Cardi B released the video for "AH HA" on August 28, closing out a rollout that had generated more coverage for the shoot than for the song.
She announced the date the day before with a short, action-heavy trailer posted to X, writing that the clip would be out on Friday. The finished video, directed by Botha Churchboy, keeps things local: outfit changes on her own block, choreography, motorcycles and nods to her Dominican heritage, staged with the feel of a block party in New York in summer. Pitchfork's Hattie Lindert described it as a very New York summer of bikes and stoop hangs.
Getting there was expensive. Cardi B has said the New York shoot cost around $1 million and called the filming process a nightmare, pointing to permits, security, crowd sizes and the number of police officers involved. The set also produced its own news, after a photographer was briefly handcuffed at the Brooklyn shoot.
The song has been doing steady work in the meantime. Released on July 31 and produced by DJ SwanQo, "AH HA" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 25, her 38th top 40 entry there, and has since reached the Hot Rap Songs top 10. The lyrics run through familiar territory for her, laughing at critics and dismissing unwanted men.
It is her first solo release since Am I the Drama?, the 2025 album that followed her Grammy-winning 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy. She toured arenas behind it this year and performed two of its singles, "Bodega Baddie" and "ErrTime", on Saturday Night Live.
Whether the video moves the song further up the chart is the open question, and it is the one the rapper has been pointing at. HotNewHipHop's Gabriel Bras Nevares noted that the clip is short on spectacle by her standards and better for it, which is a reasonable read on a $1 million shoot that ends up looking like a day on the block. The video sits on the release calendar alongside the rest of the week's hip-hop and pop arrivals.
The facts
- The AH HA video arrived on August 28 and was directed by Botha Churchboy
- Cardi B said the New York shoot cost around $1 million
- A photographer was briefly handcuffed at the Brooklyn set
- AH HA was released July 31 and entered the Hot 100 at No. 25
- It was her 38th top 40 entry on the Hot 100
- DJ SwanQo produced the single
- It is her first solo release since the 2025 album Am I the Drama?
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