Cardi B has taken to Instagram to explain herself after a video re-surfaced of the rapper admitting to robbing and drugging men while she was working as a stripper.
The clip, an Instagram Live recorded three years ago, shows Cardi talking about clients wanting to take her back to hotels.
She says: "I had to go, 'Oh yeah, you want to f**k me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go back to this hotel,' and I drugged n****rs up, and I robbed them. That's what I used to do."
Since it resurfaced recently, horrified fans have responded to the clip, comparing it to the alleged crimes of singer R Kelly by giving it the hashtag #SurvivingCardiB, a reference to the documentary Surviving R Kelly, which outlines the sexual abuse allegations against the star.
In response, Cardi B has posted to Instagram again - this time to explain her actions.
"So I'm seeing on social media that live I did 3 years ago has popped back up. A live where I talked about things I had to do in my past right or wrong that I felt I needed to do to make a living," she wrote in a post on Tuesday.
"I never claim (sic) to be perfect or come from a perfect world wit (sic) a perfect past I always speak my truth I always own my s**t."
The star said that it was never her intention to glorify her actions, but added that while she was not proud, she did what was necessary "to survive".
"There are rappers that glorify murder violence drugs an (sic) robbing. Crimes they feel they had to do to survive. I never glorified the things I brought up in that live I never even put those things in my music because I'm not proud of it and feel responsibility not to glorify it.
"I made the choices that I did at the time because I had very limited options. I was blessed to have been able to rise from that but so many women have not. Whether or not they were poor choices at the time I did what I had to do to survive."
She said everyone has a past we cannot change and that all she could do now was focus on bettering herself, "for myself my family and my future."
Cardi is married to Migos rapper Offset, with whom she shares eight-month-old daughter, Kulture.