Kanye West suggested that Cardi B was an industry plant – specifically, ‘a plant by the Illuminati’ – in a clip of an unreleased 2018 documentary that leaked Sunday, prompting a response from WAP artist.

The 46-year-old Chicago native was heard in the footage saying that the career of the Bodak Yellow artist, 30, has been wholly sponsored and orchestrated by a larger entity – not the result of an organic rise to fame.

‘Cardi B is a plant by the Illuminati,’ West said in the clip, adding that music industry exec Corey Gamble – the beau of his ex-mother-in-law Kris Jenner – is an operative for the CIA.

West said that Cardi B doesn’t ‘write her raps’ and is ‘just there to sound as ignorant as possible and then make songs like, “F*** them and get some money.”‘

West – who has largely been out of the limelight since making a series of anti-Semitic remarks late last year – said that Cardi B ‘has literally replaced Nicki Minaj’ and was ‘purposely’ positioned at the level of stardom she’s achieved.

West said that Cardi B is unaware of the behind-the-scenes efforts by higher powers to ensure her success.

‘Now she doesn’t know what to do … and she has no idea what the f*** is going on,’ West said in 2018, the year Cardi B had a chart-topping hit with I Like It off her debut studio album Invasion of Privacy.

He said of the singer, ‘She thinks it’s just a blessing from the universe – it ain’t no blessing from the f***ing universe.’

Cardi B responded to West with his own words, tweeting, and subsequently deleting, a 2022 clip of West speaking highly of her and her talents in a clip with Hollywood Unlocked’s Jason Lee.

West said that he championed Cardi B – who he collaborated with on the 2022 track Hot S*** – from her time on the VH1 reality series Love & Hip-Hop: New York.

‘I always believed in her since she was on the show,’ West said in the clip, which Cardi B added a heart emoji on.

Cardi B is not the only successful star who has faced allegations of being an industry plant, as performers including H.E.R., Billie Eilish, Ice Spice and Katy Perry have also been the subjects of similar conjecture. 

According to Urban Dictionary, an industry plant is defined as ‘an artist who has Major/Indie Label backing their movement but presents themselves as a “home grown start up” label to create a pseudo organic following.

Megan Thee Stallion addresses beef with Nicki Minaj: ‘Don’t know what the problem is’

Megan Thee Stallion doesn’t just have bars. She has an unapologetic bite.

The hip-hop star, who ignited a musical feud with “Hot Girl Summer” collaborator Nicki Minaj earlier this year, opened up about her relationship with Minaj in an interview with Billboard published Wednesday.

“I still to this day don’t know what the problem is,” Megan said. “I don’t even know what could be reconciled because I, to this day, don’t know what the problem is.”

In February, Megan topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the scathing diss track “Hiss,” which saw the Grammy-winning emcee allegedly take aim at Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty. In one lyric, Megan references the sex offender legislation Megan’s Law (Petty was convicted of attempted first-degree rape in 1995, while Minaj’s brother Jelani Maraj is also a registered sex offender.)

Minaj fired back with her own song “Big Foot.” The snarky track is filled with barbs that skewer Megan’s personal life, including the death of Megan’s mother, Holly Thomas, and Megan’s injuries from fellow rapper Tory Lanez shooting her in the feet in July 2020.

Megan and Minaj’s feud wasn’t the only hip-hop rivalry to surface this year. Drake and Kendrick Lamar faced off in a series of diss tracks this past spring.

“I would like to think that I start things. I don’t know; I just knew what I had to do and what I had to say,” Megan said. “If it opened up the door for everyone else to get (stuff) off their chest, well, I’m glad.”

Megan Thee Stallion talks Cardi B, GloRilla friendship

Megan Thee Stallion also opened up about her hip-hop sisterhood with Cardi B and GloRilla.

Megan and Cardi famously scored Hot 100 gold in 2020 with their raunchy banger “WAP” and followed it up with “Bongos” in 2023. Meanwhile, Megan and GloRilla hit the stage together at the 2024 BET Awards in June to perform their collaboration “Wanna Be.” (GloRilla is also featured on Megan’s song “Accent,” taken from her latest album “Megan.”)

“In the industry, you really don’t meet a lot of girls who want to see you be successful,” Megan said. “Music is competition. Rap is a competition, but those two ladies, I feel like we all like to see each other do good things. We like to see each other win.”

During a May performance at Madison Square Garden on her Hot Girl Summer Tour, Megan brought out her opening act GloRilla for a joint performance with special guest Cardi B.

“Sharing the stage with people that want to see you do good and you want to see them do good, it felt very uplifting,” Megan said. “I felt like we were feeding off each other. I felt like we helped each other. Being onstage with them made me feel good because I knew we were proud of each other.”