Cardi B talks minimum wage increase with Bernie Sanders

Rapper and social media sensation Cardi B teamed up with US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in a video released Tuesday showing the pair discussing the need to raise the minimum wage.

The unlikely duo -- an elderly, often-disheveled senator and a flamboyant, profanity-using performer -- filmed the online campaign video at a Detroit nail salon in late July as a way to engage younger voters ahead of the 2020 election.

"When I was not famous, I just felt like, no matter how many jobs I get I wasn't able to make ends meet. I wasn't able to pay my rent, get transportation and eat," says the 26-year-old Cardi B, her trademark long nails shimmering as she sits opposite Sanders.

"Right now we have tens of millions of people who are earning what I consider to be starvation wages," Sanders responds. "Can you imagine somebody today earning $9 an hour?"

"It don't make no sense," Cardi B.

Rapper and social media sensation Cardi B teamed up with US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

"It's like, yeah there's an increase in jobs given," she says, referring to the economy under President Donald Trump that has seen consistent job growth.

"But what are they paying? In these jobs, they're practically paying nothing."

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has introduced legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a level supported by several other candidates in the crowded Democratic field.

The video, released on Cardi B's Instagram feed, topped two million views in its first three hours online.

Sanders, who ranks third in 2020 Democratic polling, and the Bronx artist, born Belcalis Almanzar, have been exchanging compliments on social media and television for months.

In June Cardi B tweeted her support of Sanders, saying "this man been fighting for equal rights, HUMAN rights for such along time."

Sanders replied, thanking the rapper and saying: "Our fight for justice is far from over and we are not giving up."

Back in 2016 Cardi B famously encouraged her fans in an expletive-laden clip to "vote for Daddy Bernie," warning that foreign women "gonna get deported if Trump is president."

Agence France-Presse