Mal and Rory, Joe Budden's right-hand man and left-hand man, have been absent for the last couple of Joe Budden Podcasts.

After beating around the bush with talk of vacations, Joe acknowledged their absence and suggested their departure isn't permanent. [Jump to 16 minutes.]

“I’ll eliminate some of the suspense,” he says around the 16-minute mark. “Rory and Mal aren’t here, but this is Rory’s seat — this is not Ice’s seat — and this is Mal’s seat. Whenever they feel like returning to their seats, then they’ll return to their seats, then I can go back to work. And then what will happen is the same thing when your star player comes back to the team.”

"I love when podcasts go through this type of turmoil... because it shapes things.  It shapes character," Joe continues, adding he was suprised that Rory and Mal stopped showing up.  

"Sometimes in friendship and business, everyone needs to take a step back and go to their respective corners. Sometimes everyone’s perspective and perception on how to go about that and how it should be executed is different."

Joe added that the issues between him and Rory and Mal are not "financial."