Following the release of what Cardi B had hoped would be a “summer anthem,” “Outside” (an overt diss at her ex-husband, Offset), she’s trying her hand again at securing a higher-charting hit with “Imaginary Playerz.” Named after and sampled from Jay-Z’s 1997 song (a deep cut from In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 that’s actually spelled correctly), the single finds Cardi B being slightly less “relatable” than usual. Mainly because the entire focus of the song is on her fashion prowess, her haute couture savvy. In addition to, as usual, flexing about her superiority.
Unlike “Outside,” “Imaginary Playerz” was special enough to Cardi to make a video for it, which she co-directed with Patientce Foster, her long-time collaborator in various ways since she started out as Cardi’s publicist in 2015. To commence the video, the two decide to give Puff Daddy vibes (back when he was called that) in the “Been Around the World” video as she rolls up to her private jet and begins to boast, “The shit these bitches be braggin’ about is like/Shit I was doin’ in like 2016, type shit/Like (why these bitches hatin’?)/You bitches don’t even know the difference between vintage and archive, like.” That last word said in a voice that sounds more than slightly reminiscent of Nicki Minaj, Cardi’s on-again, off-again nemesis at this point (for Nicki has, of late, been much more interested in “destroying” Megan Thee Stallion and, for a minute there, SZA). However, that Cardi should also opt to sample from a Jay-Z song lends further fuel to the idea that she’s goading Nicki, who recently called out Jay not only for owing her millions of dollars through Roc Nation, but also the CEO of said company, Desiree Perez, who was pardoned by Donald Trump in 2021 for previous drug-related offenses in the 90s.
Minaj brought this up in July of ‘25, seething, “You were pardoned by President Trump… I mean it kind of implies you guys are cool with him while y’all seem to pretend to be against him. Or are y’all not his friend either anymore just like Diddy? I mean if someone pardoned me we’d be friends for life.” The mention of Diddy as everyone seems to go along with the false belief that Jay-Z had nothing to do with his “antics” (to say the least) in the late 90s and early 00s for the sake of, essentially, not wanting Beyoncé to be cancelled too is also a bold move on Nicki’s part. Just as it is for Cardi to sample from him and act proud about it merely because Jay has been “cleared” in the eyes of the law. But then, Diddy has too, so what does that really say?
Regardless, Cardi feels she has nothing to apologize for as she continues to deride those many people (particularly women) “beneath her” via lyrics like, “Bitches, I leave ‘em all fucked, fists be balled up/Y’all hoes look cheap, that shit don’t cost much.” As though to prove she lives the glamorous life, for the first minute or so of the video, Cardi remains in a fixed point near her private jet (alternating between scenes of her outside of it in one bombastic outfit and scenes of her sitting in the back seat of her chauffeured car in a different over-the-top ensemble). In the next scene, she’s off to Mykonos (per the caption on the screen) on a yacht, bedecked in an oversized white hat that puts the “Javier” design Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) wore to his funeral in Sex and the City to shame (though, of course, no hat could ever be as shameful as the gingham bonnet Carrie Bradshaw [Sarah Jessica Parker] wore in And Just Like That…).
As she flaunts her opulent lifestyle, complete with butlers (or waiters, if you prefer) emerging from the water to serve her on the beach, Cardi lives up to the line, “It’s really easy for me to talk this shit, ‘cause I live this shit.” And that, ultimately, is what “Imaginary Playerz” is all about: putting those who pretend that they’re “somebody” in their place, with Cardi explaining, “Y’all talk big shit, but guess what? Your life is imaginary. You got imaginary titles, imaginary careers…” Even those fellow rappers that do technically have a career aren’t safe from Cardi’s wrath as she reminds, “My flop and your flop is not the same/If you did my numbers, y’all would pop champagne.” This assertion goes for “Outside,” which, although it didn’t hit the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 (instead peaking at number ten), it did go to number one on the Rhythmic chart and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. So yes, Cardi has a “right” to brag with a certain wiseness when she says, “Quicker they lift up, the quicker they fall down/Poor thing, Twitter must be gassin’ them heavy” (side note: Cardi has 36.4 million followers to Nicki’s 28 million on said platform). And yes, it’s pointed that Cardi would refuse to call Twitter “X.”
In the next segment of the video, Cardi jets off to Paris, as is her wont in the years since she appeared on the cover of Vogue (also calling out in her lyrics, “I’m the one who showed these girls what fashion could be/The first rap bitch on the cover of Vogue”). Having become a regular at Paris Fashion Week (which she paid for in flak circa 2021), this year was no exception as Cardi showed up to answer the question to her own album title, Am I the Drama? The answer, in haute couture speak, is a resounding yes (with Cardi re-wearing those key looks from her various Paris Fashion Week appearances at the end of the video). And she brings it in the form of her fashion and luxury displays that only amplify in the Paris portion of the “Imaginary Playerz” video, with Cardi getting a pedicure in a foot bath filled with expensive champagne (in the next scene, she’s being served a different bottle of Perrier-Jouët).
Ah, and speaking of champagne, it was on 2018’s “Champagne Rosé” (a Quavo track featuring Madonna and “Miss B”) that Cardi rapped, “They say my time is tickin’/These hoes is optimistic.” Now, she’s the one saying other rappers’ time is ticking, loosely quoting Andy Warhol when she says, “Now your fifteen up, you already out of time/I’m a legend, they gon’ hang my heels from the power lines.” This a reference to the landscape of her native Bronx, which, like J. Lo (with whom Cardi collaborated for “Dinero“), she still consistently makes mention of in her songs as a means to “stay true” to her roots.
Of course, if Cardi were really forced to go back to that life she led in said borough before hitting the big time, it’s unlikely she would feel all warm and fuzzy about it, instead missing the finer things. So yes, do be fooled by the rocks Cardi’s got, because she’s very much no longer Belcalis from the block. And with her braggadocio and pro-luxury stance on “Imaginary Playerz,” she continues to make that abundantly clear.
Genna Rivieccio
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