Joe Budden isn't mincing his words while criticizing Sexyy Red's new collaboration with Bruno Mars, saying the song "Hoochie Coochie" is the latest example of "force feeding" the Black community what he describes as "degenerate" music.
In fact, last month, during a recent episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, the veteran rapper and cultural commentator expressed his opinion on the current state of hip-hop.
Joe Budden says Sexxy Red is code-switching, noting that she altered her musical style for a collab with Bruno Mars, seemingly catering to a white audience .However, he feels that with her song "Hoochie Coochie," aimed at a Black audience, she's promoting a more degenerate image. pic.twitter.com/3vx5vo5ty8
— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Chatnigga101) April 6, 2025
He called the collaboration a "whitewashed" version of well-timed black and brown beats, saying it begs for stereotypes to get noticed.
Marketing Strategy Vs True Artistic Integrity
Budden was especially critical of Mars' transition to hyper-sexualized content, insisting it seemed more like a marketing strategy than genuine creativity.
It is, he said, akin to "putting on a costume," the way politicians magnify their identities as a kind of over-the-top performance to win over the underrepresented.
Criticism went beyond the Red Planet. He also touched on the reasons behind popular endorsements in the industry and referenced Drake's support for Sexyy Red earlier this week.
He suggested that these partnerships may be more about the dollars involved than about genuine mentoring.
Cue up diss tracks and debates in the hip-hop blogosphere over their relevance in a time when fans were hungry for collaboration between the two, but only if the songs do those collaborations justice.
Now, the fans and critics are left trying to sort out the enduring tension in pop culture between commercial and artistic achievement.
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