If you look at both femcees’ release history, the rapper and media personality thinks that there are too many coincidences.
Nicki Minaj and Cardi B have been fighting for the throne of female rap for years now. Wherever you fall on that debate, you might think that the conversation is over already in either’s favor, but you can’t deny that it could all change quickly in the public eye. However, the recent drops of Pink Friday 2 a few months ago and the brand new “Like What” freestyle (and “Bongos” with Megan Thee Stallion a couple of months before the Barbz’s 2023 fav) have respectively reopened a conversation around how they tend to drop around the same time. Moreover, The Joe Budden Podcast recently weighed in on this, and its titular host thinks that this has been a long-running phenomenon.
“Whenever Cardi was trying to drop, Nicki was trying to drop,” Joe Budden told his co-hosts. “And that’s why Nicki kept changing dates. Don’t quote me on nothing [sorry, Joe]. But Nicki changed that date, like, five times trying to match up with whenever Cardi was dropping. And that was supposed to be the big… I mean, just as consumers looking at it, that was supposed to be the 50 [and] Kanye. And that, I feel like, would have helped Cardi. Nicki, I think, was gonna sell whatever she was gonna sell regardless. But Cardi, I think, would’ve gotten a big boost and just catapult from that marketing.
Joe Budden Speaks On Nicki Minaj & Cardi B Dropping Around The Same Time
“It didn’t happen, and then Nicki dropped,” Joe Budden continued. “I ain’t spoke to nobody up there in Atlantic, but I think Cardi backed out of that. I think she ran from that. And now we about to be in March, spring, summer, year six! It’s year six. I think a lot of these girl rappers are going through City Girls drama and keeping it low. I just mean, where the branding is louder than everything else.”
Meanwhile, what do you think about this debate? What about Budden’s thoughts on other debates such as the current Big Three rankings for 2010s hip-hop between Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Drake?