It was August 2020. The world was stuck indoors, restless, and desperate for something—anything—to talk about that wasn't a virus. Then Cardi B dropped "WAP."
Honestly, the internet didn't just break; it shredded. You couldn't scroll for five seconds without seeing a politician fuming or a fan doing a high-kick on TikTok. But beneath the memes of macaroni in a pot and Ben Shapiro’s infamous "dry" reading of the lyrics, there was a massive shift happening in how we talk about women, power, and the word "pussy" in mainstream pop culture.
What Really Happened with WAP
When Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion teamed up, they weren't just making a catchy club track. They were essentially walking into the center of the town square and shouting about things that usually stay behind closed doors. The title alone—an acronym for Wet-Ass Pussy—was enough to send some people into a full-on panic.
Conservative pundits like DeAnna Loraine and Ben Shapiro basically turned the song into a national emergency. Shapiro’s critique, where he referred to the anatomy in question as "the P-word," became an instant joke. He argued that the song was a step back for feminism. But if you ask the fans? It was the exact opposite.
The Politics of Pleasure
Most rap music has always been about sex. That’s nothing new. The difference here was the POV. Usually, it's a guy bragging about what he’s going to do. In this song, Cardi and Megan are the ones in the driver's seat. They aren't just objects; they’re the ones with the list of demands.
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Think about the lyrics for a second. "I don't cook, I don't clean / But let me tell you how I got this ring." That line alone flipped the traditional "housewife" script on its head. Cardi wasn't saying women shouldn't cook; she was saying her value isn't tied to domestic labor, but to her own sexual agency and the power she holds in her relationship with Offset.
Why "Punani Dasani" Became a Cultural Marker
Cardi is a master of the metaphor. When she raps about "Punani Dasani," she’s doing more than just being graphic. She’s reclaiming a narrative. For a long time, Black women in music have been hyper-sexualized by the male gaze. By taking that same imagery and using it to describe their own pleasure, Cardi and Megan effectively "reclaimed the whore," as some academic studies have put it.
- The Visuals: The music video was a literal mansion of women. No men in sight. Just snakes, tigers, and some of the most famous women in the world—Normani, Rosalía, and even a controversial Kylie Jenner cameo.
- The Sound: That looped sample of "There's some whores in this house" from Frank Ski’s 1993 Baltimore club hit gave the song a historical backbone. It connected the modern "baddie" aesthetic to the 90s underground scene.
The Double Standard Problem
One of the biggest reasons this song stayed in the news for months was the blatant double standard.
Men in hip-hop have been rapping about the exact same things for decades. They talk about "bitches" and "hoes" like they’re accessories. But the second a woman uses the word pussy to describe her own body and her own arousal, it’s a "moral revolution" according to some critics.
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Cardi’s response was pretty much: Stay mad. She’s always been open about her past as a stripper and how that shaped her view of the world. She knows sex sells, but she also knows that being the one making the sale—and keeping the check—is where the real power lies.
More Than Just Lyrics
It’s easy to write this off as "raunchy music," but it actually touched on some serious health and social gaps.
A lot of the online discourse around the song actually led to conversations about female health. When critics suggested that being "wet" was a medical condition, gynecologists had to jump on Twitter to explain that, no, that’s actually how bodies work. It was a weird, accidental moment of public health education.
The Legacy of the "Freak"
Cardi has always called herself a "certified freak." But in her world, "freak" isn't an insult. It’s a badge of honor. It means she’s not repressed. It means she’s in control.
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Basically, the song became a blueprint for a whole new wave of female rappers. Since 2020, we’ve seen an explosion of artists who are unapologetically loud about their bodies. It’s not about "lowering feminism to the depths of the patriarchy," as some Redditors argued. It’s about the freedom to be as "vulgar" as the guys without losing your seat at the table.
Practical Takeaways from the "WAP" Era
If you’re looking at why this still matters today, here’s the gist:
- Agency is Everything: The power shift happens when the person being talked about becomes the one doing the talking.
- Language Matters: Reclaiming words that were used as weapons is a classic move in social evolution.
- The Internet Never Forgets: Whether you loved the song or hated it, you definitely knew the lyrics. That’s the "Cardi Effect."
If you want to understand the modern celebrity landscape, you have to look at how Cardi B uses her platform to bridge the gap between "hood-rat friends" and the Billboard charts. She doesn't change who she is for either audience.
To see this evolution in real-time, you can check out her more recent collaborations where she continues to push these boundaries, or look into the legal battles she’s won regarding her right to use her own image and history as she sees fit. The conversation started with a bucket and a mop, but it’s grown into a much bigger debate about who owns the narrative of the female body in 2026.
Next Steps for You:
You might want to research the "Jezebel" stereotype and how it specifically affects the way Black women's lyrics are policed compared to their white counterparts. Alternatively, look up the history of Baltimore Club music to see where that "Whores in This house" sample actually came from.