Cardi B isn't staying quiet. The 27-year-old rapper covers the September issue of Elle and, in the accompanying wide-ranging interview discusses the "really f**ked up" killing of Breonna Taylor, the impact of cancel culture, and her tumultuous relationship with her husband Offset, with whom she shares a 2-year-old daughter, Kulture.
"I do know that my relationship has a lot of drama and everything," Cardi says, alluding to her husband's alleged infidelity. "But there’s a lot of love there’s a lot of passion, there’s a lot of trust, there’s a big friendship. It’s always us against the world."
Despite her outspoken nature, Cardi doesn't speak about her relationship often, preferring to let her music do the talking in that respect.
"If you all are so curious to know about my relationship and blah, blah, blah, I’m going to put it in the f**kin’ music, and you can buy it, too. I’m not going to give it to you all for free," she says. "... I don’t really like talking about love much, but I feel like I have to do it, just because I want people to know a little bit."
"There’s always rumors about me and my husband, and I feel like people would rather start rumors because they want me to be heartbroken," Cardi continues. "They want me to be hurt."
In addition to criticism about her relationship, the "WAP" emcee has also faced being "canceled" on social media, leading her to feel like she has "a target on my back."
"I feel like people are attacking me because they want me to feel the pressure of bullying, and they want me to give up, and they want me to say, 'Oh, I quit music' or 'I’ll delete my Instagram, delete my Twitter,'" she says. "And I’m not willing to do that. No one will ever have that much power [over] me."
"... Ain’t no way that I’m going to quit. I don’t give a f**k if the whole world picks on me," Cardi adds. "I don’t give a f**k if people make up lies about me every single day. I want to make it really clear that nobody can ever make me quit."
With quitting not an option for Cardi, she's looking ahead to her long-awaited sophomore album.
"I didn’t really like how my last song performed, so I just got my creativity back," she says of her 2019 track, "Press." "I don’t want to just put out a single and have people buy it because I’m Cardi. I want to put out really good music."
Through her music, Cardi hopes to make a woman "feel like a bad b**ch."
"When you make a woman feel like she’s the baddest b**ch in the room, to me, that’s female empowerment," she says. "But this album is going to be really different. Of course, it’s going to have my [Beyonce] Lemonade moments, my personal relationship moments."
With the release of the album forthcoming, Cardi is focused on being successful herself, not overtaking other successful women, a lesson she learned during her time as a stripper.
"I know when I get on the stage, I don’t give a f**k if the next b**ch, or the b**ch before me, was better than me. I know I’m going to get my coins," she says. "I know I’m bad because I’m different. I do different moves. I got a different bod. So, when these women are teasing everything, it’s expected."
"Don’t think that you’re going to have all the money in the strip club. Don’t think that every man is going to only give you the money," Cardi continues. "So don’t expect you to be the only one who’s going to hold number one on the Billboard [charts]. You’ve got to be confident in your own craft."
Cardi is also using her star power to speak out about the death of Breonna Taylor and hopes other male rappers will follow suit. Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was killed in her Louisville, Kentucky, home by Louisville Metro Police in March. She and her boyfriend were in their home when police made a late-night raid on the wrong address. Taylor was shot eight times. Though one officer was fired after Taylor's death, none of the officers involved have been arrested or charged.
"A woman like Breonna Taylor, she was young. She looked like she was listening to your music," she says. "She looked like she was your fan. You should stick up for her."
For more with the outspoken Cardi, check out the video below.
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