Cardi B performs last-minute concert at Johns Hopkins University

Rapper Cardi B turned “Up” at the Johns Hopkins University on Sunday evening for a special performance.

The Grammy Award-winning artist known for her hits like “Bodak Yellow” and “WAP” was a last-minute performer at the university’s Hoptoberfest concert, part of an annual fall festival thrown by the student affairs team.

Organized by the Hopkins Student Organization for Programming (the HOP) with support from the Hopkins Parents Fund, the festival includes carnival games, a pumpkin patch, a haunted house experience and a headliner concert.

This year, the concert was supposed to be performed by singer-songwriter Daniel Caesar, who canceled at the last minute due to “unforeseen circumstances,” according to a social media post from the HOP on Saturday. The concert was moved from Saturday to Sunday and took place in the Ralph S. O’Connor Center for Recreation & Well-Being.

Cardi B was a big get for the university — she holds the record for the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 among women rappers, and was the first solo woman artist to win best rap album at the Grammys, for her debut album “Invasion of Privacy” in 2019. Her new album “Am I the Drama?” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last year. It has since been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how much the “Money” rapper was paid for her last-minute performance.

The concert was only for Hopkins students, who had to show their school IDs to gain entry. The rapper sported a green wig, black leggings and a pink striped T-shirt and played a more intimate show than she typically does in sold-out arenas, according to social media posts from the rapper and the university.

While she spent the majority of her show rapping, Cardi B made sure to give Hopkins students some advice.

“Y’all better pass y’all motherf---in’ semester,” she told the crowd. “And don’t ask ChatGPT for the answer.”

Hopkins, meanwhile, is investing millions in a new institute studying artificial intelligence and data science.

The rapper posted several behind-the-scenes images from her performance on Instagram, including shots in her Hopkins green room. She left Baltimore on a private plane immediately after the performance but did post a video of a large bag of Old Bay-seasoned crabs.

“We gonna have a long night,” she said while showing off the bag of crabs in a video timestamped at 4:08 a.m. “Or not we, just me.”

This isn’t the first time that Cardi B has been spotted in the mid-Atlantic region; her on-again, off-again boyfriend and the father of her youngest child, Stefon Diggs, is a Washington Commanders wide receiver.

Content warning: This clip contains profanity.

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