Earlier this month, Brent Faiyaz's Wasteland album opened number 2 on the album chart with 88k SPS.
Pretty strong numbers for an artist who isn't on a major label.
However, Joe Budden wouldn't call Faiyaz an independent artist because he's partnered with Venice Music. Joe believes Brent is using his (false) indie status as a marketing tool.
“Venice is a music company as well as a tech company and was co-founded in 2019 by Troy Carter, Jay Irving, and Suzie Ryoo who I am unfamiliar with,” Budden explained. “Stop trying to get me with yall music shenanigan tricks yo.”
During Faiyaz's stop on the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, he was told of Budden's opinion and pushed back on it saying he "absolutely" is truly independent. [Jump to 13 minutes.]
"That sh*t hilarious, bruh," he said of Budden's accusation. “It's wild to think n*ggas get to the level, to the point mothaf*ckers think n*ggas fake the funk. I feel like that sh*t is just kinda like, damn. Like, niggas is really doing this... Motherf*ckers seen how I was living, every spot I moved into, every motherf*ckin' opportunity a n*gga got. So if you get to the level where like, you're doing your thing to a point where motherf*ckas you ain't never met saying you didn't really earn yo sh*t, that's how you know you must be killing the game."