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Cardi B's "Press" Video Implies That Her Felony Charges Were a Publicity Stunt

Was Cardi B's 2018 assault a meticulously preplanned publicity stunt?

Cardi B

David Fisher/Shutterstock

On Friday, June 21, Cardi B entered a courtroom.

She wore a black pantsuit with pink lapels and high heels; her gleaming hair fell around her face in straight lines. She proceeded to plead not guilty to felony charges that stemmed from a 2018 fight in a strip club in Queens.

Five days later, she dropped the video for her song "Press," which also finds her in a courtroom. Dressed in a white suit with an extravagant neck ruff, she delivers the kind of searing verses that made her famous while a white man screams at her—until he starts bleeding from the neck. Carnage ensues.

Cardi B - Press [Official Music Video]www.youtube.com

Though the line between Cardi B's life and her art has always been blurred, the "Press" video erases that division entirely. The fact that the video so clearly parallels real events—along with the fact that Cardi refused to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge that would've almost certainly gotten her no jail time—raises the question: Was Cardi B's decision to refuse to plead guilty just a publicity stunt?

After all, even the fact that news of Cardi B's felony charge and court date broke in the same week as this video's release hints at some sort of premeditation. Even more suspicious: The assault in question was apparently preplanned as well. According to her felony indictment, "The defendant used social media accounts to communicate and coordinate the date, time, location, and target of a planned assault. Tawana Jackson-Motel and Belcalis Almanzar discussed payment of money in exchange for the commission for a planned assault. Jeffrey Bush prepared to video record the assault." In light of this, if convicted, Cardi faces up to 4 years in prison. It seems like all this might be a kind of experimental art piece, or maybe one of the more complicated and risky marketing campaigns in recent memory.

Cardi B Surrenders to Police in Strip Club Fightwww.youtube.com

All this makes for a lot of media coverage, which is exactly what the ever-antagonistic Cardi B shouts that she doesn't need in "Press." The video finds its star completely in charge, declaring that she doesn't need any press or anyone at all to back her up as she ascends to the top.

Regardless of its messages, the video is a powerful visual counterpart to an already fantastic song. It's clearly designed to raise eyebrows: Beginning with a woman-on-woman kiss, featuring literally the maximum amount of nudity as YouTube's censors will allow, punctuated by gunshots, and bloodstained from beginning to end, it's a slideshow of Hollywood's most eye-catching pleasures but with a twist. For once, it's a woman pulling the trigger.

Like much of Cardi B's career, her new video and the possible publicity stunt surrounding its release are simultaneously empowering and destructive, magnetic and also undeniably messy. "Press" is full of mixed messages. She kills the white lawyers and jury who spew silent words of rage at her, which could be a pointed jab at the racial bias that leads to the mass incarceration of people of color; but later in the video, she seems to kill all the female dancers around her, backtracking on any themes of solidarity. In the end, there's only one clear point: This is all about the cult of Cardi B.

In some ways, Cardi acts as a kind of Lilith figure in the video—Lilith being the most notorious demon in Judaism. As the story goes, Lilith was Adam's first wife in the garden of Eden, but after refusing to submit to her husband's sexual requests, she wound up fleeing and embarking on a murderous rampage. In modern times, Lilith has been reclaimed as a feminist icon, an embodiment of the aggressive sexuality, freedom, and unassailable dominance that women are rarely given the tools to manifest, but which comprise the legacies of most of history's so-called "great men."

Like Lilith, Cardi B abdicates her role within the system and fights fire with fire in "Press." In that spirit, her possibly preplanned arrest may be a f**k-you to the criminal justice system, to white male-led hegemonies, and to the media at large. But it's not an ode to politically correct liberals, either, not exactly a feminist anthem. Ultimately, it's a battle cry, a declaration of independence at a distorted and violent moment in American history The point is clear: Cardi B isn't going to stop wreaking havoc, and we're not going to stop watching.

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ROLE PLAYGROUND | Monster Hunter: World doesn't dazzle like I thought it would.

It's really not my cup of tea.

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Listen, I sat down with every intention of playing Monster Hunter: World and loving the hell out of it. It's a game that's beautiful and grand, but this grandiose beauty got lost in the game's playability. I also walked into this game blind - having never played a MH game before in my life. And sure, that definitely hindered my experience - because I know that this series has specific conventions, but that shouldn't matter.

A big game like this should be able to appeal to more than just fans, and obviously it has, but I feel like there are some key issues that need to be addressed. While the world is beautiful, and the character designs are fun and funky, it gets screwed over by clunky fight controls that overshadow the game's more innovative moments.

THE GAME

Monster Hunter: World takes place on a continent called The New World, a mostly uninhabited continent filled with a lush, harsh environment. Several fleets have come to the island and created settlements for both research and obviously hunting and tracking the many creatures that inhabit the island. You take control of your Hunter, and along with your Handler, are called with the Fifth Fleet - which has been summoned by the Research Commission.

Upon arrival, you barely survive an encounter with a massive Elder Dragon, Zorah Magdaros, and make it to the settlement of Astera. Once you settle in, you are told that the Fifth Fleet is responsible for figuring what draws the Zorah Magdaros to this lush, new world by tracking it's movements and setting up camp based on where it goes. And by clearing out other hostile monsters, of course.

THE GOOD

There's a lot of good in this game, obviously. It's received massive acclaim upon its release. I think the biggest part has to be the lush world design and the active environments within that world. From the very beginning, I was treated to a world so beautiful and vibrant and got I mesmerized by it. It's very difficult for an open world to feel so alive - and I'm thankful that these guys made it such an important aspect of the game.

I know that when I travel around this world for a hunt - I'm going to interact with an environment that reacts to me, and that matters! It mostly works really well, it makes the hunts very dynamic and if it weren't for the controls - I'd keep singing praises.

Of course, the environments aren't the only thing that this game has going for it. I was surprised at how much I liked the character designs. I'm usually a less-is-more kind of guy - growing up with Enix's out-there designs would do that to you - but there's a certain charm in the way Monster Hunter does things. The big weapons seem small next to the large enemies - and the freedom in the character creator helps you make whatever kind of character you want! It's nice.

THE BAD

The bad part of this game concerns me the most. In a game that revolves Monster Hunting, the controls just need to be better. A lot of this bled through from previous games - and I understand that, and I'm sure that a lot of people have gotten used to them. And obviously a lot of other people have managed to power through - but I just couldn't. From the first fight - I struggled.

I didn't struggle because the game was hard (or harder than a game like this should be), I struggled because the fighting mechanics were annoying. The combo system felt slow and obnoxious - even with the so-called fast movement weapons like the sword and shield.

New controls should be a learning curve, but I feel like there should be a level of intuitiveness that just wasn't there for me. It really breaks the immersion and makes the game less fun, which is unfortunate, because there is a lot of really good stuff here. But games need good controls and I don't think Monster Hunter: World has them.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This game is hit or miss. It was a definite miss for me, and I won't be purchasing my own copy. I'm glad my little brother has his! I do think that some people will find it fun, and the obviously already have, so I'd definitely say rent the game first. In some way? Maybe? But yeah, I didn't enjoy it, because the controls weren't fun.

I don't care how beautiful a game is - it has to be fun.

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