Rick Ross pushed back against the idea that his years-long friendship with Drake was never real, telling podcast host Joe Budden that the relationship was genuine before things went wrong between them.
Ross appeared on a Patreon exclusive episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, released July 17, the same day he dropped his 12th solo album Set in Stone, according to Billboard.
Budden asked Ross why neither he nor Drake had come out and admitted their public displays of brotherhood had all been for show. "Why y'all don't ever say, 'Yo, all that brotherhood S—t that we was showing y'all in the videos, and how we was carrying it, and it was collabs every summer, it was all a facade," Budden questioned.
Ross rejected the framing. "No, no, don't get it f—ked up. Nothing about that was fake," he replied. "If a n—a f—k with you, a n—a f—k with you. If it's something that go left, that's when it go left. It can go left right now on this podcast. It wasn't fake. Before that, n—as showing love."
When Budden pressed further, saying the falling out didn't make logical sense, Ross compared it to Budden's own well-known split from former podcast co-hosts Rory Farrell and Jamil "Mal" Clay. "That's like me looking for the connection between the last weird n—as you used to do the podcast with. You loved them n—as, didn't you? That's business. You moved on. That's what you got to do as a boss. You wish all them n—as the best if it ain't no real pressure. Continue to do you, keep winning. But once it go left, it go left," Ross said.
Ross is currently on his Port of Miami 20th Anniversary Tour. Billboard reported on the tour's opening night in South Florida.
