Joe Budden Questions Cardi B’s Flow Over JAY-Z’s Classic Beat

Key Takeaways:

• Budden said Cardi B’s flow on “Imaginary Playerz” lacked the smoothness of JAY-Z’s original.
• He praised the writing, but said the delivery felt “choppy” and lacked the aura of the classic.
• The debate sparked conversation about how modern rappers sample and reinterpret Hip Hop legends.

Joe Budden is not a fan of Cardi B’s “Imaginary Playerz.” The rapper-turned-podcast mogul criticized Bardi’s song for her flow allegedly not living up to the standard set by the JAY-Z song it pays homage to.

On his podcast, Budden detailed why he isn’t feeling Cardi’s latest track. “She shouldn’t do that again, don’t do that again” said Budden when asked by co-host Marc Lamont Hill what he thought of the record. “Don’t take any East Coast top three, four [rapper’s] beat, classic song, and redo that… We gonna shout out the writers. The writers killed. This is not about the writers…. The bars are there. That wasn’t enough.”

The “Pump It Up” rapper explained the crux of his argument is that her flow over the beat wasn’t to his liking. “That delivery, those punch-ins, how choppy that was,” he said, continuing, “‘Imaginary Players,’ for y’all that wasn’t there, Hov, when that dropped, was a much better rapper than that. It was just fly because of the cadence and the flow and what he was saying, his aura and voice control.”

Cardi’s version samples the same song, Rene & Angela’s “Imaginary Playmates,” that was used by producer Daven “Prestige” Vanderpool for JAY-Z’s “Imaginary Players,” from his 1997 sophomore album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. She also uses the same cadence as the Brooklyn rapper to deliver numerous witty lines that are undeniable, as even Budden acknowledged with his backhanded compliment towards the “writers.”

Added Budden, “Cardi is in the same pitch, same tone, sounding choppy, not smooth. Bars are there, but this is not the beat for that.”

Budden then played a version of “Imaginary Playerz” that uses Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Get Money” instrumental, which he described as “hard,” to prove his point that it wasn’t the right beat for Cardi to rap over. The hosts continued debating whether the song would get the same scrutiny if she labeled it a “freestyle,” while also touching on the strength of her fanbase and how many units she might sell in the first week.

“The Joe Budden Podcast” crew seemed to be tiptoeing on a thin line between critique and criticism. Ultimately, fans will decide if Cardi B executed the assignment when her highly anticipated new album, Am I the Drama?, drops on Sept. 19.