Cardi B Reveals Why She Doesn’t Collaborate With Male Rappers Very Often

Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for Fashion Nova

In a wide-ranging interview with Billboard magazine, Cardi B–who was recently crowned Billboard “Woman of the Year–revealed why she doesn’t collaborate with male rappers very often. The reason? She’s “shy”.

Yeah, we know. The word “shy” doesn’t usually come to mind when we think of Cardi B.

But the Bronx-born MC explained that there’s a different side to her that the public doesn’t see very often.

Cardi B explained why she gravitates towards promoting and collaborating with female artists–like when she teamed up with Megan Thee Stallion to create the mega-hit WAP. For Cardi, the move is about trying to debunk false media narratives where successful women are inevitably pitted against each other.

“When female artists are rising, you don’t have to put one down because the others are rising. Every single time a female rapper comes out, people wanna start fake beef. Maybe because they don’t see me [with other women] as often as people want to.”

But Cardi also explained that male rappers make her nervous–especially because she’s admired many of them from afar before she ever got into the game.

“The thing is, I’m shy–and really shy to reach out to male artists, to be honest with you,” she admitted. “That’s why a lot of collabs that I want, I haven’t gotten yet because I’m scared to reach out. I always get a little star-struck. I be thinking I’m corny, even though I’m funny.”

In fact, Cardi admitted back in August that she was even nervous about reaching out to Megan Thee Stallion.

The story goes that Cardi and Megan’s wardrobe stylists were friends, and they both were hanging out at Cardi’s house. They both asked her when she was going to collaborate with Megan. She told them she was too shy to reach out.

“Even when it comes to females I get even more shy, I don’t know,” she said in an interview with Tidal earlier this year. “I’m just really weird. Like I’ve got a really bad, weird anxiety. But he was like: ‘You’ve have to make it happen. People want to see that.'” She took his advice and the rest is history.

In the Billboard interview, explained that it’s hard for her to be publicly vulnerable about topics that aren’t raunchy.

“When it comes to me writing or putting ideas of my personal life [in the music], I get really shy. When I perform songs like “Be Careful” or “Ring,” I usually close my eyes because I get really shy about showing that lovey-dovey side,” she said. “Even to my engineer, I start giggling. I be like, “Oh, my God, I can’t. This is so embarrassing.”

“When it was time to get more creative with my love side or my R&B side, I was like, ‘This makes me feel weird and uncomfortable.’ I’m getting better at it.”

Looks like there’s still a ton we don’t know about Belcalis Almánzar! We can’t wait until she’s comfortable enough to share her more vulnerable side to the world.