Joe Budden Dismisses Jay Z's TIDAL Freestyle As 'Damage Control'

In Jay Z's TIDAL freestyle, he suggests that consumers and competitors are treating him differently than they would another entrepreneur who just launched a new project because of the color of his skin.

Joe Budden isn't so sure. During his podcast, the Slaughterhouse member questioned Hov pulling the race card, and also comparing himself to Nike founder Phil Knight and Apple founder Steve Jobs

[Jay] made mention of Phil Knight and Steve Jobs," Budden said. "What he alluded to was that he faces a different type of oppression because of the color of his skin. Now while he might, I’m not certain that that’s true. I think smear campaigns are business. I think the streaming business is very lucrative and beneficial today. And I think as a new person coming in, your competitors would be trying to get you the fuck out of here. That’s one. Two, as far as Steve Jobs and we bought nine iPhones and as far as we bought all those sneakers and Phil Knight’s a fucking trillionaire – the part that he left out was the iPhone at the time was considered the best product on the market by many. Steve Jobs didn't go to anybody and say, 'Hey we’re not getting all of our money, so you should purchase this.' Nike is considered by many to be the best sneaker on the market. It just so happened that today Tidal is not considered that. But you shouldn't be considered that in your fourth month of business. I don’t think anything is happening that, as wise as a businessman that he is, he shouldn't have anticipated… None of this stuff should come as a shocker to him which is why it’s a bit alarming to me that so much damage control continues to be done. I think the freestyle was damage control.

But what do you think about the substance of what Budden said? Does Jay need to chill about comparing himself to Knight and Jobs, and was the TIDAL freestyle nothing but "damage control."