Cardi B had time for her critics during a recent X Spaces conversation, addressing the backlash over her new single “Imaginary Playaz.” The record flips Jay-Z’s classic “Imaginary Player” from his 1997 album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, and while plenty of fans praised Cardi’s spin on the track, others were quick to hate.
According to Cardi, most of the negative noise has been coming from men she feels are waiting for her to slip. She explained, “For people to dog pile on me over one song. And when it comes to dog piling, it’s not even just like, ‘Oh well, I don’t like this song,’ because if you don’t like this song, fine, but 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.”
Cardi did not call out any names, but she doubled down on her point. “There’s grown men that are practically betting for me to lose. Grown-ass men that I ain’t never did nothing to, betting on my downfall. And my thing is with these people, it just be like, when my record do good, when ‘Outside’ did good, people couldn’t believe it.”
The Bronx superstar broke down how she feels the criticism always cuts both ways. “When I do good, the numbers ain’t real. When I do bad, my career is over. It’s almost ridiculous.”
On a different note, Cardi also addressed rumors floating on the Gram about her possibly expecting another child. During a live session, she cleared the air immediately. “’We thirty weeks pregnant?’ No, you stupid bh. I’m just fing out of breath ’cause I have asthma… Stop fing being fing funny in this bh before you get motherfing blocked, b***h.”
Cardi’s sharp clapbacks make it clear she is not losing sleep over critics or gossip, staying locked in on her music and her wins.