Cardi B is one of the few celebrities whose opinions on the news we actually want to hear. In the past, she’s mixed stuff like hosting conversations on government policy alongside her pal Bernie Sanders with an Instagram post blasting Trump whose description ends by saying, “ANYWAYS TWERK VIDEO OUT NOW.” She is the town crier of popular culture, summing up our latest frustrations and fears into a social media feed that’s just as likely to include her screaming in shock at her own broadcasts as warning people to take the coronavirus seriously and holding forth on how unequally distributed tests and healthcare access are leading to widespread confusion as well as unnecessary illnesses and death.
Cardi’s dispatches are capturing the feelings of ordinary people, scared and angry about the times we live in—and there’s no better example of how true this is than the fact that people are remixing her first coronavirus rant into popular songs.
This week, Billboard reported that an iMarkkeyz track based on the above post debuted at number nine on its Rap Digital Song Sales listing and is positioned for “a No. 13 start on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales charts dated March 28.” People, it seems, are latching onto hearing a song where Cardi is sampled saying “Coronavirus! Shit is real!” and laughing when, just a few weeks ago, the public wasn’t taking it seriously enough.