Cardi B Talks Heritage & Not Being Considered Black Because She Speaks Spanish

The rapper shared her thoughts during an Instagram Live session.
Cardi B has had her share of controversy as it pertains to conversations about race and ethnicity. The rapper has been accused of denying certain parts of herself and saying negative things about black women, but Cardi has insisted that she sees herself as black. During a recent Instagram Live session, Cardi chatted about her multi-cultural heritage and how people are often confused when she refers to herself as a black woman.

“A lot of people don’t know the difference between nationality, race, ethnicity. That’s not nobodies fault, that’s actually the school’s fault because schools don’t be teaching this sh*t to people,” she said. She recalled a conversation she was having with someone this past week who said that she was Mexican. She told them, “I’m not Mexican, bro. I’m not Mexican at all. First of all, I’m West Indian and I’m Dominican. I speak Spanish because I’m Dominican.” The person asked what’s the difference than being Mexican. “Everything.”

The rapper also said that although she obviously understands what Mexican people say when they speak Spanish, each culture has its own lingo so sometimes things don’t translate. “People just don’t be understanding sh*t,” Cardi went on to say. “It’s like, ‘Oh, Cardi’s Latin, she’s not black.’ And it’s like, ‘Bro, my features don’t come from f*cking white people f*cking, okay?’ And they always wanna race-bait when it comes to me. That’s why I have Afro features. ‘Oh, but your parents are light-skinned, your parents are this.’ All right, but my grandparents aren’t.”

She shared that Latinos from the islands have a rainbow of skin complexions. “It’s crazy right because some island women, some artists that are from the same islands as me, people will be like, ‘Oh they’re Black.’ But because Cardi speaks Spanish to people, she’s not black even though we have similar features, same skin complexion. But no, they want to not put Cardi in it because I speak Spanish.”

[via]