Last week, Cardi B made her return to music with a Megan Thee Stallion assisted song, WAP, after failing to impress with solo songs "Money," and "Press," and following those up with collabs with French Montana (Writing On the Wall) and Fat Joe (Yes) that both flopped. Cardi B is well aware that this is a make or break moment for her. She is no longer the underdog who can rely on a label created/media assisted beef to be successful. However, that does not mean she cannot go back to old tricks. Cardi B is again working with her former publicist, Patience, who is now her creative director (Okkk). They are using music industry smoke and mirrors, and allegedly more questionable tactics to make "WAP" appear like a huge hit. All the propaganda surrounding this release is how Cardi B tricks the public into believing she is one of the most successful female rappers and is how she is allowed to keep using Black Female artists has stepping stones.
CARDI B - CULT OF PERSONALITY
In 2017, politics and Hip Hop drastically took a turn for the worse when we witnessed the inauguration of Trump as y'all president and the rise of Cardi B. That was the year PERSONALITY trumped everything.
Bardi, who loves to market herself as some type of politically engaged rapper, uses her big personality to manipulate the public in the same manner as Donald Trump. Both are not scared to double down on a proven lie, both love to make a spectacle of themselves, and both use media personalities, that have pledged loyalty to them, as a way to create narratives that are favorable to them at all costs. Trump has Fox News, while Cardi B has blogs.
Which brings me to the over-hyped "WAP." Notice I said OVER-HYPED, not OVERRATED because many
reviews are not giving this song high praise. The song is clearly playing second fiddle to the music video. The beat is simple; kinda reminiscent of Megan's "Cash Sh*t," and while Cardi B may be able to ride a d*ck, she has not spent her hiatus learning how to ride a beat. Which, to my surprise, is not being glossed over by people who regularly make excuses for her. But all that doesn't matter when the noteworthy part of your fanbase consists of bloggers, writers on major media platforms, and playlist curators. To drown out the negative reaction to the song, the public is being bombarded with WAP propaganda:
Celebrities spamming social media with WAP video memes
Staged Twitter arguments over the right of women to rap about their p*ssies
Articles about how WAP is about women empowerment
Radio DJs " debating if this is the most "vulgar," "nasty," and "vile" song you will hear on the radio
Unsolicited emails about the song (which I think is illegal)
They even found politicians, who apparently have not been paying attention to female rap until this song dropped, to play modern-day Delores Tuckers. According to the press (that Cardi doesn't need), this song is in danger of being banned! If y'all believe this bullsh*t, then I have a bridge to sell you.
Rolling Stone did a story on the politicians "declaring war" on the WAP. Republican James P. Bradley "accidentally" heard the song and was so offended that he had to tweet about it and made sure to hashtag the song. He even spelled Megan's name correctly??? Cardi B is not shy about sharing her relationships with politicians. This guy is running for congress; great promo for him and this song.
BAIT AND SWITCH
Cardi B promised a song that was going to be so "nasty," but in reality, the song is a regular degular freaky by female rappers. This song in no way pushed the bar on being nasty, vulgar, or vile for anyone over the age of 10. This track fits perfectly alongside songs like "Muwop" by Mulatto, and "Pussy Talk" by the City Girls. They did not go Cupcakke on the song LOL. Even Lil Kim, who is definitely the rap mother of Cardi, was more "vulgar" than her on her 2019 song with Yung Miami "Found You." Below is a lyric comparison:
Cardi B:
I don't wanna spit, I wanna gulp
I wanna gag, I wanna choke
Lil Kim
I'm a cutie with a big booty (Booty)
Big bag, I like big dicks, big ice
I got that good pussy, make a nigga cum fast
Then I let him use my face as a cum rag
Lil Kim won the vulgar battle with her daughter by a landslide. Are we banning Lil Kim? No, because we are long past the days of steamrolling over rap tapes. Even if we were to go back to that, it wouldn't be over a song that isn't in the top 100 of nasty rap tracks. This song barely gets the parental advisory sticker. Anyone who wants to sue Cardi B for false advertisement may have a case. The most "vulgar" part of this song is the title and even that has been watered down for the public.
BLACK FEMALE ARTISTS ARE NOT CARDI B'S STEPPING STONES
Megan Thee Stallion was obviously brought on WAP for three reasons:
To give Cardi B her Hot Girl Summer / Savage Remix moment
To carry the track
Sell to fans that she gets along with the girl who "took her spot
I could talk about how Cardi promotes this track as if it were a solo song or how that Youtube Live they did together was awkward. But, I won't delve into those topics because at the end of the day, Megan will benefit, and she is the one who was needed on this track, not the other way around.
I want to speak out for the Black girls who were placed in front of a bad green screen, while Kylie Jenner was highlighted. Mulatto, Suki Hana, Rubi Rose, and Normani are the girls that Cardi B steals from. They are the girls that Cardi envies and wishes she was, but when it came time for her big comeback, they were used more or less like props. The Black girls were not treated anymore important than the gold asses and titties hanging in the hallway. It really did come off as if Cardi put them in the video so they could all go on Twitter to not only promote the song but also to praise her.
A sistah took to Twitter to question Kylie Jenner's placement in the video. She tweeted, "Normani did ALL this and Kylie walked down the hall and opened the door. If that's not a perfect visual indication of Black women having to do the most and white women do the bare minimum to get somewhere, I don't know what is." To no surprise, Cardi defended her choice to have Kylie in the video based on their personal relationship and Kris Jenner being an advisor. Hmmm...I wonder if Kris Jenner was the one who "accidentally" played WAP for that California Republican🤔.
What cracks me up is that some Black people were upset that Cardi B did not relate to their feelings about Kylie Jenner. This is what happens to negroes continue to wish upon a star that Cardi B is not only Black but woke & Black. When will some of you get that Cardi B's connection to "Blackness" is she likes fck'n Black men. Belcalis is a Latino Kardashian. Stop allowing that Lil kink in her hair to fool y'all.
I will agree with Cardi that Normani should not have been opening a door in the music video. However, Kylie opening a door did not warrant a slow-mo shot. Normani DANCING should have been given a highlighted scene. That is the point that goes over Cardi's head because everything is not about race to her. Race only matters to Bardi when she needs to get some "YASSS Girl" from black feminists and writers who have romanticized Cardi's stripper background. We know certain blogs love writing the "Cardi Is So Woke" stories. Too bad for them that Cardi decided not to cosplay as a Black woman when she was tweeting her response.
Speaking of everything not being about race, I wonder if Cardi got lectured about protecting her energy the way that Megan did when she popped up with Kylie? Cardi admitted she takes advice for Kris Jenner and has a relationship with that family. Is Cardi going to get lectured about how she moves the way Megan Thee Stallion did, or was that reserved only for the real Black girl? Some of ya'll "Cardi is Black' fans really be exposing yourself.
One last thing, we had not seen Cardi B around other female artists during her whole hiatus. She has
been arguing with Black-owned blogs. We did not see this "women empowerment" until she needed the girls to promote her comeback song. We did not see "women empowerment" until after Hot Girl Summer, Savage Remix, and all the girls supporting each other on social media. I tweeted that the only thing surviving in 2020 is female rap because of all the music and female comradery that I was seeing before
Cardi popped back up. Now that Cardi is back, the media wants to give credit to the girl who brings back the questionable streams, sales, and media coverage? The Black girls are being pushed to the background, in order to highlight Cardi B as if she were Kylie Jenner. The Black female rappers had already been on their "pussy talk" and already united on songs. Cardi B is just continuing to mimic what the sistahs have already done.
Cardi B, Black Female Artists Are Not Your Stepping Stones!
PROPAGANDA 101: Cardi B and her team are surrounding this song with so much distraction, so people don't pay attention to if they really like the song. It's now about being part of a "women's movement" or "pussy power."
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Ole Girl has posted photos of her and Megan to promote the song...finally. Oh, she remembered Megan was on the song too lol. I wonder if her people told her people weren't feeling how she was doing the sistahs.
Another reason I think they are pushing this song so hard, so when it goes on the album the album can already be gold or platinum just as they did with BY.
Yaya Once again you hit the hammer on the nail. I have been telling people that Cardi and DT are of the same spirit. It's all smoke and mirrors but I believe its coming to an end and her team know it. What we are seeing is her team milking what they can, using old trickery to manipulate the masses.
Priestess, I did not think they would push her this hard again either. But this may have something to do with money. The label may feel they gotta reinvest to make her profitable so they get some money. what is interesting is that all this push does not come free. She is going into so much debt...again.
job well done! Awesome read