people are not. Who the f–k are you people?”
Even QueenzFlip, who was part of the viral exchange that started it all, questioned Rye’s comments directly. “Do you think that her opinion is she’s saying that it’s too late for me to learn, or I’m too ignorant to learn?” he asked. Hill said he didn’t believe that was the case, but Budden doubled down, reminding everyone that anything involving his co-hosts involves him, too.
“Some of y’all only get on camera with the intellectual perfection areas that you brighten. I don’t pride myself on doing it that way, like I do things in real time. I allow people to see my shortcomings. I allow people to see where I made an error in judgment. I allow people to see I’m a fan of redemption. I allow people to see growth. I’m not just trying to only pop up when shit is good. I think that there’s a certain courage in that,” he continued, defending his platform.
“I got a problem with the people that masquerade as Kumbaya, super Black, all for the people, and [are] the first ones to tell you how we’re different. I come on every week and say we’re less different than we are alike. We just got different ideologies.”
Just like Hill and QueenzFlip’s viral moment, Budden’s clapback to Rye set off another wave of debate. Some argued that the Native Land hosts didn’t say anything out of line. Others sided with Budden and his co-hosts, calling out what they saw as hypocrisy in Native Land’s commentary.
