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Cardi B is having a great week. She killed her Saturday Night Live performances, her debut album Invasion of Privacy went gold in a matter of hours, she announced that she is expecting a child, and the Bronx rapper continues to charm her way through a slew of media appearances, most recently co-hosting the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and pulling up a seat on Power 105’s Breakfast Club.
For someone in such a glaring spotlight, it might seem difficult to learn anything new, especially about someone who uses social media as much as Cardi. But somehow, the appearances and interviews from this past week have managed to snatch uncover previously unknown facts about the “Bodak Yellow” star. From leaking butt injections to a surprising knowledge of U.S. politics, here are five interesting takeaways from Cardi B’s latest media reveals.
1. Her Illegal Butt Injections Leaked for Days
One well known fact about Cardi B is that she used to be a stripper. In that world (depending on location and demographics of the strip club), bigger butts equal bigger tips. At 21 years old, Cardi observed that her fellow dancers with larger behinds got more money even if they didn’t have better pole skills. She told GQ that she was also motivated by the fact that her then-boyfriend had cheated on her with a woman who had a larger derriere. So Cardi did what anyone would do in that situation: she paid $800 to get illegal butt injections in a Queens basement apartment. “They don’t numb your ass with anything. It was the craziest pain ever. I felt like I was gonna pass out. I felt a little dizzy. And it leaks for, like, five days,” said Cardi. That woman eventually went to prison because one of her other patients died on her makeshift operating table.
2. Intellectual Cardi
Cardi’s favorite books?: To Kill a Mockingbird, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and The Coldest Winter Ever. Surprised? Well, don’t be. She’s also a presidential trivia nerd. She told GQ about her fondness for that ever-present Jeopardy category. “I love government. I’m obsessed with presidents. I’m obsessed to know how the system works,” she told the reporter.
After going on about FDR being in a wheelchair and creating Social Security, Cardi unleashed more facts about the historically beloved president. ” On top of that, while he was president there was a fucking war going on. World War II was going on. So all this shit going on in the United States, while recouping the country from an economic tragedy, making sure that America won the war—and his wife? I would say she was almost like Michelle Obama. She was such a good humanitarian, and we both got the same birthday, October 11th.” Cardi B brain on all of us.
3. Ready for the (Unplanned) Baby
On the Breakfast Club, the hosts asked Cardi a (super invasive) question about whether she had thought about having an abortion since she mentioned that her pregnancy was unplanned, but on a “good night.” “Kinda, sorta,” she said. “No, I didn’t want to deal with the whole abortion thing. I didn’t want to. You know what? I’m a grown woman. I’m 25 years old. I’m gonna say this in the most humblest way: I’m a shmillionaire. I’m prepared for this.” Basically, she felt like she had enough shmoney to take care of her kid with fiancé Off Set, so she decided to keep the baby. When she spoke to Jimmy Fallon, she talked about how the baby is motivation. “I don’t know if it’s the strength of the fetus, but I have never felt so hungry to succeed,” Cardi said in her trademark animated way.
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4. Shy and Reserved Cardi
From interviews to Instagram posts to music videos, one signature characteristic about Cardi B is her off-the-charts bubbly personality and meme-able faces. But, she’s not always like that. In fact she referred to herself as shy in her GQ interview. At one point, she thought she saw Taylor Swift in the same restaurant where she and the journalist were dining. It turned out not to be TayTay. The writer asked Cardi if she would have gone up to Taylor Swift if it had been her. “Nah. I’m too nervous. I’m too shy,” Cardi admitted. “When I met Beyoncé, people be like, ‘How that felt? I bet you was mad happy.’ It’s like, ‘Actually, I wanted to shit on myself.’ It was a very scary thing.”
5. Those Pesky Ghostwriter Rumors
On the Breakfast Club, Cardi, made it plain that yes, she has help in the writing department and no, it’s not a ghostwriter. “Pardison is not a ghostwriter. He’s a co-writer. I credit him on all the songs he’s been in. I even gave him a shoutout in the iHeartRadio Awards. The ‘Be Careful’ song, I heard the song. I was like, ‘I like this.’ It didn’t even have a hook or nothing. I just liked that verse. I was like, ‘I want this song for me.’ … I’m putting my people on. They making money. I ain’t pay him off and hiding him. He right there. He been knowing me since I was shaking my ass in Sue’s. I’m putting my people on. Atlantic noticed his working skills and noticed his music. They signed him too. Pardison got some money.”
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6. Always a Blood
Cardi’s gratuitous use of the letter “b,” her not to subtle shout outs to gang life, and her fondness for the color red have always been strong signals that she is a member of or at least affiliated with the Bloods gang. But up until her GQ interview, she has always sidestepped the question when asked point blank. This time, she decided to come clean. Cardi said she joined the Bloods when she was 16. She noted that you can’t exactly leave a gang, but she says that today, she would never condone someone joining a gang.
“Being in a gang don’t make you not one dollar. And I know for a fact every gang member, he asking himself, ‘Why did I turn this?’ Sometimes it’s almost like a fraternity, a sorority. Sometimes it’s like that. And sometimes I see people that’s in the same gang kill each other. So sometimes there is no loyalty. Sometimes you gotta do certain things to get higher, to get higher and higher. You’re doing all of that and you not making money off of it. That’s why I don’t talk about it much. Because I wouldn’t want a young person, a young girl, to think it’s okay to join it.”