COVID-19 has definitely upended the world and how things operated as we knew it. While all industries have been affected, none more so than the music industry. Bronx native, Cardi B, is finding out firsthand that trying to keep a music career going in the middle of a pandemic is pretty expensive.

In the age of COVID, if you want to do anything safely, testing is the key to ensuring that happens. Of course, it’s not a preventative measure to ensure you don’t catch the dreaded virus, but it definitely helps determine how you will move going forward.

Cardi B took to Twitter on Tuesday (Jan.26) and revealed that she is spending a lot of dough to keep herself and everyone around her safe to ensure they are COVID-19-free to keep her fans entertained with fresh content like photoshoots, music videos, and her new Facebook reality series Cardi Tries. Bardi revealed exactly how many times a week she gets tested and its steep cost in a series of tweets.

“I get Covid tested bout 4 times a week. My glam and management gotta get tested as well. Every time we get tested is about 250$ each. This is seriously a new business [face palm emoji].”

In reply to her tweet, a shocked fan was under the impression that COVID-19 testing was free, and it’s definitely supposed to be, but Cardi broke down why she has to come out of pocket and replied:

“It’s free when you go to the doctors and shit but when it’s for work and you gotta have people test you at your home is not.”

Cardi further explained:

“It’s necessary because if you in my space and you get Covid I can get sued. If I do a commercial and I get Covid the company can get sued.Its all about not being a liability and is a requirement. The government should be paying for healthcare workers we pay out our own pockets.”

Of course, when you post things on Twitter, you open yourself up to a world of opinions. Some people didn’t care for her bellyaching about paying for COVID-19 tests because they can’t even get one when they need it.

Fair point.

Now, how much is Cardi B spending on COVID-19 tests? Well, the good folks at HipHopDX did the math, and it’s pretty staggering.

Per HipHopDX:

“Let’s say Cardi has to pay for tests for herself and three other people (a manager and two members of her “glam team”) four times per week. That would equal $1,000 alone for Cardi and $3,000 for her team, bringing the grand total to $4,000. If she kept this up for the entire year, she’d spend over $200,000 on tests alone.”

“With all Cardi has going on, it’s likely she’ll shell out way more than that. In August 2020, the multi-platinum artist revealed she spent over $100,000 on COVID-19 tests to shoot the “WAP” video with Megan The Stallion.”

Well damn.

But, based on the reception of “WAP,” she got a great return on her investment and recouped those funds she spent on the COVID-19 tests as well the $1,000,000 she spent to have it made. We can’t say the same when she does things like almost having 40 people over for Thanksgiving or throwing a lavish birthday party for her husband Offset.

At least she is trying to stay safe and responsible. We can’t say the same for these fellow celebrities.


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The Cost of Success: Cardi B Reveals The Price of Having To Test Herself & Everyone Around Her For COVID-19 Is Steep  was originally published on

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