Cardi B knows how to own a moment even though she has her limits. In a viral Instagram Live session, the rapper was vibing to one of her explicit hit songs when an unexpected guest entered the room which is her daughter. Cardi abruptly stopped the music without missing a beat, sending fans abuzz online. It was a quick, although telling, tiny peek into how Cardi works her way up the shallow waters between her raunchy public persona and her life in private as a mom.
As far as Cardi is concerned, it goes without saying that she will protect her daughter from all adult-themed material, even though it is part of her own career. She has made it clear that she makes a distinction between what her young child should see and hear and what she produces for the enjoyment of her fans.
“I make music for grown people,”
she said once on social media as a reply to some criticizes.
“Parents are responsible for their kids’ smkin’, not me.”
Not everyone was convinced, though. The fans weren’t late to drag Cardi for hypocrisy; they said while she switches off her songs in the company of her daughter, numerous other kids around the world can easily tune into her explicit song on various online streaming services. This backlash brought the flame wars of debate from critics questioning whether artists had a responsibility not to expose kids to that type of content even when it’s meant for adults.
Never one to back down from a good clapback, Cardi pushed back on such accusations.
“There’s a difference between work and home,”
she said, drawing an analogy to other performers.
“Stripper, they don’t come home and give their kids a pole dance, right?”
She also claimed that parents, and not artists, are responsible for their kids’ consumption, again showing her personal life to be separate from her career ingenuity.
This act brought out more discourse on parental responsibility to media consumption. Hundreds of parents chimed in, sharing their opinions in support of Cardi’s sentiments, underlining that it is almost impossible for the kids not to be exposed to everything, some of which contains explicit content, and the monitoring and involvement are very important. Others felt the line isn’t so clear because influential artists can affect young listeners despite parental controls.
Ever since the beginning of her career, Cardi B has balanced pressures associated with living life in the public eye and setting boundaries. Merging her public self with her private one is a battle that people around the world watch celebrities struggle with on many fronts. Her decision not to expose her daughter to her music reflects the complicated dynamics that many famous parents have to navigate: their children’s expectation of them as career parents versus the parents’ wish to protect them.
The furor caused by Cardi B’s Live moment speaks to a broader cultural question: Who is ultimately responsible for what kids are exposed to, the artists making the content, or the parents overseeing it? While Cardi seems pretty resolute that it’s the latter, the debate is decidedly far from over. Living in a world where music, videos, and social media content is literally just a click away, the tug-of-war between artistic freedom and parental control really continues to be a divider as far as opinions go.
