Cardi B Hints JAY-Z Approved Her “Imaginary Players” Release

Key Takeaways:

• Cardi B presumably teases that JAY-Z personally approved her use of “Imaginary Players” for her new single of the same name.
• The song’s release marks a pivotal moment in Cardi’s creative evolution and pays homage to Hip Hop roots.
• Cardi revealed she fought to release the track despite pushback, calling it a “staple” in her new era.

Cardi B’s forthcoming single, “Imaginary Players,” should please a lot of rap enthusiasts when it drops on Friday (Aug. 15). Ahead of its release, she jumped on social media to tease that she got the track cleared by “the one and only,” which fans can only assume means JAY-Z.

“There [were] a lot of Hip Hop heads in the building … and they heard ‘Imaginary Players,’ and they absolutely love it,” Cardi told fans during an X Spaces session in the early hours of Wednesday (Aug. 13) morning. “This song is like a staple for me … I have to get it approved by the one and only.”

The “Bodak Yellow” rapper also admitted she would’ve been fine if the answer had been no. “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.”

For anyone unfamiliar, “Imaginary Players” takes its name from JAY-Z’s In My Lifetime, Vol.1 track of the same name. While Cardi hasn’t said exactly how she may have sampled the ’90s classic, she apparently went through a lot just to get it out.

“If only y’all knew the story of what I had to go through with this single,” the Invasion of Privacy artist told her fans on an earlier Instagram Live. Earlier in the chat, she stated, “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 be the second pre-release single from Cardi’s sophomore album, AM I THE DRAMA? At the beginning of the summer, she graced fans with “Outside.” The 23-song effort will also house the hit records “WAP” featuring Megan Thee Stallion and “Up” as bonus tracks.