Cardi B has responded to Joe Budden’s harsh criticism of her new single “Bongos,” and the Grammy-winning rapper believes his comments were personal.
Taking to Instagram Live on Wednesday (September 13), Cardi said that she doesn’t feel the criticism of her raunchy collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion is entirely justified.
“I just feel like he has an issue with me,” she began. “And it was beyond the critique of ‘Bongos’ — it’s just you inviting bitches who said the rudest, nastiest shit … when Mal and Rory say fuck shit about you, you get so defensive and you want to clear it up.
“You came at Taxstone because Taxstone said something about you. You expect people to understand you and you expect people to take your side.”
Joe Budden caught wind of Cardi B’s response and fired back on the latest episode of his eponymous podcast. The former Slaughterhouse MC pointed to all the times he’s complimented the Bronx bombshell, questioning why she’s decided to speak up the “one time” he says something negative about her.
“Don’t play with me like that because y’all know I fuck with Cardi,” he said. “But I stand on what I said about the song. And I said it pretty respectfully.
“I ain’t here to shatter nobody’s dreams… For me, it’s if I didn’t hear nothing from none of y’all the nine million times I bigged you up, I definitely don’t want to hear from you the one time I didn’t.”
Earlier this week, Budden blasted “Bongos” for sounding like “two women that can’t make a song” while saying he thought the record was “contrived” and was like a “science project” cooked up by “AI.”
“I hate the song. It’s not better than any of the songs like it. ‘WAP,’ ‘Up,’ it’s not better than Cardi B feature,” he said on a previous episode of his podcast.
Regardless of Budden’s commentary, “Bongos” is expected to make a splash on the Billboard Hot 100 next week following its release last Friday (September 8). The racy visual has racked up over 11 million views on YouTube alone since its release.
However, fans shouldn’t hold their breath for Cardi B’s eagerly anticipated sophomore album to arrive this year as she recently revealed she’s looking at a 2024 release.
“I was indecisive but I was like, you know what? I should already start talking about the album because I’m going to be putting it out very soon,” she told Hot 97 last week.
“But it’s like, I have to watch it because I always feel like somebody watching me — it’s going to come out when it’s going to come out. I can say that — it’s not going to come out this year.”
