Cardi B’s New Single ‘Up’ Has Her Being Accused Of Plagiarism Again

Cardi B is once again being accused of plagiarizing others’ songs after releasing her latest single “Up” last night. Shortly after its release, a New Jersey rapper named Mir Pesos posted a snippet of the video, tweeting, “We want my money!” Pesos pointed out how similar the hook from “Up” is to the one from his own song “Stuck,” released with Mir Fontane in September 2020.

In response, Cardi presented a video recording from a fan taken during an Instagram Live stream in August in which she previewed “Up” for fans. “I’m the type of person that avoids problems & court days,” she wrote. “If i get inspired by a song I wouldn’t mind giving a percentage or couple of thousand but I never Hurd if this man. I’m glad while I was recording this song in August I was playing wit the hook on this live.”

Mir Fontane insisted that his and Pesos’ track had been previewed and recorded a day before the day Cardi’s Live took place, saying the two rappers had “recorded it even earlier than that.”

While the songs bear similar hooks, it should be noted that the point of contention “if it’s up, then it’s stuck” is a common slang phrase, while the cadence both songs use is clearly influenced by the 2006 Crime Mob hit “Knuck If You Buck.”

This isn’t the first time Cardi has had to defend herself from accusations of plagiarism. In June last year, an underground rapper noted similarities between one of her songs and Cardi’s verses on Offset’s “Clout” and Blueface’s “Thotiana (Remix).” As in that case, Cardi chose to exit the debate early, telling her fans to “RUN THE NUMBERS UP!”

Compare the songs above.