Joe Budden has always been someone who thinks out loud, and he certainly showed that on an episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, where he shared what was definitely some unpolished commentary about the new pop meets ratchet fusion track Fat Juicy & Wet, a provocative union of Sexyy Red and Bruno Mars. But don’t be fooled by the Twitter screw-ups. While some chatter online wrongly traced his comments to a fictional track called Hoochie Coochie, Budden’s actual criticism runs a lot deeper than song titles. Fat Juicy & Wet is a symptom of something larger and more insidious. “It feels like they’re just pushing the Black community this cartoon version of itself,” he said, questioning the motivation behind the record itself. “This is not music, this is music in a thong, this is marketing.”
His main point is how much the track relies so hard on tropes and stereotypes, swapping real art for shock value and clickbait. Budden focused his outrage on Bruno Mars’s participation, calling out the pop-soul icon for his old-fashioned charm and slick production. But Mars appears to drop his usual polish on this record, matching Sexyy Red’s raw and risqué style, and it doesn’t feel organic to Budden. “Bruno masquerading around in Sexyy Red’s universe isn’t world building, it’s costuming,” he argued. “This reminds me of seeing politicians pull out hot sauce bottles in Black churches. Familiar. Hollow. Calculated.” It’s not that Budden doesn’t like collaboration or pushing boundaries. But he has a problem when the boundary-pushing feels like more box-checking.
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When art becomes a stereotype buffet, neatly packaged for mass consumption, Budden says it’s time to hit the brakes. Regardless of whether you view his take as tough love or straight-up mean, there’s no disputing Budden’s passionate interest in raising culture, not watering it down. His words prompt a larger discussion about when inclusion crosses the line to become a joke. As Sexyy Red swims through headlines and Bruno Mars tries something new sonically, Joe Budden’s watching, and he’s not afraid to call a spade a spade.
