Cardi B is getting ready to serve fans another dose of rap with her new single “Imaginary Players,” set to arrive on Friday, August 15th. During an early morning chat on X Spaces this week, she revealed the track got the green light from “the one and only,” which many believe is JAY-Z. She told listeners that several respected hip hop figures had already heard it and loved it, calling the song “a staple” for her and explaining that she wanted his approval before putting it out.
Cardi admitted she would not have been upset if the answer had been no, saying it would have simply pushed her to work harder. “If he didn’t approve it, I probably wouldn’t [have] even [felt] a certain type of way [either], because it’s like, ‘OK, maybe I just had to come a little bit harder,’” she explained. “But I’m glad that I came hard and he loved it.”
The track takes its name from JAY-Z’s 1997 record on In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, though Cardi has not gone into detail about how it connects to the original. She has, however, hinted that the process of bringing it to life was far from simple. Speaking to fans during a recent Instagram Live, she said, “If only y’all knew the story of what I had to go through with this single.”
She also made it clear that she fought to release this track despite advice to go in a different creative direction. “I fought really hard to put this song out because some people wanted a different direction, but it’s like, I want my next single to be more of a Hip Hop direction.”
“Imaginary Players” will follow her summer single “Outside” and appear on her upcoming 23-track album AM I THE DRAMA?, which will also feature “WAP” and “Up” as bonus tracks.
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