Cardi B found herself in another heated exchange on social media yesterday after a well-known influencer named Raymonte name-dropped her in a TikTok. It all started when Essence magazine wrote an article exploring what it meant that a recent trip Raymonte took for his birthday that was widely watched online wasn’t sponsored by a brand – and the missed opportunities for brands when they don’t show diversity in their choice of influencers.

 

Fans suggested to Raymonte that the trip went unsponsored because he is too “ghetto” and wasn’t appealing because he is hard to market. He challenged these claims and brought up Cardi B, questioning why no one ever called her ghetto and why her being so “hood” seemed to work out in her favour. 

Throughout the video, he suggested that the main reason she was able to climb the ladder of success despite being “ratchet” was because she is light-skinned.

 

None of this sat well with Cardi, who quickly took to social media with receipts in the form of this tweet that shows she has in fact been called ghetto dating as far back as 2018 (and likely even longer, considering how long she’s been around). 

Then, she reshared a tweet featuring his initial TikTok, adding her own response. The exchanges went something like this (don’t worry if it’s hard to follow along, I will contextualize all of this below).

Cardi B's tweet
Raymonte's tweet 
Cardi B's tweet
Raymonte's tweet 
 

The tweets that came next between the pair get a little muddy so I’ll omit those just for clarity. But in terms of the context I promised, there are two important things to note. The first is that Raymonte is a Nicki Minaj fan, which obviously puts him at odds with Cardi B, who has a very well-documented beef with Nicki. And the second thing to keep in mind is that there was a point in time where Raymonte consistently referred to Cardi as a Mexican in his content, despite her actually being half-Dominican and half Trinidadian. She addressed him mislabelling her in this tweet:

Cardi B's tweet

Now this is where Ice Spice comes into the mix. In the above tweet, Cardi called Raymonte out for only referring to her as Mexican, which, she asserts, he was doing with the intent to insult her, though he claims he was under the assumption she was fully Latina and blames his ignorance on being from Minnesota, where he claims there are no half-Black and half-Latin people, otherwise known as afro-Latinx people. But she points out that he never subjected other stars who were also Dominican to being wrongfully identified ethnically – only her. 

Ice Spice's tweet

Ice responded to Cardi’s question, seemingly suggesting that the reason he never referred to her as Mexican is because she is an afro-Latina. But Cardi was quick to let Ice and Raymonte know that she is an afro-Latina, too.

Cardi B's tweet
 

The whole exchange had the internet watching them go point for point as if we were all tuned into a virtual tennis match. But it was that very last line of Cardi’s address to Spice that really garnered a huge reaction. Why? All she does is ask for Ice to send her the photo they took at the Vanity Fair party. But there is so much more being said. First, Cardi is de-escalating. And she’s de-escalating after she made her rebuttal. She is shutting that conversation down right then and there because she knows where this can go and how bad this can get. But only after she made her point. And wouldn’t you know? It worked perfectly. Because this was the next correspondence from Ice Spice to Cardi:

Contrary to popular belief, Cardi is a master at de-escalating. Cardi is a master of many things, actually – and she makes that point in this tweet, where she also puts an end to the discussion with Raymonte by switching from defensive, or perhaps confrontational, to empathetic and offered up some highly coveted advice. 

 

Cardi B's tweet 
 

To be clear, in this single social media exchange, Cardi has not only helped promote the music and success of women like Sukihana and Sexy Redd, but addressed misogyny in Hollywood, called an influencer out for deliberately ethnically misidentifying her, stood up for herself against being gaslit, de-escalated two potentially damaging conversations and proved that success didn’t just land in her lap – she worked for it. In other words, she cleared. 

Stars like Cardi B, Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj are all well-known for perhaps giving too much attention to online chatter. It’s often said that they overindulge in conversations that as celebrities, they technically don’t have to, with people they don’t have to engage. But in this exchange, we kind of see why it’s important for these stars to speak for themselves. 

What was particularly interesting about this exchange was seeing the real-time change in reactions. While Raymonte’s initial video garnered thousands of supportive comments of people who lauded him for calling attention to colourism, when Cardi B responded, and denied that this was less about the colour of her skin and more to do with the fact that she genuinely learned the business, a lot of people changed their tone, accusing Raymonte of backpedaling in his further correspondence. Not only was she challenging him, but she was showing proof that he had a history of ill-treatment towards her and that she worked hard for her success. 

I think Cardi is hellbent on setting her record straight and clearing her name from conversations she doesn’t want to be involved in for good reason. She’s not wrong for not wanting to be the comparison for some TikToker making false claims that she got to where she did because she’s light-skinned, undermining the years it took her to get to the top.

 

Cardi B has always been very outspoken about her origins. Her rags to riches come-up is not something she’s ever been shy about, and that plays a huge role in why people admire her for her relatability. She’s been candid about dropping out of community college and becoming a stripper, and even credits stripping for opening up the opportunity to be able to leave an abusive relationship and get back into school.

She dabbled in reality TV, landing a role on Love & Hip Hop, but left that world because she wanted to be a rapper. I vividly remember the cast of Love & Hip Hop laughing not only at her music, but her aspirations. And there’s not a cast member on the show that I can think of that has amassed more fame than she has. I’m talking movies, magazine covers, even Grammys. 

She became the first female artist to win the Grammy for Best Rap Album as a solo artist, and she had the first female rap album to be nominated in 15 years for Album of the Year. She’s had number one singles, dominated Billboard charts and was named by Forbes as one of the most influential female rappers of all time. Even for a cynic like me, you can’t say all of that is solely because of her skin tone.

With all the talk about industry plants, nepotism and people who had the luck of a few viral videos helping catapult them to fame, it makes sense that Cardi ensures she is not only known, but respected for putting in the work. And if you think that anyone, be it another celebrity, an influencer, a journalist or her own husband is going to disrespect her, her come-up and her truth? It ain’t happening. 

Let's Squawk about this today! (app link here)