Fireworks 3 and 4

Chapter Fifty-Six

    "They're positioning you to become some sort of activist," Cardi B said, scrolling across her cell phone screen with the pad of one long-nailed finger. "Like the head of the #MeToo movement - the remix. The acting world done got spit-roasted and now it's the music industry's turn. Watch out now!"

    "I don't want that position," Mia said honestly.

    Cardi set her phone down. "There's a lot of power in that position."

    "And a lot of scrutiny," Mia pointed out. "People are watching me closely enough, with all of the Drake shit happening. The last thing I need is for people to be monitoring me even more closely because of this shit. If anything, they should be keeping eyes on the producer. He's the one who fucked up."

    Cardi shrugged. "You're the woman, though. Men get away with all sorts of shit, but let a woman do something as little as tell it and all of a sudden she's public enemy number one. It's always been like that. I couldn't tell you how many sicko producers and music execs I've had to deal with, guys who just...feel entitled to me, just because I'm signed to their label or because they volunteered to throw me free beats. It's disgusting. I'm glad that you put the spotlight on that man's sick ass, but once you do that...you also become the center of attention and your past gets put on display, for everyone to judge. That's why I wasn't as vocal as I should have been with some of those situations...the first time I did mention it, people wanted to dig all into my past and bring up old shit that I did. I knew what it was at that point, moved accordingly and just quietly stopped doing business with some people. Now that I am who I am, I try to pick my battles...but there are times when people push me too much and then I'm forced to just say whatever the fuck I want to say."

    "So...how do you do it?"

    Cardi peered at her over the top of her phone. "How do I do what?"

    "Speak your mind without being positioned to be some sort of activist."

    "Easy. I balance out the common sense shit that I say with some majorly goofy shit. That way, people take me seriously enough to listen to me, but not seriously enough to vote me as the head of any movement." She swiped at her cell phone screen again. "I'm a goofy bitch, but sometimes my goofiness has an actual purpose."

    Mia's brows shot up. "That's...pretty genius psychology, Cardi."

    Cardi winked at her, then held an index finger up to her lips. "But don't tell anyone else that. I wouldn't want them taking me too seriously, now."

    Mia laughed and shook her head.

    "We should've done it bigger for our last studio session," Cardi mused, glancing around the dark studio. "We've wrapped up a pretty amazing track. I should've gotten some male strippers in here - shit, some female ones, too. We could've had Drake and my hubby 'Set in here giving us lapdances and shit."

    "I've been traumatized enough this week," Mia muttered.

    Cardi burst out laughing. "True, true. Maybe lowkey is better this time around. But next time we collab..."

    "We do it big," Mia said, grinning.

    It didn't take long for some of the heat to fall from Mia's shoulders. After her interview, other music artists emerged with their own inappropriate experiences. The stories floored her, and a few of them took her by surprise. Some of the names of the alleged assaulters also took her by surprise. A few tactless blogs kept running with her as the face of their story, digging into her past just as Cardi had predicted. Their take was, "First Trevor Riley and now megaproducer Real Ish...what is it about Mia Thomas that has some of the entertainment industry titans acting out?"