Joe Budden Apologizes to Latto for Making It Seem Like She Doesn’t Write Her Own Raps: ‘I Wasn’t Tryna Play With Your Pen Like That’

Joe Budden has apologized to Latto in a clip from a Patreon episode of the Joe Budden Podcast that recently surfaced.

Earlier this week, Latto tweeted out a picture of her handwritten lyrics to “Hostage” from her new album Big Mama, and @’d the podcaster after Budden said that her flow reminded him of Drake‘s cadence on ICEMAN’s “Shabang.” So, of course, his co-hosts brought it up and he tried to explain his reasoning.

“I ain’t tryna be funny — somebody not writing they sh– is a heavy accusation,” he said after jokingly saying he’s never seen someone write raps on a white board before. “So I wasn’t really trying to say that about her. She’s been on the show, she won the Netflix show, she says she writes all her sh–.”

He then added that being influenced by other rappers that you like is something that could happen when you sit down to write your own songs. “But there’s also such a thing as listening to somebody so much that they influence … they kinda rub off on you when you write. That’s a thing,” he continued. “She could really listen to Drake 24/7 and love that flow so much that now when she writes that’s what’s happening. I wasn’t tryna she don’t write her sh–. When I used to write, I would try my best to not listen to the radio or other rappers because whether you like it or not, whoever you like, it’s gonna happen.”

Joe then apologized for the misunderstanding, saying, “Latto, I’m sorry. I wasn’t tryna play with your pen like that. I get how it sounded like that, so my bad.”

Latto has been busy since her fourth album, Big Mama, last week, including dissing Cardi B on “Gimme Dat” in response to a leaked phone call in 2025. Cardi has since apologized.