Cardi B called out other women in rap during a new interview, venting about jealousy and constant jabs from female rappers she says aren’t even in her league.
“For some reason, it’s something about me that these b###### can’t stand,” she said on an appearance on Apple Music’s Zane Lowe show.
“They can’t f### with me. Some b######… they’re sophomores, and I’m a senior,” she added, comparing her status in the rap game to a high school hierarchy.
Cardi continued, “It’s like you want to f### with the senior so bad. You think you’re here with the senior. You’re not even a junior. You need to worry about them other sophomores before you start worrying about the f###### senior.”
The Bronx-born rapper said she’s tired of being the focus of other artists’ attention instead of their own growth.
“It’s something about it that it’s like, they can’t even focus on them,” she explained. “They got to focus on me. And they always got to focus on throwing me shots and throwing me slings … and I’m sick of it. It’s like, f### you, f### everybody.”
Cardi B also teased that her upcoming album will address some of the drama, but not every track will be a diss.
“Not all my songs are going to be like that,” she said. “I have a little bit of everything,” including upbeat pop and club-ready records.
One of those tracks, “Imaginary Playerz,” was born during a low moment in the studio.
After spending days “in a funk” and sleeping on the couch, her engineer played JAY-Z’s “Imaginary Players” to lift her spirits. That sparked a creative idea.
“Yo, imagine if I flip this but my way,” she recalled. “Cuz it’s like I got a lot of s### to brag about. Like, I really do live a different lifestyle than a lot of people.”
But getting the green light from JAY-Z wasn’t guaranteed.
“I was a little shaky,” she admitted. “Wait a minute. JAY-Z got to approve it.”
The track has drawn criticism online, and Cardi addressed the backlash during a Twitter Spaces chat last week.
“For people to dog pile on me over one song… to come at the way I speak, to make narratives of how I think I am and who the f### I think I am, to talk about every single piece of me, to bet on my downfall is crazy.”