Cardi B Defends ‘WAP’ Against Those Who Claim Song Is Too Vulgar: ‘It’s for Adults’
Cardi B says her latest song isn’t for the kids.
In a recent interview with Australian radio show The Kyle and Jackie O Show, the Grammy winner, 27, continued to shoot down claims that her new single with Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP,” is overly explicit within the context of the hip-hop and rap genre.
“The people that the song bothers are usually conservatives or really religious people, but my thing is I grew up listening to this type of music,” explained Cardi. “Other people might think it’s strange and vulgar, but to me it’s almost like really normal, you know what I’m saying?”
Cardi, who shares 2-year-old daughter Kulture Kiari with her rapper husband Offset, said she wouldn’t let her toddler jam out to “WAP,” but added that that should go without saying since her music is for grownups.
“No, of course I don’t want my child to listen to this song and everything — but it’s for adults,” she said.
Given the way “WAP” shot to the top of the charts, enjoying the No. 1 spot upon its debut, Cardi thinks the subject matter is of interest.
“You wanna know something? It’s what people wanna hear. If people didn’t wanna hear it, if they were so afraid to hear it, it wouldn’t be doing as good,” said Cardi, who joked that it was “really hard” to rework the single into a radio-approved clean version.
The artist explained to ELLE earlier this month that she intends for her music to always make women feel empowered.
“My music is always going to make a woman feel like a bad bitch. When you make a woman feel like she’s the baddest bitch in the room, to me, that’s female empowerment,” she explained.
“But this [next] album is going to be really different. Of course, it’s going to have my Lemonade moments, my personal relationship moments. … I don’t want to just put out a single and have people buy it because I’m Cardi. I want to put out really good music.
CeeLo Green came under fire this month when, during an interview with Far Out magazine, he criticized female hip-hop artists like Cardi, Megan and Nicki Minaj for being hyper-sexualized, though he later claimed his comments were taken out of context.
“A lot of music today is very unfortunate and disappointing on a personal and moral level,” he told the magazine. “There was once a time when we were savvy enough to code certain things. We could express to those it was meant for with the style of language we used. But now music is shameless, it is sheer savagery.”
Green walked back his controversial take, writing on Instagram that he acknowledges them all as “powerful, beautiful and influential women…and professionals” and sends “much love to all of the female artists who are running the game and handling their business.”
