Benzino called out Fat Joe for blaming BET’s Hip-Hop Awards decline on “gentrification” while ignoring how bad the ratings were when he hosted.
Benzino is coming for Fat Joe after the Bronx rapper blamed “gentrification” for BET canceling the Hip-Hop and Soul Train Awards—while conveniently ignoring his own role in the award show’s ratings nosedive.
Benzino didn’t hold back when he called out Joe for talking slick about BET’s moves, especially after hosting the BET Hip-Hop Awards in 2022.
According to Zino, Fat Joe’s time as host didn’t exactly help the brand—if anything, it dragged it down.
“Why Fat Joe said it’s gentrification, after they let his ass host the awards two years earlier?” he said. “And the ratings were the worst ever after he hosted it. Was it gentrification when you was hosting it, Joey? Stop, man. Joe, you’re putting out too much misinformation on the internet, bro. You gotta do better, man.”
Benzino was digging into Fat Joe’s recent claim that BET’s issues are tied to its shift away from Black ownership and culture, calling the cancellation of the shows “a form of gentrification.”
He also said the network’s been slashing budgets and quietly firing staff.
“Little by little over the years, quietly, they’ve been firing a lot of people behind the scenes in BET and everybody who has something to say, they’ve been firing them,” Joe said. “The budget, not for me, but the budget just kept getting chopped and chopped and chopped.”
According to U.S. TV data, the BET Hip-Hop Awards have seen a steady drop in viewership over the last three years.
In 2022, the show pulled in around 708,000 viewers. By 2023, that number slipped to 657,000. In 2024, just 333,000 people tuned in—less than half of what they had two years ago.
Benzino kept going at Fat Joe and made it crystal clear he thinks Fat Joe helped tank the show’s credibility and viewership.
“This was the Hip-Hop one of the worst award show ratings ever… it wasn’t gentrification when you was hosting it, right?” Benzino continued. “You gotta do better, bro. BET didn’t know how to put on the awards. Only the Source Hip-Hop Awards did it right for hip-hop. But when Fat Joe comes up here and says oh, it’s gentrification… Man, get the f### out of here.”