The Cardi B and Bia Beef, Explained By Songs
It’s safe to call it: 2024 is officially the year of the rap beef. The latest feud involves Cardi B and Bia, two rappers who have never collaborated on wax together but share some history. Tension has allegedly been simmering for a couple of years, but things finally spilled over this past weekend when both rappers sent direct shots at each other.
On Friday, March 31, GloRilla and Megan Thee Stallion released the remix to “Wanna Be.” The song features a new verse from Cardi B, where she disses Bia. After the song dropped, Cardi went to Instagram Live to detail the timeline. She claims that she hadn’t had a problem with Bia until the Medford, Massachusetts-bred rapper started sending subliminal shots, claiming Cardi copied her flow on “Like What (Freestyle).” After Cardi’s Live ended, Bia hopped on Instagram Live as well and played the full version of her diss track, “SUE MEEE?,” which is a track Cardi teased during her own Live.
So how did we get here? And were there signs of tension before this? Here’s everything you need to know about Cardi B and Bia’s beef.
In 2023, Bia took to her TikTok Live to refute claims that she had issues with Cardi. This came after fans started floating screenshots of now-deleted old tweets of Bia supporting Cardi. Much of the speculation came from the fact that Bia and longtime Cardi rival Nicki Minaj were getting chummy. (The two collaborated on the “Whole Lotta Money” and “Super Freaky Girl” remixes.)
“Sweetie, I didn’t switch up on anybody because I don’t know Cardi in real life,” Bia explained on the Live. “I’ve never met Cardi, we’ve never had a conversation. Like, I don’t have no issues with her, it’s all love, but I don’t know her. Y’all do too much on this app, I don’t know her in real life. We don’t know each other. We don’t know them. Ask me about somebody I know. Ask me about somebody I’ve met in real life, not online.” Cardi never immediately addressed this live or these comments.
On Dreezy’s “Bitch Duh” remix, Bia raps, “I hear bitches poppin’ shit and that’s so funny to me/ How you say you runnin’ down but you can’t walk on the beat?” which some fans believe might be a reference to comments Cardi made during a 360 With Speedy Mormon episode where she talked about having difficulty rapping on Ice Spice’s “Munch” beat.
Bia goes on to say, “I can never turn my phone on just to cry, on a Live/ I hate a sneaky nigga, pick a side/If you wanna get up with me, tell that bitch that we’re outside.” That line is seemingly a reference to an incident last December where the New York rapper broke down on Instagram Live about her relationship with Offset and dealing with his infidelities.
Cardi B responded to Bia’s subliminals by joining GloRilla and Megan Thee Stallion on the remix to “Wanna Be.” In her verse, Cardi raps, “Hope she talk like that when I see her (Woo)/Bitch, please, don’t nobody wanna be ya (BIA) (Ah)/Cheap lookin’ ass ho, weak lookin’ ass ho/Great Value me lookin’ ass ho/Girl, these bitches be pussy/Delete every tweet lookin’ ass ho.”
Besides basically calling out Bia by name, Cardi also references the alleged tweet-and-delete antics that had been circulating. Bia immediately took to Twitter after the verse dropped, posting a clip from a rap battle where one MC’s verse is clowned by the crowd, and another writing, “BITCHS IS WACK. BITCHS IS TRASH.I SHOULD HANG BITCHS RIGHT OVER MY KNEE, THE WAY I BE PUTTIN MY BELT TO THEY ASS.”
Cardi B raps “Name five BIA songs, gun pointin’ to your head / Bow, I’m dead” on song “Pretty & Petty” off her album, Am I The Drama?
The track opens with Cardi declaring herself “pretty” and “petty as fuck” before setting her target on BIA.
“Name five BIA songs, gun pointin’ to your head,” the Invasion of Privacy Grammy winner raps in the first line of the first verse. “Bow, I’m dead.”
From there, Cardi highlights what she likens to a “melatonin flow,” arguing that Epic Records, the label behind BIA, should “run me my bread” for mentioning her on the record. Later, Cardi says she always thanks God “I’m not you” when praying, adding that she’d rather “die on the surgery table” than “walk around here lookin’ like you.”
Cardi continues her fiery BIA mockery in the second verse, calling her “a fake ghetto bitch” and asking “Why you always at Diddy house?” Shortly after, BIA is referred to as “Diarrhea BIA” before Cardi builds on the tall stack of disses by adding in that her foe is “built like your dad” and only gets booked “when they can’t afford Coi [Leray].”
In the track’s closing moments, Mean Girls gets a nod (“I’m a mean girl, you a Gretchen, at best”) before Cardi wonders if BIA is “dumb” for wanting a feud with her.
“Told you, don’t you ever mention my kids, bitch,” Cardi adds.