Yes, the song is worthy, and for all the attention the video is getting, the numbers show that more Americans are consuming it as a song. We now have better ways of measuring the reach of libidinous jams. Megan’s triple-time cadence on lines like “Gobble me, swallow me, drip down the side of me” put me in mind of Bun B’s head-spinning rhymes on Jay-Z’s 20-year-old classic “ Big Pimpin’ ”-apropos, since both Megan and Bun B hail from Houston’s rap scene and are reportedly mutual fans. But Cardi is most generous in showcasing her guest, Megan, who is the song’s blazing lyrical technician. In terms of the actual rapping, Cardi deploys her usual mix of two parts bravado to one part bravura rhyming. The track is the handiwork of production team Ayo N Keyz, who also worked with Cardi on her studio debut, Invasion of Privacy, and-from that sample to the song’s rubbery thump-channel her winning, unfiltered persona. Right from the jump, the track builds off a witty sample that’s a classic in the history of Baltimore club music: rapper Al “T” McLaran’s throaty, chanting hook about some “whores in this house,” from DJ Frank Ski’s song of the same name. It’s not my absolute favorite by either Cardi or Megan-I’d nominate either “ Be Careful” or “I Like It” for the former and “Savage” for the latter-but it’s smartly constructed and often dazzling. Among the points that have been more gently debated in the media is whether the song is worthy of the hype surrounding it. (Minaj missed the Hot 100’s No. 1 spot due to unlucky timing, dropping her track the same week as Taylor Swift’s smash “ Shake It Off” … which, come to think of it, had its own controversial video featuring twerking butts.)Īnd “WAP” is anything but boring. And in 2014, Nicki Minaj scored her biggest hit to date, the No. 2 “ Anaconda,” thanks to its posterior-celebrating video, which scored then-record YouTube views. Later that year, Miley Cyrus’ “ Wrecking Ball” made a huge pole vault to No. 1 upon the release of its clothing-optional clip three months later, it went back to the top spot driven by an affectionate parody video in which a bearded fan stripped down to his undies and rode a yoga ball in homage to Cyrus. Robin Thicke’s now-infamous “ Blurred Lines” was boosted in the summer of 2013 by its video featuring nude (in one NSFW version, topless) supermodels. Even before that Donald Glover conversation piece about America’s history of racism and violence, there were other hits powered to the top by videos serving up exposed flesh. The actual Exhibit A might be Childish Gambino’s 2018 hit “ This Is America,” a song that, like “WAP,” entered the Hot 100 on top and was the eventual, unlikely Grammy winner for Record and Song of the Year. But in the YouTube era, we have been confronted before by hit songs overpowered by their videos. Seven years after Billboard added YouTube data to the Hot 100 and some of us critics fretted aloud that we might see dance crazes and gaudy spectacle overtake the chart, “WAP” might appear to some to be Exhibit A. And the “WAP” video? It came freighted not only with its own share of celebrity gawking-including an appearance from one token white celebrity, Kylie Jenner, whom half the internet wished hadn’t shown up-but also headlines that made the ones that “Next” inspired look rather tame. While considerably lower than the all-time streaming record of 143 million set last year by Lil Nas X’s “ Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, among songs by women, Cardi and Megan’s streaming total ranks second on the all-time list, just behind the 94-million peak week for Grande’s 2018 smash “ Thank U, Next.” Grande’s hit racked up its highest streams after the belated launch of its video, which was packed with celebrity cameos and pop culture references and generated its share of headlines. That streaming total not only handily beats the best weeks of Roddy Ricch’s winter monster “ The Box” (which maxed out at 77 million in late January), it ranks as the top streaming debut ever by any song in its first week.
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