There has been a lot of speculation regarding Nicki Minaj and her future in music. While she will always have an omnipresent glare over the rap game as one of its living legends, the all-time great emcee has been placing a focus on her family life in recent years, announcing her semi-retirement in 2019.
Since then, we've lived through an entire pandemic so, obviously, the world is better when Nicki Minaj is an active artist. The Barbs (and plenty of other rap fans) have been discussing the potential for the Queen's return in the coming weeks, theorizing that she could be coming with a new album soon. As far as Joe Budden is concerned though, he doesn't think it's the right time for her to drop.
Taking a contrarian stance on his podcast this week, Joe Budden butted heads with Rory and Mal, who said it might be time for Nicki to return to the game. After Mal suggested that Nicki should commence her comeback effort, Budden responded, "Did you not just hear everything we said about Khaled dropping during COVID? You want Nicki to drop right now? Nicki, I love you, I wish you and your family well, and that's what I got." Earlier in the conversation, Budden argued that the timing wasn't right for DJ Khaled and he did not benefit from releasing an album last week. For what it's worth, that exact album is being projected for a #1 debut on the Billboard 200.
Listen to what Joe Budden had to say below.