Jun 17, 2019; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Recording artist Drake addresses the Toronto Raptors during a rally at Toronto city hall Nathan Phillips Square. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images

While “The Joe Budden Podcast” thinks Drake is here to stay, they also think he doesn’t need to respond to folks like T-Pain and many others.

Drake pondered a “graceful exit” during the For All The Dogs days, but a battle with Kendrick Lamar and continuous dominance in the game made that a pretty unlikely possibility. Nevertheless, some folks like T-Pain want to hold him to that standard, which The Joe Budden Podcast found to be an unrealistic expectation.

In a clip caught by joebuddenclips/fanpage on Twitter, the cohort discussed the singer’s recent comments about Drizzy not being willing to hang it up. The 6ix God himself and others called this out as just resentment, and Budden and company had some varied thoughts on the matter.

For one, the Slaughterhouse MC thinks The Boy is here to stay. Even after the K.Dot beef affected folks’ perception of him, any slight downturn for him would still net him a massive audience and a cemented spot as one of the hip-hop greats. So when it comes to the Toronto superstar stepping back on his own terms, the JBP thinks he doesn’t really have a reason to do so.

However, Joe Budden did mention that he has no interest in Drake’s responses to T-Pain’s criticisms – or critiques from anyone else, for that matter. Still, the podcast hosts agreed that Aubrey Graham will get his parade if he ever chooses to formally step back. Even then, they think he could occupy a Jay-Z-esque space in which he’s more detached without that formal announcement, although Drizzy is far more active in the game.

Drake New Album

All in all, it’s a pretty nuanced conversation with a big cloud hanging over it that is very relevant to this “retirement” conversation. Drake’s next album, presumably titled ICEMAN, will seemingly arrive at some point this year. He posted another vague hint on his Instagram, and fans continue to debate whether or not this is a rollout or just a new nickname.

To be clear, it’s not like the 6ix God ever confirmed his plans for retirement or gave fans an expiration date, so this is all still very speculative. Regardless, whatever “graceful exit” he once ruminated on, it seems like he does not want to follow up on that. And we can’t blame him.

After all, most artists lack the luxury of choosing their own fate. Like the JBP remarked, many artists are the last ones to find out that they retired – or perhaps more accurately, that the culture retired them. So hopefully Drake is still acting on his own terms and chasing only his stardom, not folks’ perception of it.