Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B Lit Up the Grammys Stage In Spite of Bleeped-Out Lyrics

The rap girls are doing what these other musicians simply cannot do. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B ate the entire Grammy stage up and left nary a crumb. The duo performed a medley of their hit songs–from Megan’s “Body” to “Savage,” to Cardi B’s “Up” and their song that angered many a conservative soul, the certified quintuple platinum smash “WAP,” which stands for Wet Ass Pussy, words which were bleeped by CBS.

Hot Girl Meg began the already historic performance with a nod to 1940s Hollywood musicals or a classic Vegas revue, with an impressive staircase set that I can imagine the Rockettes doing some kicks or a cadre of glittery, feathered dancers hitting a can can or two. Her first song was a little snippet of her most recent hit “Body,” performed with the instantly iconic choreo (see: the “Body” TikTok challenge from last November). Clad in a studded corset that recalled the 222 carats she wore on the red carpet, Thee Stallion transitioned to the early-stage quarantine bop, “Savage” featuring Beyonce.

Megan walked down a golden staircase, flanked by shirtless men in studded suits, strutting to the beat. She then executed an exquisite dance break full of her trademark twerking, wild splits, and a surprise appearance from masked tap dancers in garters, who referenced the famous staircase splits from the classic black film Stormy Weather. Cardi B, for her part, stood on a blank stage in her rendition of “Up,” the highest charting solo song debut by a female rapper on the Hip Hop charts. Cardi wore a futuristic two-piece and danced with kaleidoscopic images of money and Birkins in the background. The lyric “broke boys don’t deserve no kitty” was particularly memorable.

Megan and Cardi then transitioned to the performance everyone came here for–the television debut of ”WAP,” also known as the song that launched a thousand think pieces. Cardi kicked off with impressive pole dance followed by NSFW choreography with a massive stripper heel taking up a large portion of the stage. Megan then appeared in a longsleeved silver bionic onesie, while a dancer twerked inside the heel of the shoe with money fanning across body.

Perhaps the most iconic moment of the entire thing occurred after a comedically massive bed appeared, which the duo danced across and executed a dance that appeared to suggest scissoring. I mean! Who else is doing it like them?? Even Trevor Noah stood around for a bit, stunned, unable to look away at the end of it all.

Not everyone was happy with all the thrusting and suggestion of sex. CBS, the channel airing the show, bleeped out a lot of “WAP” lyrics to ostensibly “protect the youth,” or whatever. The song is clearly a celebration of female sexuality, so the decision to bleep out half the lyrics when the words themselves aren’t necessarily swear words is a poor look by CBS. Also, just let them say pussy. It’s 2021.