Cardi B Talks Madonna Love, Possible Lil Kim Collab and Reveals What Her ‘Real Housewives’ Tagline Would Be
Cardi B stopped by to chop it up with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live on Monday night (Sept. 11), and, as always, the “Bongos” rapper didn’t hold back when it came to everything from her disappointment in the work ethic of today’s strippers to whether she’d say yes if tapped to perform at the SuperBowl and which famous person has slid into her DMs.
First things first, though, during the call-in segment, a fan asked if Cardi will finally collab with her hero Lil Kim on her upcoming, as-yet-untitled sophomore album. “I really do want one. I’m going through my songs right now,” Cardi said of the long-teased follow-up to smash 2018 debut studio album Invasion of Privacy.
“My thing is, like, everybody be like, ‘If you guys love each other so much why you guys still don’t have a collab?’,” she said in a mocking voice. The truth, Cardi revealed, is that she wants a potential team-up to be so great and undeniable that nobody can judge it and be harsh on them. “I want to make sure that it’s like, the greatest song. But I would love, love, love to do a song with Lil Kim.”
For the record, Cardi said her next album will be finished this year, released next year and might feature some male rapper collabs and will be followed by a tour.
Asked to dream up what her tagline would be if she joined Cohen’s Real Housewives universe, Cardi wasted no time coming up with the perfect, ripped-from-the-headlines quip: “The only thing I throw harder than mics is shade,” she said in reference to the microphone she hurled at a fan who’d tossed a drink on her in Las Vegas earlier this summer.
After turning down a chance to perform at the 2019 Super Bowl with Maroon 5 because of her desire to “stand behind” ex-NFL player Colin Kaepernick, a fan asked if Cardi would reconsider if asked again. “Now I would say yes,” Cardi said. “Things change.”
Cardi — who did time as an exotic dancer before pivoting to rap — also weighed in on what she sees as a lack of work ethic among strippers these days. “What I don’t like is, I feel like back then strippers, like, used to dance a little harder,” she said. “Like now, the girls won’t even climb the pole.” When Cohen wondered if strippers today are phoning it in, Cardi said, “They’re lazy. They’re lazy and I be spending like racks.”
The host and guest then bonded over their mutual love of Madonna, with Cardi explaining that her devotion was born out of her mom’s love for the pop legend. “Growing up I always listened to Madonna, Madonna, Madonna,” she said. “In fact, I asked Megan [Thee Stallion] what is her favorite to-do love song… well, she said she likes to hear yer own ass clappin’… but mine, when I’m a little bit drunk and I’m in there, in there, I like to listen to ‘Erotica,'” she said.
Cardi also shared what her go-to karaoke song is: Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” while busting out a few whispery bars of the iconic ballad and confessing that the most famous name to slide into her DMs was tennis champ Serena Williams.
Some other tidbits we learned:
— Cardi’s first concert, and the only one she attended before getting famous, was by Bronx-bred bachata group Aventura, which she went to when she as eight-years-old because her dad knew someone who worked at the venue.
— While playing “Plead the Fifth,” Cardi said out of her nine Grammy nominations, the one she feels most robbed about losing was for best rap song and best rap performance for her breakthrough hit “Bodak Yellow” at the 60th annual ceremony in 2018.
— Since she got her start on Love & Hip-Hop, a fan asked if Cardi would ever do a reality show with husband Offset. “Yeah I wouldn’t mind, but I kind of mind,” Cardi said. “I feel like I would get cancelled every day.”
Cardi also played a round of “Fashion, or Trash, Hun,” running down some of her best and worst red carpet looks, while howling at a few of her weirdest, wildest and most on-point outfits.
Watch Cardi on WWHL below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard