Cardi B Upset Over Production Team for Ruining Her Performance: ‘What Am I Paying Y’all N***as For?’

The rapper's headlining performance at the BET Experience event on Friday suffered from technical issues, which Cardi addressed mid-set.

Cardi B wearing a sequined jersey with the number 11 performs onstage with a microphone
Kayla Oaddams / Getty Images)
Cardi B wearing a sequined jersey with the number 11 performs onstage with a microphone

Cardi B is hitting back after she was criticized for calling out her production team.

On Friday night, the “Enough” rapper performed at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California as a headliner for the BET Experience concert event. Other performers on the bill included Gunna, Davido, Sexyy Red, and Jordan Ward.

However, Cardi’s set was apparently plagued with production issues, which she addressed on stage mid-set.

“For production, y'all messing up my pyros, the fans is off, y’all messing up my music. Fuck am I paying y’all pussy n***as for?” said Cardi, 31. “What am I paying y’all n***as for? Put my fucking fan on, bitch. Let’s go.”

The Bronx-bred rapper’s comments didn’t sit kindly with one X user who wrote, “I understand that people have families to feed, but I wished we lived in a better world because no one should ever be disrespected like this in a workplace environment/at all. This principle isn’t exclusive to less glamorous positions. Celebrities included.”

“Girl shut up.. when you do a show you don’t pay after you pay before,” Cardi hit back. “I paid 350,000 up front the least they could do is get my pyro ready and turn the fans on because guess what??? At the end of the day that money is not returnable.”

Cardi B tweet: Expresses frustration about concert payment and the importance of doing her best for fans. Includes a video still of Cardi B performing on stage

She continued, “Don’t half ass my show because you comfortable when I definitely don’t half ass when it comes to paying.. don’t tell me how to talk to anybody when you the same ho talkin bout my kids and other deceased parents for no reason.”

In a separate tweet, Cardi clarified to a fan that although she was paid to perform at the event, she is still responsible for paying for her production team which includes lighting operators, pyrotechnics, music production, dancers, and more.

Cardi B responds to a Twitter user, explaining that production costs, including lighting, pyrotechnics, DJs, and dancers, must be paid upfront for shows
Tweet from Cardi B (@iamcardib) explaining why her performance was canceled due to production safety concerns and issues with funding

“I spent 100k on pyro that we couldn't use because the production team failed to have the fire marshall go over safety with my team which is sooo simple to do,” she said. “[I] spent days in rehersal (sic) learning choreography just so for them to have the wrong mix and we had to swap it out .. booked four fans so they could be turned on during Bartier Cardi and that never happened.. you wanna know why? Because they didn't bother to show up to rehearsal while hundred thousands of dollars was put into this show. Don't play with my money in this economy.”

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