A new “WAP” parody posted this week by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has received the blessing of one of the creators of the original song.
On Tuesday, JHU posted “WAmP: Wear a Mask, Please,” a reworking of the massive hit by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, rewritten to promote wearing face masks to slow the spread of COVID-19. The track is credited to Birdi Jay feat. Thee Mental Notes. Birdi Jay is portrayed by JHU’s mascot, the Johns Hopkins Blue Jay, while The Mental Notes—who gained an extra “e” in tribute to Megan Thee Stallion—is one of the university’s thirteen a cappella groups. The Mental Notes are described on JHU’s website as a co-ed “group that blends comedy with their singing.”
Though “WAP” is notorious for its explicit lyrics, the parody is all-ages, and includes lyrics like “Don’t just hold it like a prop / you’ve got to wear a mask, please,” and “Rock the science with a pose / with the mask right on your face / so it covers your mouth and nose.”
On Thursday, Cardi B herself shared the video, writing “Sksksksk,” which is internet slang that represents “enjoyment or laughter,” according to Urban Dictionary. As of publication time, Megan Thee Stallion has not responded to the parody.
Since sharing the parody on Twitter, the video has received about 445,000 views. On YouTube, the video has been seen an additional 20,420 times. Speaking to The Baltimore Sun, the producer of the video, Nick Moran, said he had originally hoped that the rapper would share their video.
“The pie-in-the-sky hope for the video, all along, was like, ‘What if Cardi B retweeted it?'” Moran said. When he’s not producing music videos, Moran is the associate director for audience engagement at the Bloomberg School.
The promotional art for the music video parody “WAmP: Wear a Mask, Please.” On Thursday, Cardi B shared the Johns Hopkins University-created parody on Twitter. Johns Hopkins University/YouTube
The track was written by Aliza Rosen, JHU’s online community specialist. Rosen also directed the video.
Newsweek reached out to Aliza Rosen and representatives for Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion for comment.
Though masks can help slow the spread of COVID-19, there have been anti-mask protests across America. On Friday, anti-mask protesters paraded through a Target and a Wal-Mart in Arizona, carrying signs like “End A1 Mask Mandate” and “Masks=666.”
Earlier this month, protesters in Idaho forced a board meeting of health commissioners in Idaho to adjourn due to safety concerns. Protesters also demonstrated outside of some of the commissioners’ homes, according to Boise police.
Though anti-mask protests have received much in the way of media coverage, an October poll from National Geographic and Morning Consult showed that 92 percent of Americans always wear a face mask, including 84 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of Republicans. The poll asked 2,200 Americans about their mask habits, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent.
