Chicklet HF & Maleni Cruz Talk New TIDAL Series & 'Bodak Yellow'

Source: Instagram / Courtesy of Maleni Cruz, Chicklet HF

Last month, we all laughed our asses off when we came across a video of a young woman shouting the lyrics to Cardi B “Bodak Yellow” in her man’s face. If you missed that, watch here.

It turns out, the gorgeous (and intense) ponytail-swinging warrior woman was none other than Maleni Cruz, social media sensation and girlfriend to comedian Chicklet HF. And, not only are they poppin’ on Instagram, they’re about to be poppin’ on TIDAL, as they’ve teamed up with the streaming service for a weekly show titled I Love You, B. 

Rising stars Maleni and Chicklet HF took some time to chat with Global Grind about all their money moves and we learned a lot. Namely, they’re hilarious in real life.

On introducing comedy into their IG videos:

Chicklet HF: “I started just because people told me I should. Then I got into a relationship with Maleni and I started to incorporate her. At first, I put her in so women wouldn’t be scared to approach us…so they wouldn’t be scared of Maleni… Maleni’s funny anyway.”

On who Maleni is outside of social media:

Maleni Cruz: “I work at a dance company called Dancewave, through an outreach program.”

On whether their “Bodak Yellow” moment was staged or pure coincidence:

Chicklet HF: “I guess you can say it was staged, but it’s also something we always do when that song comes on because Maleni gets in her bag. She just starts going off and I actually go off too, but Maleni goes harder… The guy that was recording, he was the DJ for that place. We were actually hosting.” “Everybody had their cameras out and once the song came on, they knew!” he adds.

On why people (especially women) go so crazy when “Bodak Yellow” comes on:

Maleni: “It’s [Cardi’s] lyrics and her flow. She goes hard, so you gotta go hard with her.”

Chicklet HF: “She’s a woman and she’s speaking like a man.”

On the video going viral:

Chicklet HF: “I didn’t know it was going to be a big thing. I didn’t know people were going to post it. The guy that recorded it, put it on snap. He said he knew it was a big thing,” Chicklet explains, adding that a rando recorded the clip off of Snapchat then leaked it.

On their new show with TIDAL:

Chicklet HF: “I was too excited. Maleni was hype, jumping around. I tried to act mad cool inside the office, but once I got out of there I jumped up.”

On what to expect from I Love You, B:

Maleni: “A whole bunch of laughter and a real scope on how we are and how NY couples really are. I think it’s not what we usually do on our Instagram, so everyone should expect some surprise moments.”

Chicklet HF: “Our relationship on Instagram is just moments. On the show, it’s our actual relationship—the stuff we talk about, stuff like that. They better laugh! [TIDAL] gave us a great opportunity. I’m excited because they let us be who we are. They didn’t try to change nothing or say ‘Yo, we need more of this or that.’ They just let us be and that was the best part about it—we didn’t have to act or fake it.”

Check out the second episode of their show I Love You, B on the flip and be sure to tune in every Monday at 12pm ET for more.