A troubling video from Cardi B’s past has resurfaced this week, resulting in heated backlash against the rapper. Now, the Bronx native has spoken up to defend her name.
On Tuesday, one of Cardi’s old Instagram Live clips made its way to the internet. The visual showed the MC admitting on camera to drugging and robbing men. “I had to go strip, I had to go, ‘Oh yeah, you want to f*ck me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s go back to this hotel,’ and I drugged n****s up, and I robbed them. That’s what I used to do,” confessed the Invasion of Privacy rapper.
The video quickly sparked a negative response from viewers, including many of her own fans. Wanting to set the record straight and clarify the circumstances surrounding her admission, Cardi promptly posted a long, thoughtful response on Instagram Tuesday evening.
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“So I’m seeing on social media that [an Instagram] live I did 3 years ago has popped back up. A live where I talked about things I had to do in my past right or wrong that I felt I needed to do to make a living,” she wrote. “I never claim [sic] to be perfect or come from a perfect world wit [sic] a perfect past I always speak my truth I always own my sh*t.”
The “Bodak Yellow” rapper went on to emphasize that her past actions were done out of necessity. “I made the choices that I did at the time because I had very limited options,” wrote Cardi, who has never been shy about her former life as a stripper. “I was blessed to have been able to rise from that but so many women have not,” she said. “Whether or not they were poor choices at the time I did what I had to do to survive.”
Further defending herself, Cardi noted that she’s neither felt “proud” of drugging and robbing men, nor has she ever “glorified” her actions, unlike many of her fellow hip-hop colleagues:
“There are rappers that glorify murder violence drugs an [sic] robbing. Crimes they feel they had to do to survive. I never glorified the things I brought up in that live I never even put those things in my music because I’m not proud of it and feel responsibility not to glorify it.”
Additionally, Cardi clarified that the men she drugged and stole from weren’t random strangers. “The men I spoke about in my life were men that I dated that I was involved with men that [they] were conscious willing and aware.”
“I have a past that I can’t change we all do,” she concluded her post, “all I can do now is be a better me for myself my family and my future.”
Read the full Instagram post below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bve_d3sFet7/
Cardi is due to hit the road this July for her first-ever headlining arena shows. Her summer trek also includes festival appearances at Miami’s Rolling Loud, Barcelona’s Primavera Sound, and Bonnaroo. Grab tickets to all her upcoming dates here.
Cardi recently reunited with Bruno Mars on the collaborative single “Please Me”, which can be revisited below.
