The latest installment of The Joe Budden Podcast included Budden and his co-hosts discussing the state of female Hip-Hop. Their conversation began after playing the new “(Like What) Freestyle” track by Cardi B.
“Y’all ain’t gonna want to hear it from me, but the girl rapper wave is over,” Joe Budden declared on the “Zombie Biker Ladies From Princeton” episode of his show.
He also added, “All of that, go find a girl, send her to Columbia, get it done, put her in the studio with f###### [Mike WiLL Made-It] or any one of them n#####, all that planting the girl in the scene, getting the record and it taking off, that wave is over.”
Joe Budden then suggested that record labels are having trouble recouping the money invested in female rappers. However, the former Def Jam-signed artist did not provide any specific evidence to support that claim.
In addition, Joe Budden criticized Cardi for taking six years to release her sophomore album. Budden also gave “(Like What)” a backhanded compliment, by saying, “I think the Cardi freestyle is cool. I mean, I’m gonna think it’s cool because anybody’s gonna sound good over the ‘Shes a B####’ beat.”
Joe Budden Previously Admitted Being Wrong For Interviewing Cardi B’s Legal Foe Tasha K
Over the last several years, Joe Budden became a vocal critic of Cardi B’s music and a self-professed supporter of her longtime rival, Nicki Minaj. The public relationship between Budden and Cardi seemed to turn sour as both celebrities commented on the apparent tension.
In September 2023, Cardi B called out Joe Budden for interviewing Tasha K, the blogger who lost a $4 million defamation lawsuit for smearing the Bronx-bred rapper. Budden eventually chose not to release the Tasha K interview and admitted being wrong.
Cardi’s “(Like What) Freestyle” rose to No. 2 on the iTunes all-genre chart. The song’s official visuals hit No. 1 on YouTube’s Trending Music Videos chart. However, “(Like What) Freestyle” only reached No. 39 on Apple Music’s Top 100: USA chart after one day of tracking.
The record joins a Cardi B discography that contains five No. 1 singles and three diamond-certified singles. She scored Top 20 hits in 2023 with “Bongos” featuring Megan Thee Stallion and as a feature on Latto’s “Put It on da Floor Again.”
