The Joe Budden Podcast had one of the most famous fallings-out in podcast history. The “JBP” had a huge audience and their fans were devastated when it became apparent the podding team was unable to resolve their differences and the split would be a permanent one.
When Rory and Mal popped up with their own show, ‘New Rory & Mal,’ fans were divided and unsure whether the pair were able to go it alone without Joe as lead mic. Now, Rory (full name Rory Farrell) and Mal, (full name Jamil Clay) have announced they signed a deal and it looks like they may have got to the bag…
Mal’s brother Kareem “Biggs” Burke, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, revealed the news on social media. He suggested the deal could be worth a cool $10 million.
In an interview with “Vulture,” Rory and Mal spoke about their deal, signing with SiriusXM’s “Stitcher” and released through the new “More Sauce Label.”
They discussed the speculation that Joe Budden could sue the pair following their departure. Rory and Mal were unconcerned and suggested they have receipts that could be damaging for Joe if things came out in court.
“Yeah no, it’s not an issue for us,” said Mal. “That’s something you would probably have to ask him, but it would be very funny — and a lot would be exposed — if he decided to do that.” Rory agreed and said, “That’s not a route he would want to go. I can assure you that.”
They also spoke about ownership and independence and said that though they are not against being independent, “the deal with Stitcher just made sense. They understand what we’re trying to do and what we represent and how important it is for us.”
They confirmed, “We have 100 percent ownership of our show.”
They also spoke about the state of their relationship with Joe currently.
“Speaking for myself, I’m totally moved on in regard to that,” Mal said. “I don’t even think about it. Where Rory and I stand now, looking back, it was the best thing that happened. I don’t have any reservations or any hard feelings toward anybody. I did, at first. I was in a very, very different mindset a few months ago. We just didn’t know what was going on, but as time went on, Rory and I got a lot of answers to the questions we had.”
Mal continued and spoke on Joe’s character: “You know, character is character, right? If somebody is a certain way with other people, you can only expect them to be that way with you, you know what I mean? Like maybe it’s just not your turn yet. Maybe that person hasn’t been that way with you yet, but your time is coming. That was a hard pill to swallow at first, especially since we thought it was a real friendship for so many years. But again, character is character.”
He also said that on reflection, the split “needed to happen, and I’m happy it happened.”
It appears the former trio has barely spoken after the split. Rory said though he had run into Joe “it wasn’t really a conversation.” Mal went further and said, “I haven’t seen or spoken to him since my last day at the studio. I’m happy it went that way because if I had seen him or run into him, it would have been bad news.”