Joe Budden is placing Latto over Doja Cat when it comes to ranking women in rap music.
On a new episode of Budden’s eponymous podcast that dropped on Saturday (August 11), the New Jersey native gave Latto her flowers as he discussed her new album, Sugar Honey Iced Tea.
“First of all, Latto is one of the women that I support,” he said. “So I purchased this without listening to it at all. Like y’all, I have not gotten through the entire thing but I went through the samples and I heard what I needed to hear.”
He added “Latto is ill,” and then went on to list his top three female rappers, starting with Nicki Minaj at No. 1.
“Nicki is number one for me, I might have to have [Latto] at number two. I think Latto will give Doja… [Doja] can’t rap like that. She may be a bigger artist, and a more well-rounded artist, but if I’m just talking about rapping, Doja can pack it up if Latto walk in the studio with her notebook.”
He then mentioned Cardi B, but didn’t go much further – likely in part due to their recent smoke.
“I love Cardi, but I mean there’s the rumors, so I’ll leave that alone. Latto is confirmed that to be her thing. She really loves Hip Hop, she’s one of those girls.”
You can view the full episode below. The Latto and Doja Cat convo happens around the 2:11:03 mark.
Last month, Cardi B slammed Joe Budden for comments he made about her career, as well as his repeated criticism of Drake.
Issues between the two resurfaced when the former Slaughterhouse rapper claimed on his self-titled podcast that Cardi would never release a follow-up to her 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy.
“We’ll never get another album again. I’m standing on that […] Cardi’s got something dropping with my man Rob[49] on Friday — that’s gonna be crazy,” he said, referencing their “On Dat Money” collaboration. “But that’s what Cardi’s gonna be now, just a singles artist.”
He added: “I’m sure Offset wants Cardi to put an album out. Ay, fellas out there, boyfriends, y’all know that feeling right? When you want your bitch to get a job. You in the house and your bitch won’t leave […] ‘Ain’t you got an album to do? Ain’t you got a single?’”
Cardi quickly responded on X Spaces, claiming she gave Joe Budden a lap dance during her past stint as a stripper and witnessed him taking drugs.
After Cardi hit back, Budden initially said he would never cover her music again but then made the rare move of apologizing to her.
“I got love for you to Joe but you been changing your tone on me real heavy the last 3 years whether music or personal,” she wrote in response to his apology. “Like when I was goin through real shit wit my marriage in December you went on ya platform and tried to make that about somebody else and what they got going on..
“I know criticism comes wit the territory but sometimes the narrative yall decide go run with be soooooo toxic. It’s all love tho see you soon.”