Why are "WAP" and "UP" on Cardi B's sophomore album? Cardi B addresses controversy via Instagram

On June 23, Cardi B made an official announcement for her upcoming sophomore album, which will drop on September 19. The much anticipated album, Am I the Drama? is set to drop about seven years after her debut album, Invasion Of Privacy, was released.

Cardi's hit songs like WAP and Up had also been included in the upcoming project. Meanwhile, a clip of the rapper citing the reason behind the decision of this inclusion had been making rounds on the internet. In an Instagram Live, the rapper claimed that her fans wanted these hit tracks to be on an album. In the clip, she could be heard saying:

"Sometimes people go to Invasion Of Privacy to look for WAP and look for Up. And my fans been telling me 'hey, please put WAP and Up on the album and I'm gonna do this for my fans... my fans deserve for me to listen to them."

Cardi B further emphasized that she decided to include these tracks in her upcoming album only for her fans and that she did not care about what others had to say. The clip even garnered massive attention online. Many of her fans extended support to the rapper and praised her for her decision.

WAP was initially dropped in August 2020 and became one of Cardi's most popular tracks. Up was released a few months later in February 2021 and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. These two initially were singles and did not belong to any particular studio album.

The track listing of Am I the Drama? suggested a third song titled Outside, released on June 20, 2025. This was Cardi B's first solo single since her last drop Enough (Miami), that came up in March 2024.

Meanwhile, Cardi fans had been showing extreme excitement with the official announcement of the much-anticipated album.

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Cardi B had released the album cover for her upcoming album, Am I the Drama?

As aforementioned, Cardi B has officially announced the release date of her sophomore album. The rapper captioned the announcement post:

"AM I THE DRAMA? My new album is out September 19th! Preorder LINK IN BIO."

As of now, the album cover has already gained more than a million likes and over 37K comments. Several celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Shakira, Naomi Campbell, and Lizzo, cheered Cardi in the comments.

As for the popular album cover, Cardi is seen decked in a red body suit and red heels. The cover further captured the rapper being surrounded by black birds.

According to Billboard, the album cover received some criticism as well, The concept seemingly did not match with the tracks on the album.

While Cardi B made the announcement on Monday, she teased the same a day before. The rapper uploaded a video on Instagram, opening up about her journey.

In the caption, Cardi revealed that she had to make a big announcement the very next day.

In the video, the rapper could be heard saying:

"Seven years and the time has come. Seven years of love, light and loss. Seven years I gave them grace, but now I give them hell. I learned power's not giving, it's taking. I'm shedding feathers and no more tears. I'm not back, I’m beyond. I'm not your villain, I'm your karma. The time is here. The time is now."

In the comments under the post, many fans seemingly understood that the announcement was going to be something very exciting.

While she had released one single recently that will be a part of the upcoming project, it is unclear if more singles will be dropped prior to the album release.

Cardi B had recently announced the project, but she had teased it before. In September 2024, she dropped a cryptic message featuring "11".

In June, during her BET awards appearance, the rapper wore a bedazzled jersey featuring the number "11". At the time, fans believed that she was probably going to launch the album in November, according to reports by HotNewHipHop.

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Cardi B's debut album, Invasion Of Privacy, was released in April 2018. Fans are now waiting to see if the upcoming album will surpass the success enjoyed by her debut album.

This release would also be through Atlantic Records, the label that released Cardi's first album.

Edited by Prem Deshpande