Photo Credit:John Nacion/WireImage
Cardi B is making headlines again, but not just for her long-awaited sophomore album Am I the Drama?, set to drop on September 19, 2025. The Grammy-winning rapper has sparked a heated debate online after revealing that her 23-track album will include two previously released songs, “WAP” (2020) and “Up” (2021), both of which are five years old.
For fans who have waited since her 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy, the news was a letdown. Social media erupted almost immediately, with critics accusing Cardi of recycling old content in a lazy attempt to inflate streaming numbers and boost chart performance. One viral tweet read, “Adding WAP, a nearly 6-year-old song, is so desperate �,” while another joked, “It’s like submitting a group project you did in college and expecting to get full marks again.”
Reddit users in pop culture forums echoed the sentiment, questioning why an artist with such a long gap between albums would bring back older material instead of offering an entirely fresh tracklist. Comments like, “Why is there a five-year-old song on this album?” and “This feels like a repackage, not a comeback,” highlighted the frustration brewing within her fanbase. Others took it further, suggesting that this was not just a creative issue but an industry problem where labels prioritize commercial success over originality.
Cardi B, never one to back down from criticism, addressed the backlash through TikTok and YouTube, brushing it off with her signature confidence. She told fans to “let them cry” and remained unapologetic about her album’s composition. She also revealed that her label, Atlantic Records, had initially resisted the release of her newest single “Outside,” prompting her to apologize for being “very nasty” to executives before finally getting approval to proceed. That behind-the-scenes struggle added another layer to the controversy, exposing the push-and-pull dynamics between artists and record labels.
Still, some fans and industry observers defended Cardi’s strategy. From a business standpoint, including massive hits like “WAP” and “Up” guarantees built-in streams that can help catapult the album’s success upon release. One tweet summarized it perfectly: “That’s smart—put a five-year-old song with one trillion plays on your 2025 album so it automatically has 500k sales on day one.” But while the numbers may work in her favor, the creative disappointment remains for many.
