Nardwuar vs. Cardi B. Backstage at Coachella
It’s been a big couple of weeks for Cardi B, who has recently smashed Taylor Swift’s streaming record and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Cardi B has really been the latest big name, but the past few days have been especially superlative: Her new album, Invasion Of Privacy, reached the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart, she just played a headline grabbing set at Coachella on Sunday, and while she was there, she found time to chat with another unique personality in the music business, famed interviewer Nardwuar The Human Serviette.
Rapper Cardi B, sat down backstage with YouTube personality Nardwuar for an interview that may grab a few headlines of its own. Two of the best, most infectious personalities in music coming together is very special indeed, and of course, they don’t disappoint.
“How much money you spend on all these gifts for me?" https://t.co/9L9bOHBEYd
— Pitchfork (@pitchfork) 17 avril 2018
The Vancouver legend, Nardwuar was backstage at Coachella at the weekend, where he got to meet Cardi B. Nardwuar presented the artist with a variety of gifts. Nardwuar’s first gift to Cardi B was “Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth," an installment in the popular children’s series by Barbara Park. Cardi B accepted the gift, which reminded her of her childhood and of the various fan parodies of the books based on the rapper.
“Junie B. Jones! I used to read her books when I was in third grade," Cardi B said. “Yeah a lot of people, they modify it for me, maybe because she’s so obnoxious. I used to be the Junie B. from school that nobody used to like, or she was always interruptive, always used to get in trouble, and I didn’t understand why.”
The rapper commented on and sang songs from various hip hop artists, trop, as Narwuar gifted her with albums from Freak Nasty, Trina, and Hoes with Attitude. Cardi B didn’t recognize all of the artists, explaining that her exposure to hip hop music actually came later in her life, as the albums were from earlier decades.
Nardwuar also acknowledged Cardi B’s interest in history by giving her a record “Voices of History” a vinyl detailing U.S. presidents, and a book about a famous Vancouver strip club. Among those presents were a vinyl recording about stripping and stripper music. “It really depends on the club that you work in,” Cardi B said. “I actually used to enjoy dancing to house music. But you know, I went to the hood clubs, and then it’s just hip hop. It really depends.”
Another vinyl to strip called How To Strip For Your Husband, upon receipt of which Cardi gives a short but very cute rendition of “Nasty Bitch.” Cardi flashed a ring that Offset gave her and said, “Look at my ring. What does that tell you? It tells you I don’t need this right here.”. In return, Cardi fires back with a quick rendition of Trina’s “Da Baddest Bitch” after being gifted the record, which was charming.
Nardwuar also acknowledged Cardi B’s place in the history of female rappers by giving her some music from predecessors like Hoes With Attitude and Bytches With Problems.
“I’m a ‘90s baby, so when I started understanding hip hop — what they were saying — I was around eight, seven, six,” Cardi B said. “I was saying these types of things, but I didn’t know what I was saying. My mom, she grew up listening to Aerosmith, Madonna, Pet Shop Boys. That’s the type of thing we used to listen to in our house. She came to this country, and she lived in upstate New York with the Caucasians.”
Both Cardi and Nardwuar have their own public personas, and there were moments during the interview where they seemed to be speaking different languages. Launching subsequent conversations on a variety of topics, they discussed the history of strip club music, the benefits of yoghurt, “Junie B. Jones,” strip music, and United States history in a video titled “Nardwuar vs. Cardi B,” which the YouTuber posted on Monday.
There was basically no chance that a conversation between these two wouldn’t be entertaining, and they did not disappoint. Cardi’s interview was a welcome return to the what-the-fuck-is-this-guy reactions of old. The 11-minute clip shows the Canadian interviewer shower Cardi B with gifts, including a stripping-themed book, a “Bytches With Problems” tape and a vinyl record of “Voices From History.” The interview also sees Nardwuar talk to Cardi about her opinion of yogurt, ’90s hip-hop and her single “Be Careful,” which she describes as a “beautiful song that women and men can relate to.”
Nardwuar asked, “Anything you want to tell the people out there at all?" Cardi replied, “I want to tell the people out there: thank you for supporting me, and if you don’t… Suck. My. Dick. And I know you think because I’m a woman I don’t have a dick, mais, I have a pink dildo in my dresser.”
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Rapper Cardi B, sat down backstage with YouTube personality Nardwuar for an interview that may grab a few headlines of its own. Two of the best, most infectious personalities in music coming together is very special indeed, and of course, they don't disappoint.
