With cameos from singers Normani and Rosalia, rappers Mulatto, Rubi Rose and Sukihana who mimes the act of oral sex, the video is unapologetic in celebrating the sensuality and sexuality of women. Those who make an appearance are draped in latex. Visually, the message is about sex, women enjoying sex, and women celebrating being sexy. Fans have pointed out the song isn’t quite as risque as lyrics of late 90s and early 2000s rappers like Trina, Lil Kim, and Adina Howard – a sentiment partially shared by Cardi herself. WAP, which has since dominated social media discourse and YouTube (76m views and counting), isn’t the first time Megan or Cardi have rapped about sex, even so explicitly. With gold statues of a bust fountain and a butt mounted on the wall in a hallway, Cardi and Megan appear in matching coiffed updos and respective pink and yellow bodysuits with floor-length trains dragging behind them, as Cardi raps the opening lyrics of WAP: “Certified freak / Seven days a week / Wet and gushy / Made his pullout game weak.”

While the video’s audio tones down the sexual content – the pair rap “wet and gushy” rather than “wet ass pussy” – it doesn’t dismiss it either. The video doesn’t conceal this, beginning with Cardi and Megan as fountain statues posed in a manner reminiscent of Lil Kim. With the famed Baltimore house producer and former Atlanta radio DJ Frank Ski’s voice booming in the background, the song reveals its content: it’s about sex.

Shortly before its release, Cardi admitted YouTube would not accept the more explicit cut of the song and even the “clean version” was almost too sexually explicit for radio, adding to building speculation of what the song might sound like. Even with communal dance spaces essentially banned due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the collaboration between the two rappers was almost guaranteed to be a hit.

There was just a title, WAP, a pink background, and the two stars with their tongues out (a shared signature of sorts) appearing in shared high-teased updos and gold hoop earrings. Two rap powerhouses, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, had united to create a mysterious single, and the internet waited with bated breath.

Shaggy use me megan