Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Cardi B enlists Ye and Lil Durk for some “Hot Shit.”
“I’m nervous. I’m so nervous. I don’t even know what’s going on,” Cardi B told Apple Music about her new song, “Hot Shit,” effectively capturing how just about everyone feels about… well, everything these days.
Cardi B is beloved for a multitude of reasons, and her complete lack of filter and insistence on being wholly herself in any situation is definitely an important one. The lead single to her upcoming sophomore album might not be as much of an earworm as the smash of all smashes “Bodak Yellow” or have the playfulness of “I Like It,” but the more simple, bass-boosted production keeps her and her expert flows front and center.
Related Video
It’s worth listening through “Hot Shit” a few times to catch the references tucked throughout the verses. “Might get in the tub with all my ice on some ‘Pac shit (Hot),” she says, referring to 2Pac’s iconic photoshoot that featured the rapper only wearing a collection of jewelry. Later, on Ye‘s verse, he says, “When we lost Virg’, I was on the verge,” referring to the late, great Virgil Abloh, fashion designer, artistic director of Louis Vuitton, and close friend and collaborator to Ye.
Cardi B loves a good boast — as she should, take a look at her life’s trajectory — and it’s never really tiresome coming from her. In the same interview with Apple Music, she shares that her songs take on genders in her brain, revealing that “Hot Shit” is a boy. What’s more, this boy is at least a few years old, as Cardi has been sitting on this track since 2019, as she was unsure if such “masculine” energy would be what listeners would want from her.
In true Cardi B fashion though, she eventually decided to throw caution to the wind and release the song anyway. Welcome to the new era of Cardi B — and if she doesn’t know what’s going on, she’s doing a pretty great job of fooling us.
— Mary Siroky
Contributing Editor
Recent Comments