Cardi B winning war of words against conservative critics
Weeks since debuting her controversial new song WAP with Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B is drowning out the critics in the best possible way — pushing out her song as a form of “female empowerment”.
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The Musee du Louvre houses within its walls some of the world’s most culturally significant artworks — a treasure trove of paintings, sculptures and artefacts explored by more than 10 million visitors a year.
But it’s a work of art on the outside of this historic building that is speaking volumes right now.
Stretching out across the centuries old facade of the former palace in Paris is a woman fast becoming a cultural institution herself, one who is making a habit of sticking it to the establishment and empowering a generation of women to do the same — Cardi B.
The billboard showing her lying on the grass in a flowing black gown and surrounded by kids’ toys is for high-end fashion house Balenciaga and is a sign that the rapper’s influence has truly gone global.
It comes as the artist’s song with Megan Thee Stallion, WAP (which you’ll surely know the meaning of by now) remains firmly cemented at the top of charts for a third week, proving the critics — some of whom dramatically suggested they needed a splash of holy water after hearing it — have been drowned out by the supporters.
After hitting number one in Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand, Cardi B yesterday shared a post from the BBC on Instagram announcing that the song had finally done the same in the UK.
“So happy thankful and grateful,” she wrote. “Weeks past and the song is still performing amazing!”
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The film clip and lyrics of WAP might have caused a stir in some parts of the community, but ABC’s The Sound co-host and Double J presenter Zan Rowe “pumped a fist in the air” when she first heard the song and says Cardi B is a trailblazer.
“Cardi B is not somebody who minces words and I really love that about her, she’s always been upfront, she’s always pretty passionate and vocal — and so has Megan Thee Stallion,” Rowe tells Insider.
“It was such an incredible collaboration to have two really powerful, black women come out and just embrace their sexuality so much.”
While the lyrics are provocative and the film clip deliberately raunchy, WAP has been lauded by many and described by music magazine Complex as “the epitome of female empowerment”.
Rowe agrees.
“The thing you just get straight away is it’s about female pleasure and power and it’s not deferring to giving a man power or another partner power, it’s very much about celebration of the self and the power you get,” she says.
WAP had conservatives around the world in a lather within what seemed like seconds of its release, but none more so than in the US, where the deeply divided country is heading into one of the most bitter election cycles in living memory.
California congressional candidate James P. Bradley “accidentally” stumbled across the WAP film clip and couldn’t get on Twitter fast enough.
“Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion are what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure. Their new “song” The #WAP (which I heard accidentally) made me want to pour holy water in my ears and I feel sorry for future girls if this is their role model!” he wrote.
A day later and a probably after a phone call from someone reminding him of the First Amendment, he backtracked — kind of.
“Secondly, while I personally take offence to the lyrics and messaging of this song, I absolutely respect her 1st Amendment right to make it.
“Also surprised that Twitter doesn’t mind this kind of free speech but has a problem with conservative free speech,” he wrote.
DeAnna Lorraine, another Republican hopeful from California who has since been bundled out of the race, suggested the song had done irreparable damage to women.
“Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion just set the entire female gender back by 100 years with their disgusting & vile “WAP” song,” she wrote in one tweet followed by “There’s a difference between being ‘sexy and straight degrading’.”
The conservative reaction was predictable, even “boring”, Rowe says. What was more disappointing was the negative feedback from others within the music industry. Some, like singer CeeLo Green — who once suggested sexual assault wasn’t rape if the victim was unconscious after being accused of date rape — felt compelled to pass judgement on the No. 1 hit – something he regretted pretty quickly.
“A lot of music today is very unfortunate and disappointing on a personal and moral level,” he told Far Out 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 was quick to apologise to the “all powerful, beautiful, and influential women and professionals” when the backlash to his comments hit like a hurricane.
“I wholeheartedly apologise to each of them for the inconvenience they have been caused due to a snippet of my interview being used as a headline, and in turn creating controversy and disconnect between me and these ladies as well as their fans,” he wrote on Twitter.
Green eventually pleaded no contest to a charge of furnishing ecstasy to the woman who accused him of spiking her drink with drugs. He was sentenced to four months’ probation.
Says Rowe: “This is a guy who’s been accused of rape — you are not someone who should be speaking up about women celebrating their own sexuality. I expected all the feedback from conservative politicians and the like but I certainly didn’t expect it from certain people in the music community.”
Rowe says there is never this level of outrage levelled against a male artist when he uses words and images similar to those used in WAP.
“There’s a song called Flob On My Knob, which a lot of people were referencing around the release of WAP, by Tear da Club Up Thugs, there are Snoop Dogg songs, 50 Cent songs, these are songs that just came out and nobody even batted an eye and they deal with the same kind of intense lyrics that WAP does,” she says.
“But women stand up and say ‘we’re just here and we’re talking about celebrating our sexuality’ and there’s no mention of men and that’s the reaction that happens.”
Rowe says the reason behind the backlash, the one that inevitably comes when a woman, especially a woman of colour, sings about sexuality, runs deeper than just petty tall poppy syndrome.
“You’ve got to question that, I don’t think it’s about artists’ tall poppy syndrome, I think it’s certain men feeling like they’re being pushed out of the conversation and whether they know it or not, reacting really strongly to that,” she says.
“It’s like ‘hang on a minute, I’m not the centre of that?’ You’re not chasing after me, it’s all about you?’ ”