Stryper’s Michael Sweet: I Don’t Want to Be a Prude, but Cardi B’s ‘WAP’ Is ‘Garbage’

Stryper vocalist-guitarist Michael Sweet has voiced his opposition to Cardi B's recent hip-hop hit with Megan Thee Stallion, "WAP." Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Christian metal band's frontman seems to take issue with the lyrics and overall message of the song that's title is an acronym for "Wet-Ass Pussy."

Sweet's critique of the track first came to the fore on Facebook earlier this month. Following the Cardi B song's Aug. 7 release, the Stryper singer equated "WAP" with excrement and asserted that the number sets back women's rights.

"Call me old fashioned," Sweet said, "but when I think of my grandkids listening to this and singing along to this piece of [Pile of Poo emoji] I get a little heated. Why do we work so hard for equal rights and respect (especially for woman as we should!) yet we make a pile like this #1 and step backwards?"

The Stryper frontman expanded on his remarks during an interview on the Cobras and Fire podcast this week. While suggesting he didn't want to be viewed as a moralist, the musician compared "WAP" to Miley Cyrus's career and that singer's onstage use of a large inflatable phallus in 2014.

"I don't wanna come across like a prude or someone that is closed-minded," Sweet relayed, "but I just find it interesting how, here we are in 2020 fighting for women's rights, as we should be, and you've got videos like that. There's a time when it's not about judging — it's just about what's right and what's wrong. … I don't want that garbage going into my granddaughter's ears."

The Stryper singer continued, "I think that we have a responsibility as artists, and many artists cross that line. I said the same thing about Miley Cyrus. Here she is on Disney — all these kids are looking up to her and following her — and the next thing you know, live in concert, she's riding a big, hanging whatever. And I'm just thinking, can't she just have a little responsibility — even just a smidgen of responsibility?"

Still, Sweet conceded that, as both an artist and an American, Cardi B is free to "do whatever she wants, as can I, by commenting on it."

Stryper released their latest studio album, Even the Devil Believes, on Sept. 4.