Cardi B has never made a secret of the fact that she started her career as a stripper. That she climbed the ladder, rung by rung, out of the strip clubs of New York and into reality television. That she used this new platform to cross into the music industry.

That she is, without doubt, one of the most successful and decorated female rap artists of all time. 

It came as no surprise, then, to see her take home a whopping SIX awards last night at the Billboard Music Awards, including the gong for Best Rap Song.

“Man, I remember when I first hit the Billboard at No. 85 with Bodak Yellow,” she said, with a smile. “I celebrated that the same way I celebrated all my No. 1s on the Hot 100.”

Cardi then thanked her fans, prompting them to erupt into rapturous, deafening applause. 

“Let me finish my speech, god damn it,” she teased. “I know y’all love me!” 

Cardi went on to call upon her fans to support their favourite artists by listening to their music legally.

“If you got a favourite artist, support them,” she said. “Stream their music. Listen to their music. Tell a friend to tell a friend about their music to get them on the chart, an upcoming artist or artists that’s already out there. Support their music. 

“Be the biggest fan that you can be.”

She finished with a casual promotion of her upcoming fashion line, joking: “I want to thank Bardi Gang – what’s good? – and my Fashion Nova collection is coming real soon. I’m going to have y’all looking good! You heard!. And I got more music on the way! They do anything for clout, woo!”

Essentially, it was a brilliant night for Cardi. Despite all of this, though, there were those who felt the need to try and bring her down.

Rather than just make a song and dance about the fact that the paparazzi snapped a potentially explicit photo of Cardi B as she kissed her husband, Offset, on the BBMAs red carpet, though, these trolls also felt the need to imply that the picture was somehow Cardi’s fault, too.

When Cardi saw the social media furore – and noticed that many had incorrectly accused her of exposing her “pussy” – she decided to offer her own opinion on the matter. 

And, naturally, she did it in the most Cardi way possible.

In between changing outfits during the live broadcast of the award show, Cardi shared an NSFW video – which she captioned “Damn, so thirsty” – in order to give her haters a quick lesson on female anatomy.

“Y’all motherfuckers going around showing this fuckin’ picture, now y’all PhotoShopping it even more like, ‘Cardi pussy, Cardi pussy,” the rapper says in the clip, her exasperation all too apparent.

“First of all, that ain’t my pussy. My pussy right here,” continued Cardi, gesturing to the correct area. “This is where I birthed my daughter from. This right here, you know the part that shows when I go like this, that’s just my ass.”

She closed the lesson with a classic Cardi B clap back:“Y’all wanna look at my pussy so bad, y’all shoulda went to see me when I was a motherfu**in’ stripper, and I was promoting myself. Now, too bad.”

Boom.

Image: Getty