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cardi-b-megan-thee.jpeg

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion Team Up Once Again For 'Bongos'

By Brian Richards | Music | September 11, 2023 |

By Brian Richards | Music | September 11, 2023 |

cardi-b-megan-thee.jpeg

When I look back at the year 2020, and how it was the start of a pandemic that was a worldwide catastrof-ck that brought out the best and worst of humankind, killed millions of people, and forever changed the way we all live our lives? I also think of three positive, wonderful things that blessed us all, and made things just a little better for everybody who really needed it. One of them was the theatrical release of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn), which still remains one of the best comic book films released by any studio. Another was Joe Biden winning the Presidential election, and sparing us from another four years of having that orange-skinned dickhead in the Oval Office. And the very best thing to bless us all in the year 2020? Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion joining forces in the studio to record the track “WAP.”

(I would’ve included the actual music video in this article, but it’s age-restricted and can only be seen on YouTube.)

Even if you’re not a fan of rap music, it was damn near impossible to ignore the song’s impact when it dropped in the summer of 2020. Fans loved it, and wished that they could be at house parties or in nightclubs where they could properly shake their asses (and watch themselves) while the song boomed from the speakers. Others hated the song and thought it was too crude and nasty, and that it set a bad example for children, enough that the FCC attempted to sue Cardi B because of that. (It also gave us this moment right here from when Cardi and Megan performed “WAP” at the Grammys, and even Cardi admitted that she was caught off-guard by how Megan effectively pulled that off.) And Ben Shapiro — the man who brings his wife as much sexual pleasure as a croissant being used as a dildo — hated it so much that he recited the song’s lyrics on his show, which only made him like an even bigger embarrassment to the male species than he does already.

And as a bonus, there was this recent dismissal of a copyright lawsuit against Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion for “WAP,” as reported by legal issues journalist/editor Meghann Cuniff, who has affectionately been nicknamed “Meghann Thee Reporter” by Black Twitter due to her coverage of the Tory Lanez trial for his shooting of Megan Thee Stallion.

Three years later, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion have teamed up once again to give their fans something to dance and rap along to, and something for everyone else to get mad about. That something is “Bongos,” which made its debut last Thursday.

(Let us all give thanks that Kylie Jenner was too busy making out with Timothée Chalamet to appear in this video. Because her presence in the video for “WAP” had the same effect on fans as seeing Jay-Z perform with Beyoncé on stage or on one of her albums, in that it just made us ask: “Why are you even here?!”)

It didn’t take long for fans to show their love and appreciation for the very catchy and memorable “Bongos.” Social media couldn’t stop talking about the song, its clever and quotable lyrics, or the music video with its stunning visuals and choreography. Even Cardi B was taken aback by how quickly there were tribute videos to “Bongos” appearing on TikTok.

@davemizzoni Sunday SERVE 🙏🏼 #bongos #cardib #megantheestallion ♬ Bongos (feat. Megan Thee Stallion) - Cardi B

(FYI: I will never get tired of seeing talented and beautiful Black women like Anna Diop or Megan Thee Stallion as Starfire. Never!)

As expected, there were also some complaints about “Bongos,” and about Cardi and Megan. Some of the complaints were made by Nicki Minaj stans, who hate to see any other female rapper that isn’t their sex offender-marrying fave achieving fame and success. Other complaints being made were the same ones that were said about “WAP” back in 2020, in that the two rappers were being nasty and crude, that they were still rapping about their sex game instead of making songs with more substantial lyrics, and that they should use their success to be more like Lauryn Hill.

All of this while ignoring the fact that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the only album she ever released, her inability to perform most of the songs from that album at her live shows (which she is always predictably late for) due to legal issues, and the fact that some of her material hasn’t aged all that well since 1998, such as the hypocrisy and slut-shaming that was on display in one of her biggest hits, “Doo-Wop (That Thing),” despite the fact that she was known for being romantically involved with her Fugees colleague, Wyclef Jean, even after he married someone else. And of course, the people making these complaints about wanting more serious lyrics from female rappers have had very few complaints about male rappers covering the same topics over and over again on their albums, nor have they felt the need to chase clout on social media share their thoughts on other female rappers like Little Simz, NoName, Rapsody, Gifted Gab, Tiffany Foxx, Ice Spice, or GloRilla.

None of these complaints from the Barbz or the Fun Police seems to be stopping people from playing “Bongos” on repeat, and claiming that they’re finally getting the song of the summer right when summer is coming to an end. And frankly, if there’s anyone who deserves this success, and to be reminded that there are rappers like Cardi B in the industry who have her back, and who won’t crack jokes in their lyrics or in podcast interviews about one of the worst experiences of her life in defense of a f-ckboy whose music was barely ever streamed on Spotify? It’s Megan Thee Stallion.