Cardi B has faced a lot of criticism from listeners since she first rose to fame with "Bodak Yellow," with some asserting that she isn't black because she speaks Spanish and has previously identified as Latina. She later addressed some of the comments, saying in 2018 that she's Latinidad. "When my father taught me about Caribbean countries, he told me that these Europeans took over our lands," she said. "That's why we all speak different languages. I expect people to understand that just because we're not African American, we are still black. It's still in our culture."
Now she's responded once again. In an Instagram Live session on Tuesday, Cardi spoke about how he's been mistaken for Mexican because she speaks Spanish. "I'm not Mexican at all. I'm West Indian and I'm Dominican. I speak Spanish because I'm Dominican," Cardi explained. "And it's like, 'So what's the difference between Dominican and Mexican?' And it's like, everything!" From there she circled back to the assumption that she's not black.
"People just don't be understanding shit. It's like, 'Cardi's Latin, she's not Black.' And it's like, 'Bro, my features don't come from...white people fucking, OK?' And they always wanna race-bait when it comes to me...I have Afro features," she continued. "'Oh, but your parents are light-skinned'—alright, but my grandparents aren't."
She added that a lot of other artists haven't faced the same criticism due to the darker complexion of their skin. "It's crazy because some island women, some artists that are from the same islands as me, people will be like, 'Oh they're Black,'" she said. "But because Cardi speaks Spanish to people, she's not Black, even though we have similar features, same skin complexion. But no, they want to not put Cardi in it because I speak Spanish."
Watch what she had to say via Instagram Live above.
