‘Let’s talk about everything’: Cardi B addresses Mona Love and prior comments on colorism amid longstanding debate

The Bronx rapper continues to defend herself after a resurfaced 2024 back-and-forth with influencer Raymonte Scott became the basis for another discussion regarding her career success and how colorism may have played a role.

Cardi B isn’t biting her tongue about her resurfaced comments on colorism and its relation to perceptions of her career.

In a lengthy post on X, the Grammy Award-winning rapper addressed Damona “Mona” Love of “Don’t Call Me White Girl” and “The Joe Budden Podcast” fame after the comedian referenced a 13-second clip from a 2024 Instagram Live where Mona felt Cardi was “incorrect” in her beliefs regarding how colorism played a role in her success.

Mona expounded on her original thoughts during a recent episode of “The Joe Budden Podcast.”

“Cardi is very talented, but part of the reasons why she’s there is because she’s light,” she said. “To add a little more on it, the fact that she’s Dominican, Puerto Rican, mixed … my experience in this country is, if you’re not white? If you got some kind of foreign on you? You’re more “special.” But if there was a girl that did exactly what I did, and she was big and Black, I can’t say that she would make it where I make it.”

She added, “Colorism does take part in a lighter person making it further. It’s a fact.”

The online drama was a bridge too far for Cardi.

“If we going to talk about what I said lets talk about everything that I said in the 15 minute live from 2024 that got cut down to 13 seconds,” Cardi began her post. “I know that colorism is real I never denied that I seen it for myself.”

She went on to highlight firsthand experience with colorism from her time working in strip clubs to watching it occur within the justice system. In her experience, Cardi says people didn’t see her skin color when she was transitioning from a social media star to a rapper, and now to a household name. They saw, “my teeth first.. the acne on my forehead.. my dusty braids and they called me a dirty stripper.”

She then turned her attention to Mona, revealing that the comedian had reached out to her on several occasions regarding advice and more. In a Spaces stream on November 1, Cardi referred to it as “shady,” since the original comments on the 2024 IG Live stemmed from influencer Raymonte Scott bringing up Cardi while recapping his birthday experience for Essence.

The colorism debate exploded from there as Scott said other “ghetto Black men and women” would never get the campaigns and brand deals that she has, while listing City Girls, Sexxy Redd and Sukihana as examples.

“You went out your way to make a video with no context when this wasnt even a topic on no blogs and no platforms.. literally nobody was talking about this,” Cardi wrote regarding Mona. “Why would you go on your platform to talk about something you were misinformed about instead of doing your due diligence or at least hitting me up like you do about anything else? I know why … because you decided to use me and a sensitive topic as a scapegoat. a topic I havent talked about in years that you randomly brought up. And now im getting dragged for it.”

She concluded, “I will never not acknowledge the prejudice in our system… we can acknowledge that reality without diminishing my accomplishments or my experience.”