When French Montana's new single, "No Shopping," dropped over the weekend, listeners were quick to point out that Drake's verse sounded like it was riddled with subliminals at Joe Budden, who had released two diss tracks aimed at Aubrey this month.

French, though, says Joe wasn't on their mind in the studio.

"I don't think we did that record thinking about Joe Budden," he told MTV News on Monday. "It's not that I don't think — I know that for a fact."

What were they thinking about then? "Drinking, having fun, enjoying life, and just making a record about that. I don't think we was in there thinking about anybody. I don't think we ever went in the studio with negative energy, talking about somebody. We just work and have fun."

Still, it's hard to imagine that Budden wasn't on Drake's mind, especially given lines like "I'm not a one-hit wonder, they know all my stuff / You let me turn into the n---a that you almost was." The verse is just the latest in this ongoing sage: In April, Budden criticized Views; then he heard a clip of Drake saying "pump it up" on "No Shopping," and after he heard subliminals in "4AM in Calabasas," released dis tracks "Making a Murderer Pt. 1" and "Wake." Shortly after "No Shopping" dropped, Budden hit again with "Afraid."

Any drama aside, though, it's exciting in itself that French and Drake are back on the same song, building on their already established track record of collabs like "Stay Schemin'" and "Pop That." And that's a reason for French, and fans, to be excited.

"Me and him were supposed to do a track since 'Pop That,'" he said. "We both had busy schedules — he was finishing up his album, I was working on a movie and just trying to finish my album. So the time just presented itself. We was both in New York. He actually had the song done for me. I had another song I wanted him on, but he had this one done already, and I was like, once I heard it, I was like, Alright, cool, you're making my job easy. You're not so bad with picking hits."

Sounds like he may have picked another.