Cardi B is sick and tired of being brought into other folks' drama.
Cardi (real name Belcalis Almánzar-Cephus) is a Grammy Award winner with several chart-topping records, so respect is in order — but rarely given.
However, the "WAP" rapper is no stranger to getting folks together when they decide to put her name in their mouth unwarranted, and this back-and-forth exchange is the proof.
In a TikTok post, an influencer named Raymonte responded to claims that he's too "ghetto," using Cardi B as an example, who he referred to as "very, very ghetto."
"She's way ghettoer than me, she's way hooder, gangster, greasy [than] me. She was outside with the damn Bloods, and y'all don't say that this lady is ghetto. Y'all don't say that she isn't marketable," Raymonte continued. "It feels like everyone can be ghetto and Black besides ghetto and Black people. And again, no shade to you, Cardi B, I'm just doing a comparison."
It didn't take long for Cardi to respond on her X account, and she had quite the paper trail to back up her rebuttal. "It's crazy because when I became famous, people said I'm ghetto, talked shit about my accent, call me dumb because the way I speak, say I got no couth, talk about my teeth, my braids, my two buns…," she wrote.
"And to this day, no matter what I accomplished, I still get called a stripper all because I'm from the ghetto," Cardi continued.
"People misinterpret me because apparently, I'm LOUD AND GHETTO TILL THIS DAY call me a hood rat and all… When I sat down with Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, they called me a ghetto stripper. Why is it that y'all gotta use me to make y'all comparisons cause y'all only see the glory but not when I get drag 24/7? LEAVE ME TF ALONE AND OUT OF YALL BULLSHIT."
Cardi quickly responded once more. "That's not what you said. You said nobody called me ghetto, and now you moving the goalpost…," she wrote. "You know why I'm at where I'm at right now? Because I took all those no's and recognized what I had to CHANGE."
"I had to change the way I talk, the way I act, and the way I respond and how I present myself… you ignoring all of that and playing the color card because you don't like me, and it's fucked up."
"You using all these other women… Sexyy Red is making bangers and on tour with Drake, and I bet money she's gonna win female rapper of the year because she's grinding and working HARD and not letting people call her ghetto distract her from the top!! So miss me with that."
Although the influencer tried to shift the conversation, Cardi said, "You can't gaslight me, and I won't let you confuse people by bringing up things irrelevant to the initial discussion. You say people never called me ghetto. I responded, showing how I've always been called ghetto."
Ignoring the influencer's mention of "another woman," Cardi wrote, "It's none of that. I'm just sick of people being comfortable with race-baiting when it comes to me. And it's plenty of MEN you could've compared yourself to, but you got it."
Raymonte posted another lengthy tweet to clarify that he "didn't mean to offend [Cardi] or get her dragged." He only "used her as an example because her 'ghetto ratchet-ness' is what helped propel her career."
And finally, Cardi responded again with some advice for the influencer. "Here's my advice to you, Raymonte… IT TAKES TIME!!! Right now, I get brand deals for over $5 million for a campaign…," she wrote. "I got social media famous in 2014…my first brand deal from Fashion Nova was in 2016 and $200 a post. You could reach any height, no matter how ghetto or where you come from. Just remember the key is to be patient and be humble. Blessings."
Here are my takeaways. First, let's stop using "ghetto" as a pejorative term. It's clear to me it's used as a placeholder for other derogatory terms to describe people of color. Second, let's stop trying to disguise our disdain for certain female rap personas as anything but misogyny. Whenever we talk about etiquette or bad representation, we start naming Sexyy Red, Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, Cardi B, and Nicki Minaj and forget the hundreds of rambunctious men in the same category.
