Getty Images
Cardi B has invaded the world of academia. The Association of Black Sociologists hosted their annual conference in Philadelphia and it included a panel about the “Bodak Yellow” rapper.
The “Invasion of Privacy: The Sociology of Cardi B” solely focused on how her image has jump-started debates about race and feminism. Panelists from Louisiana State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Georgia State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Cincinnati analyzed Cardi’s commentary, her past as a stripper and her rise in hip-hop through a sociological lens.
“When I teach I use a lot of Cardi B examples because she crosses over into a lot of communities,” moderator Candice C. Robinson, who is a doctoral candidate at the University of Pittsburgh, told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Panelists noted how Cardi’s freedom of speech goes against societal norms of what people say women “should” and “shouldn’t do” and empowers women instead of shaming them. Her openness about being a stripper, or “stripper hoe” as she puts it, her plastic surgery, bisexuality and how stripping saved her from an abusive relationship has began to reframe these taboo subjects in society.
“These are the girls who taught me how to navigate the matrices of oppression,” University of Cincinncati doctoral candidate Aaryn Green said. “Teaching me how, as a black girl and a black woman, to avoid these pitfalls.”
Cardi isn’t the first rapper to make it into academia. There have been classes that have focused on Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z, Q-Tip and Outkast.
