In case you didn’t already know, Cardi B is incredibly business savvy. And she’s just proved her business credentials further by attempting to trademark her trilling catchphrase ‘Okurrr,’ which she describes as sounding - if said correctly - like ‘a cold pigeon in New York City’. (The Bronx rapper's application confirmed that the phrase includes three ‘r’s, but, to stop copy-cats, she has also filed to protect ‘Okurrr’ if is spelt with two ‘r’s.) if you have no idea what it means, when Cardiwas asked how she would use the word, she told Jimmy Fallon: “It depends on the situation that you’re in. Like if somebody checks somebody, it’s like ‘Okurrr’. I didn't know she had all of that in her, okurr! It's like okaaaaay, but okay is played out.” (Okurrr.) Cardi’s company Washpoppin Inc. filed the trademark application earlier this month, with the intention being to trademark the use of ‘Okurrr’ on merchandise like t-shirts, hoodies and “paper goods – namely paper cups and posters”.
But Cardi’s latest move is probably going to annoy at least one person: Khloe Kardashian. It’s believed Khloe brought the phrase to mainstream audiences during her time on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Then again, just like Cardi, Khloe didn’t actually come up with the phrase. It’s believed the unique sound actually comes from drag culture, as according to Refinery29 RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Laganja Estranja first used the word on the show. (Willam, Alaska Thunderfuck, and Alyssa Edwards are also fans.) The Urban Dictionary definition of ‘okurr’ (not, with two r’s) reads that it: "Originated from drag culture and [was] popularised by RuPaul's Drag Race, and then by Keeping Up With the Kardashians."
Cardi B is not the first, and she certainly isn’t going to be the last, musician to trademark their words. In 2015, Taylor Swift filed to protect phrases including "this sick beat" and "we never go out of style" from 1989 and Beyonce keeps on trying to trademark their daughter's name, Blue Ivy Carter.