American Rapper Cardi B has defended the explicit language in her controversial new song 'WAP', insisting that "really religious people" are the only ones bothered by the lyrics. The song has made headlines across the globe since its release earlier this month, with many criticising its pornographic content and suggesting that its message is harmful to women.
Speaking to an Australian radio show, Cardi B - whose real named is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar - said that "the people that the song bothers are usually, like, conservatives or really religious, big religious people". The award-winning artist added that while the music might be shocking to some, for her it is nothing out of the ordinary.
"My thing is that...I grew up listening to this type of music, so other people might [think it's] strange and vulgar but to me it's like, really normal," she said. Despite this, she did qualify that the track is certainly not for children. "No, of course I don't want my child to listen to this song and everything, but it's like...it's for adults!" she added.
With the song remaining firmly at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, Cardi said it was clearly "what people want to hear."
"If people didn't want to hear it, if they were so afraid to hear it, it wouldn't be doing as good," she added.
In a column for Premier Christianity Magazine, Dr Claire Rush, a mission and advocacy enabler for Girls’ Brigade Ministries, insisted that the track simply builds on a "culture of viewing women as sexual objects" which in turn "fuels casual sexism, misogyny and harassment."
"We live in a sexual objectification culture which treats - primarily - women like commodities, largely ignoring their personality, talents and gifts," Rush added. "This objectification culture is marketed to be empowering for women, but the truth is, it’s fundamentally disempowering for everyone concerned."
Rush noted that today's "toxic mix of consumerism and capitalism teaches girls that their bodies are projects to be improved on.
"For many girls and women, music videos like ‘WAP’ reinforce the perception that their only value is in what they look like and that their main aspiration should be to become a ‘living doll’, pleasing to the male gaze," she added.
Rush's thoughts were shared by comedian and actor Russell Brand, who, in a video on the matter, called out the song as promoting "a sort of capitalist objectification and commodification of, in this case, the female".
