Cardi B Talks Rhythm + Flow and Shows Support for T.I. Amid Controversy: 'That's My Brother'
Cardi B has nothing but love and encouragement for her costars.
The Grammy-winning rapper, 27, who just revealed a hilarious new Pepsi holiday campaign, sat down with PEOPLE and opened up about her smash hit Netflix rap competition show Rhythm + Flow, as well as her unwavering support for all who were involved.
“When we first started shooting, I didn’t know what I was gonna get myself into,” she says of signing on to judge hopeful hip hop contestants alongside Tip “T.I.” Harris and Chance the Rapper. “But every single day I get on set I was just excited to see what the contestants were going to come up with…who’s gonna be next to get eliminated.”
The inaugural season wrapped with lyricist D Smoke giving a standout performance and taking home the $250,000 cash prize. But “I’m just extremely proud of all of them,” says the star of others, including finalists Londynn B, Flawless Real Talk and TrOyMaN.
As for her co-judges, “First of all, it was such a good time to film with T.I. and Chance the Rapper,” says Cardi. “We had such a good connection and we had like really good conversations and they were just so funny. It was like when you go to school and you sit with your classmates and y’all at the table, they crack jokes and stuff. That’s how it felt.”
RELATED: Cardi B Reveals ‘Extravagant’ New Pepsi Campaign and Her Low-Key Holiday Plans
And though the three haven’t kept in super close contact since wrapping the show, she says she’s got nothing but love for them, no matter what.
“Every single time that I see them on social media I be like, ‘That’s my brother, that’s my brother,'” says Cardi. Seeming to hint at the internet firestorm surrounding T.I., following controversial comments he made about his 18-year-old daughter’s virginity, the star adds, “If they wrong or right, that’s my brother and that’s that.”
RELATED: T.I. to Address Controversial Comments About Daughter on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk
On Tuesday it was announced that T.I., 39, would address the backlash during a sit-down with Jada Pinkett Smith airing Monday, Nov. 25 on Red Table Talk. The rapper’s daughter Deyjah Imani Harris has yet to speak out publicly on the matter.
As of now a second season of Rhythm + Flow is yet to be confirmed, but Cardi is already thinking of how she’d add it into her hectic to-do list.
“So many people want like a second season and it’s crazy because we never spoke about that,” she says. “So it’s like ‘Oh my gosh, imagine fitting that again in my schedule. How’s that gonna be?”
Asked if she thinks she could have made it as a contestant on the show, the star says it probably wouldn’t have worked out.
“In the battle round, I feel like I would’ve been eliminated,” she says of the popular episode where contestants exchanged searing diss lyrics back and forth. “I would’ve been like, ‘Oh you know what, this is getting too personal, I wanna fight!'”
All the more reason, she says, “I’m just so proud of the contestants.”
