"Twerk" is a song by American hip hop duo City Girls featuring American rapper Cardi B, from the duo's debut album '' Girl Code'' (2018). It was released to US rhythmic contemporary radio on January 8, 2019, as the album's lead single. Filmed in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, the song's music video was released the same month. "Twerk" is a New Orleans

bounce Bounce or The Bounce may refer to: * Deflection (physics), the event where an object Collision, collides with and bounces against a plane surface Books * Mr. Bounce, a character from the Mr. Men series of children's books Broadcasting, film and ...

-inspired song, which heavily samples

Choppa Darwin Turner, better known by his stage name Choppa, is an American rapper and songwriter. History Early career While as a teenager Choppa worked on his lyrical skills as a hobby, but he felt his destiny was in professional sports. Disagreem ...

's "Choppa Style". It also samples the popular

Triggerman beat The Triggerman beat, also known as Triggaman, is a one- bar drum loop that somewhat originated from "Drag Rap" by the Showboys. The one-bar drum loop was known to be used in bounce music, which has been influential in recent hip hop music, inclu ...

, which is prominent among the New Orleans

scene. It peaked at number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Production

"Twerk" employs a xylophone sounding melody, hand claps and "feverish" snares. In her verse, Cardi references

Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ. Early life Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...

's "

Money Ain't a Thang "Money Ain't a Thang" is the second single from rapper Jermaine Dupri's 1998 album ''Life in 1472''. It features rapper Jay-Z and appears as a bonus track on his album '' Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life''. It is produced by Dupri, who samples "Weak a ...

Music video

Directed by Daps and Sara Lacombe, the music video was filmed in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

in December 2018 and released on January 16, 2019. The video shows Cardi B and Yung Miami painted like a tiger and zebra, respectively, partying with a number of women on a

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

. In another location, at a construction site, they are joined by the top 20 finalists of the challenge sent by the City Girls, which consisted on finding "the world's greatest twerker." The clip closes with the winner of the challenge.

Reception

In '' Billboard'' Carl Lamarre opined, "the titillating video reaches its climax when the women hit the dirt and break into some next-level twerking. The mesermizing display will certainly drop some jaws, as both Cardi and Yung Miami redefine the meaning of twerk with their fun-filled visual." ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

''s Sarah Montgomery stated "this isn't your typical bad b*tches twerking to a banger music video." Meanwhile ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

''s Shirley Li described the clip as "incredible and hypnotic and very, very cheeky, in all senses of the word." Conservative columnist Stephanie Hamill from right-wing news website ''

The Daily Caller ''The Daily Caller'' is a right-wing news and opinion website based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by now-Fox News host Tucker Carlson and political pundit Neil Patel in 2010. Launched as a "conservative answer to ''The Huffington Post'' ...

'' criticized the video, tweeting, "in the era of #MeToo how exactly does this empower women?". Cardi B responded, "it says to women that I can wear and not wear whatever I want, do hateverI want and that no still means no," and questioned Hamill for misleading the purpose of the movement.

Awards and nominations

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Cardi B 2018 songs 2019 singles City Girls songs Cardi B songs Capitol Records singles Motown singles Songs written by Cardi B Songs written by Rico Love Miami bass songs Songs about dancing