NEWS
Cardi B has reflected on a throwback video of her performing during the early days of her career, and the moment made her emotional.
A fan shared a clip of the Bronx-bred lyricist performing her 2016 track “Washpoppin” on Twitter on Tuesday (March 7), and wrote that “Cardi was really doing this without a label.”
Cardi caught wind of the moment and tweeted back: “I could cry” as she watched her young self grind it out on stage.
Watch the footage below:
“Washpoppin” appeared on Cardi’s 2016 mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1, which was recently the focus of a highly contested lawsuit in regards to its cover art.
The lawsuit, which Cardi ultimately won, was filed by body art model Kevin Brophy Jr., who claimed the rapper used his back tattoo and likeness without his permission.
The artwork depicts Cardi sitting in the back of a limousine with a male model kneeling in front of her, appearing to perform oral sex on the would-be superstar.
“It felt like my Michelangelo was stolen off the wall and just literally ripped off and robbed and just put wherever these people wanted to put it,” Brophy said in his October testimony. “It looks like I’m giving oral sex to somebody that’s not my wife, somebody that’s not my partner, and an image that I never signed off on, ever.”
He continued: “Being a father of two and a devoted husband and a man of faith as well, this goes against everything that I stand for, and I would never ever sign off on something like this.”
Brophy had originally sued Cardi for $5 million, but the jury ultimately sided with the Bronx rap star. Brophy then filed to overturn the verdict, but U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney ruled that the request came too late and lacked merit.
In other news, Cardi B is still hard at work on the follow-up to her blockbuster debut Invasion of Privacy. As fans patiently wait for new music, she confirmed in a heartfelt Instagram Live session in December that personal anxieties are partially behind the delay.
“I’m just a mom and I do have anxiety,” she said. “I’ve been having a lot of anxiety, because I know right after I drop my album, I have to go out on tour and I have bad separation anxiety from my kids.
“When it comes to music and everything, I just be feeling like I don’t be liking anything. I feel like I got so many songs and I don’t like anything. I feel like nothing is good enough… And I got so much money saved up I just be like, ‘Yeah, whatever the fuck.’”
Lizzo has made it clear that she never abandoned her album Love in Real Life.
The “Juice” artist recently responded to rumors that the project had been cancelled after fans expected it to arrive last year. Rather than putting out the album at the time, Lizzo instead released the mixtape My Face Hurts From Smiling in June.
During a new conversation with Billboard, the “Truth Hurts” singer explained that the album itself was never scrapped and is still the same body of work she plans to release on June 5 under its new title, B**ch.
“I think the biggest misconception about my album is that I shelved Love in Real Life when I didn't,” she said. “(B**ch) is technically the same album. I just changed the name. The music is the same.”
Lizzo shared that the main difference between the earlier version of the project and the upcoming release was taking away the original title track, which eventually led to the album being renamed.
“When you change the name of something, it changes its destiny,” the singer explained. “Like, when I went from Melissa to Lizzo, it changed my destiny.”
“When this album went from Love in Real Life to Bch, it changed the trajectory of its past,” she continued. “I do think that I feel like I can express myself the way that I want to express myself right now through Bch. I think Love in Real Life was really sombre and a little bit more introspective, and I think B**ch is a little bit more empowered and self actualised and bold.”
Before the newly titled album arrives, Lizzo has already released the singles B**ch and Don’t Make Me Love U.
The artist had previously spoken about stepping away from Love in Real Life during an earlier interview with Vulture, saying the project “just wasn't what I was feeling right now”.
She also mentioned that much of the album had originally been written back in 2022.
“By 2025, I've changed, the world has changed so much, and so much has happened,” she said. “I was like, ‘I need to do s**t differently, and I don't know what it is, but I'm going to just start following my instincts.’”
