From saying Cardi B is “scared” to drop her sophomore album to calling out streamers, Joe Budden has been giving a lot of hot takes in recent months. On today’s (March 7) airing of his eponymous podcast, the former musician argued that there are “bad times ahead” for Hip Hop.

To back his claims, Budden referred to the lack of No. 1 records in 2023. Notably, Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape, which dropped in July of that year, was the first to clinch the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart. Subsequently, artists like Travis Scott, Drake, Doja Cat, Rod Wave, and Nicki Minaj landed at No. 1 for their respective projects.

“Last year, no No. 1 Hip Hop album for however long tells me that. The No. 1s that came tells me that. Travis, Uzi, Drake… There’s only seven. There’s seven rappers that they focus on. [For some, it’s] because y’all are truly talented and make people all the money in the world. [For others, it’s] because too many people have their hand in your pocket to let you fail,” Budden explained. “But everybody else, if you not getting it [through] touring or if you not getting it through other means, this music s**t is a wrap!”

He continued, “I’m saying all of the musicians are broke, relatively — relative to what you bring in. My conversation is about what’s going on in the majors. They tricking y’all with the words in these contracts. They tricking y’all into thinking y’all are real partners. They tricking y’all with the, ‘Hey, you own your stuff.’ The recent layoffs tell me that.”

Other topics brought up during the podcast were the rise of artificial intelligence and international acts crossing over into Hip Hop and R&B. The “Pump It Up” hitmaker concluded, “I think it’s much worse than I can even sit here and say. Post that on your blogs. Joe Budden says, ‘Bad times ahead.'”