๐ช๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฉ is back with her first solo record in three years, and her new song came with a bit of shade toward her longtime rival ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐.
๐ช๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฉ, 31, kicked off her return to the rap world on Friday, March 1, releasing โLike What (Freestyle),โ a song that samples Missy Elliottโs 1999 hit โSheโs a Bitch.โ Cardi made use of the sample in more ways than one, rapping, โFirst, that bitch hate me, then this bitch hate me / And somehow, they link up and they become friends, like, how?โ
Fans quickly pounced on the line, presuming it was about JT of the rap duo City Girls. Cardi joined JT, 31, and Yung Miami for 2018โs โTwerk,โ but the two had a public falling-out. Cardi referred to JT as Minajโs โlap dogโ in 2022, while JT told Cardi to โgo fetch a real talent.โ
๐ช๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฉ seemingly made a more direct reference to Minaj, 41, later in the verse. โYou dumb, you slow, you wildinโ / Got your first pair of Ricks [Rick Owens shoes], now you stylinโ?โ she raps. โEverything you got, I had five years before / I put it on the โGram (haha, haha) โfore it even hit the store, look.โ
Coincidentally, Minaj got her first solo Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song with โSuper Freaky Girlโ in 2022, five years after Cardi topped the charts with โBodak Yellow.โ Minaj topped the Hot 100 previously with โSay Soโ with Doja Cat and โTrollzโ with 6ix9ine. Cardi has four Hot 100 No. 1 hits in addition to โBodak Yellowโ: โI Like Itโ with Bad Bunny and J Balvin, โGirls Like Youโ with Maroon 5, โWAPโ with Megan Thee Stallion and her solo record โUp.โ
โLike What (Freestyle)โ also has moments of love in it. In the accompanying video, directed by Cardiโs estranged husband, Offset, she dressed in a chinchilla coat over a skimpy bikini for one scene. Fans quickly saw it as a loving homage to ๐ณ๐๐โ ๐ฒ๐๐โs outfit in her โCame Back for Youโ music video in 2003.
At the end of the โLike Whatโ video, Cardi teased that this is โjust the beginning,โ giving fans hope that her long-awaited follow-up to 2018โs Invasion of Privacy will finally arrive. Cardi has been teasing her sophomore album for years. In August 2023, she told Vogue Mรฉxico y Latinoamรฉrica that she would โput out my next solo singleโ while putting the finishing touches on the album.
โEveryone always tells me I should put the record out now,โ she said, โbut I always let them know Iโm not going to wait long after all these singles. So stay tuned because itโs coming out very soon.โ
One month later, while speaking with radio personality Ebro Darden, Cardi explained that she felt anxiety to match the success of Invasion of Privacy, and that has delayed its release. โFor this album, Iโm just holding it because I feel like Iโm missing a couple of things,โ she said. โThen on top of that, everything just has to be, like, perfect from everything because I feel like people are expecting so much.โ
VIDEO: