Cardi B Says She Never Claimed 'To Be Perfect' Amid Backlash of Drugging and Robbing Men During Stripper Days

Cardi B at 2019 iHeartRadio Awards
Cardi B is pictured accepting Best New Artist onstage during the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 11, 2018, in Inglewood, California. Christopher Polk/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Invasion of Privacy rapper Cardi B found herself in the midst of backlash after an unearthed Instagram Live video began circulating Sunday on social media. In the video, the rapper states things she claimed she had to do to "survive" during her stripper days, which included drugging and robbing men.

"I had to go strip, I had to go, 'Oh yeah, you want to f*** me? Yeah yeah yeah, let's go back to this hotel,' and I drugged n****s up and I robbed them. That's what I used to do," she said in the video at the time.

After the video was posted, some Twitter users began using the hashtag Surviving Cardi B, in reference to the Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly.

"I just don't understand how she can get away with ALL these crimes she did," one Twitter user wrote. "Really disgusting. Really sad."

Amid the initial controversy, the Brox-native took to Twitter to brush off the backlash and made a joke of social media trying to "cancel" her.

"Okay I'm off Twitter for a few days," Cardi B tweeted, along with a kissing face emoji. "Have fun."

When they try to cancel me on Twitter and instagram 🤪🤪🤪😊😊😊😊😊😊 pic.twitter.com/a19gI006Xk

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) March 24, 2019

Despite the unbothered response Sunday, the rapper took to Instagram Tuesday to release a statement, prefacing that "all I can do now is be a better me for myself my family and my future."

"I'm seeing on social media that a Live I did 3 years ago has popped back up. A Live where I talked about things I have to do in my past," Cardi B began. "I never claim to be perfect or come from a perfect world with a perfect past. I always speak my truth [and] I always own my s***."

"I'm apart of a hip hop culture where you can talk about where you come from, talk about the wrong things you had to do to get where you are," the rapper continued. "I never glorified the things I brought up in that Live. I have never even put those things in my music because I'm not proud of it."

"I made the choices that I did at the time because I had very limited options. I was blessed to have been able to rise from that, but so many women have not," she concluded. "The men I spoke about in my Live were men that I dated, that I was involved with, men that were conscious, willing and aware. I have a past that I can't change, we all do."

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Hannah Preston works remotely from the Los Angeles area. She studied Journalism & New Media at California Baptist University and interned ... Read more

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