After a roll-out that included a James Brown impression, sexting, and Jamie Lee Curtis (but not the “Sex Machine” singer sexting with the Halloween star, mind you), Offset and Cardi B‘s new song is here. After drama over fans accusing Offset, 30, of cheating on Cardi, 29, the two clapped back musically with “Jealousy.” The video, released July 28, leads out by tackling the drama head on, with a journalist’s voice observing to Offset, “there’s a lot of drama between you and your beautiful wife Cardi B!” Offset is then seen responding with annoyance, “Let’s talk about some music.” The couple are later shown arguing in domestic setting as the song begins with the refrain, “Jealous a** b****/ jealous a** b****.” He leaves the apartment, and his totally glam wife follows him out the door of the apartment to continue the drama.
“Screamin’, “F*** 12″ to the D.A. and judge / Never been a dub, never been a scrub /.45 Glock, now, oh, you want the judge?” Offset raps in part in the frenetic ditty. In the background, Cardi gossips on the phone with none other than Taraji P. Hensen. Offset then returns to the apartment to take it up with his wife, who raps in part, “Girl nobody listen to you unless you talkin bout me/ It’s always a bird tryna tweet sh** / you offended when I be on defense.”
The duo took to social media for a joint Instagram Live in the moments leading up to the release of the song and video as well, with Cardi rocking gorgeous blue, green, and purple hair and Offset seemingly smoking. “I’m just so proud of you babe,” Cardi told her hubby ahead of the big drop. “I love you,” she sang, and Offset responded, “I love you too!”
The promo campaign for this single unintentionally began in late June when Cardi took to Twitter to blast claims that she cheated on Offset. ” “First of all, let me say, you can’t accuse me of all the things you know that you are guilty of. Sing it with me, y’all!” she sang in a voice memo. “And I see that it is easy for you to blame everything on me. Yes, honey!”
From there, she directly addressed her fans. “Don’t pay attention to that country man, y’all. Don’t pay attention to that country man,” she said, referring to Offset. “That motherf*****’s spiraling and thinking s***. Come on, now. I’m Cardi B, n****. I think sometimes motherf****** forget I’m Cardi B,” she confidently continued. “If I was giving this p**** to anybody, it would be out. I’m not just anybody. Can’t f— no regular degular shmegular ’cause they gonna tell the world. And I can’t f— nobody in the industry ’cause they gonna tell too.”
Cardi’s memo was in response to Offset posting an Instagram Story where he claimed that Cardi cheated on him. She dismissed this claim, and later backed them up by sharing a NSFW exchange between her and Offset, indicating that their passion was still strong.
Following this, Offset released a video on July 24 where he parodied James Brown‘s 1988 interview with CNN, in which “The Godfather of Soul” didn’t any of the interviewer’s questions over being arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife. In this case, Jamie Lee Curtis interviewed a James Brown-esque Offset about Cardi being upset. Hilarity ensued.
“Jealousy” marks Offset’s third single of 2023. He previously released “TBS” with R-Mean and Scott Storch, and “2-Live” with Hit-Boy. Offset announced the song on July 26 by sharing the single’s artwork. ” “Let’s talk about some music! Jealousy out this Friday! Link in bio!” he captioned the photo of Cardi – with Amy Winehouse-esque hair – putting her hand in Offset’s face.
Excluding Cardi’s appearances on Migos songs, “Jealousy” is the sixth time that she’s worked with her husband, according to Billboard. They first worked on a remix of Cardi’s “Lick” in 2017, and have partnered on songs like “Clout,” “Um Yea,” and “Who Want The Smoke?”