Cardi B has left the internet.
The Grammy-nominated artist deleted her Instagram account and made her Twitter page private after fellow rapper Azealia Banks targeted her in a series of harsh comments.
Azealia’s criticism of Cardi B dates back to February, when hip-hop artist Jarobi White – formerly of A Tribe Called Quest – posted a video of the “Bartier Cardi” artist to his Instagram account. The 26-year-old left a scathing, since-removed comment: “Ewww. You’re getting unfollowed for posting this illiterate, untalented rat.”
When “The Breakfast Club’s” DJ Envy asked Azealia about the February insult in a radio interview Friday, she owned up to it, then launched into a critique of the Brooklyn dancer-turned-rapper.
“Two years ago, the conversation surrounding black women’s culture was really reaching an all-time high,” Azealia said. “We were really discussing, you know, our power amongst ourselves. Beyonce came out with ‘Lemonade’ … There was just this really, really, really intelligent conversation going on nationally. And then, everything just kinda changed. Then, it was like, Cardi B.”
Azealia went on to slam the breakout artist as “this caricature of a black woman that black women themselves would never be able to get away with.”
“If my spelling and grammar was that bad, I’d be canceled. … If Nicki Minaj spelled like that, you’d just be ragging on her all day,” she said, lateradding, “I just don’t understand the extreme lack of couth. I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen that at the forefront of female rap.”
Cardi B didn’t take kindly to Azealia’s words. In a now-deleted Instagram comment captured by The Shade Room, the “Bodak Yellow” artist defended herself.
“I’m from the hood. I speak how I speak I am how I am,” she wrote in part. “I did not choose to be famous people choose me! People followed me on Instagram and the people gave me a platform to introduce my talent. I never asked to be a example or a role model I don’t want to change my ways because I’m famous that’s why I just mind my business. This is coming from a woman that bleached her skin but want to advocate. GOODBYE. I’m not apologizing or kill myself because of who I am.”
After the two exchanged further barbs – including a series of tweets in which Azealia called her pregnant rival “baby mama 4/5 to [a] man who has women crawling out of the woodworks with kids,” referring to her fiancé, Offset – Cardi B deactivated her Instagram account. The star also made her Twitter page private, but not before leaving her fans with a message indicating she’d be taking a break from the drama.
“I’m tired of the bulls**t. I need to enjoy my pregnancy, family, new projects and my partner.
Listen to Invasion of Privacy,” she tweeted, referencing her new album.
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