For what it's worth, ChatGPT says it's not true.
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No. The claim in the screenshot is misleading, and the specific statement is demonstrably false.
The tweet says:
“There has not been a single hiphop track in the top 40 since the week that USAID got axed.”
But the current Billboard Hot 100, dated August 22, 2026, has multiple hip-hop/rap tracks in the Top 40:
Drake — “Janice STFU” — #16
Lil Baby — “Dead Fresh” — #23
Yung Miami — “Spend Dat” — #26
Drake — “Shabang” — #29
Cardi B — “AH HA” — #34
Mac Miller ft. Ty Dolla $ign — “Cinderella” — #35
So if “Top 40” means the Billboard Hot 100 Top 40, the claim is simply wrong.
What is true?
There really was an astonishing chart event: in October 2025, the Billboard Hot 100 briefly had zero rap songs in its Top 40 for the first time since 1990. That was widely reported at the time.
But that doesn't mean rap subsequently stayed out of the Top 40. It has repeatedly returned, including very substantially in 2026.
And the USAID connection is unsupported. USAID's dismantling began in early 2025, with the agency's operations ultimately ending/being transferred to the State Department around July 1, 2025. There is no credible evidence that this caused hip-hop's chart performance.
In fact, there's a much simpler explanation for the original “no rap in the Top 40” episode: Billboard changed its recurrent-song rules, which removed long-running songs from the chart, including Kendrick Lamar and SZA's “Luther.” At the same time, pop/country releases occupied a huge number of positions.
Verdict: ❌ False.
The underlying observation that mainstream rap has weakened considerably on the Hot 100 is real, but the “no hip-hop since USAID was axed” claim—and especially the implied causal relationship—is not.
