Why can’t the internet stop talking about Cardi B’s ‘WAP’ music video?
Just over a week after rappers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion dropped the “WAP” music video (you know the one), the internet still can’t stop talking about it.
Hot takes have run the gamut from viewing the video as a symbol of sex positivity to conservative politicians and commentators criticizing the piece for being too explicit. Twitter has been mad about Kylie Jenner’s cameo in it. And pop culture outlet Vulture even interviewed a gynecologist about the song’s medical accuracy.
Addressing what it was like to film the video amid a pandemic, Cardi B — known for ad libbing a coronavirus anthem on Instagram — has talked COVID-19 safety precautions on set.
“It was kind of weird shooting the video in the age of corona,” Cardi B recently told British magazine i-D. “Like, we had to spend $100,000 dollars just on testing. Everybody on the shoot had to get tested for coronavirus.”
Safety came first in another aspect of the video, she said: Those exotic big cats that “Tiger King” star Carole Baskin got so upset about? They may have been present on set, but scenes involving the live tigers and leopards were “spliced together.” No humans were harmed in the making of this video.
And there’s more to come from Cardi B. She announced Tuesday on Instagram that she made an OnlyFans account to promote the “WAP” video, sending fans into a frenzy.
“On my OnlyFans, I will be putting the [behind the scenes] of the music video — not only the day of that music video — but the whole process of it,” she told her 72.6 million Instagram followers.
Although the OnlyFans content subscription service was originally associated with sex workers, in recent months, some content curators have pivoted toward using the platform as a safe space to share thoughts. Cardi B, for instance, wants to use the app to communicate directly with her fans.
Rappers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s video for their new song, ‘WAP,’ features appearances by Kylie Jenner, Normani, Rosalía and others.
“There are certain things I want only my fans to see, you know?” she told i-D. “I wanna be more open about my insecurities, what makes me happy and what makes me sad. I wanna be extremely transparent.”
In the spirit of full transparency, comedian Dulcé Sloan told Trevor Noah on “The Daily Show” Thursday night that she saw “WAP” as the “sex-positive song of the summer.”
“Only in a repressed, patriarchal society would people consider a woman’s pleasure graphic,” Sloan said. “Men don’t have to censor their pleasure,” she added, pointing to artists like Drake and Bruno Mars.
To prove her point, the comedian invited Grammy-nominated country artist Margo Price to cover “WAP” with an acoustic guitar and a Southern twang.
“We don’t live in a society that’s comfortable with women claiming their sexuality,” Sloan said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s rap or country. I bet if it was a country music star that sang the same lyric, all these men would still be upset.”
Those men that Sloan was referring to include Republican congressional candidate James P. Bradley and conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro. On Monday night, the web began to buzz about clips of Shapiro disapprovingly reading the “WAP” lyrics aloud.
“I never expected that, you know, conservatives and Republicans were going to be talking about the song,” Cardi B told i-D. “It doesn’t make me angry. It makes me happy. They keep talking and the numbers keep going up. At the end of the day, whatever they’re saying, the numbers speak for themselves.”
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