“Language is culture—you can’t flex diamond chains and forget your roots,”
Cardi B said of raising bilingual kids.
Cardi B’s youngest son is winning the internet — and charming millions while he’s at it.
On July 23, a sweet video of 3-year-old Wave Set Cephus went viral after he was captured speaking Spanish during a family trip to Cardi’s father’s hometown of Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. The 9-second clip, shared by Cardi B on Instagram stories, has quickly taken over social feeds.
In the video, little Wave is seen toddling across a sunlit patio holding a toy dinosaur, when a woman off-camera — believed to be his great-aunt — calls out, “Wave, ven acá, mi amor” (“come here, my love”). With a big smile, Wave heads toward a fruit bowl, replying, “Banana… y agua, por favor” (“and water, please”), before scampering away to play.
The heart-melting moment instantly resonated online, racking over 14 million views across platforms in under two days.
A post from X.
Wave and his siblings, Kulture and baby Blossom, recently spent several weeks in a 400-person village in rural Dominican Republic, where Cardi’s father was born and her grandmother raised her children. The trip, which Cardi described as emotionally important yet challenging, included a deliberate unplugging from luxury life—no iPads, but plenty of cows, chickens, ducklings, and mosquitoes.
Wave’s impressive Spanish skills didn’t happen by accident. Cardi B — born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar to a Dominican father and Trinidadian mother — has long shared her mission to raise her children in a fully bilingual household.
“I need my kids to order mangú just like they order chicken nuggets,” Cardi said during a chat on X Spaces. “Language is culture—you can’t flex diamond chains and forget your roots.”
The Grammy-winning rapper, 32, regularly mixes Dominican Spanish into her livestreams and interviews. At home in Atlanta, she’s hired a Spanish-speaking nanny from Santiago to help her children stay connected to their Caribbean roots year-round.
This isn’t Wave’s first time going viral for his Spanish. When he was just 1½ years old, fans couldn’t get enough of a bath-time clip where he asked for “leche” (milk). And back in 2022, big sister Kulture, now 6, caused a stir when she told her mom in Spanish, “Este tamarindo está malo… dame mi agua” (“This tamarind is bad… give me my water”).
On social media, fans couldn’t get enough of Wave’s adorably confident “banana y agua” moment.
“Wave already rolling his r’s better than me — he finna host Univisión by five,” one user joked on X.
Dominican followers especially praised Cardi for keeping their culture alive at home. “Gracias for keeping la cultura alive in your babies,” one fan wrote.
Earlier this year, Cardi B revealed plans to enroll both Wave and Kulture in a summer Spanish immersion program in the Dominican Republic — right around the time she’ll be working on her highly anticipated Spanish-language album.
And there’s even more in store: Cardi teased a bilingual children’s book series in the works called Wave Learns Words, in collaboration with Dominican-American illustrator Julissa Mora.
The Dominican government has also taken notice, inviting Cardi and her family to be ambassadors for this year’s Semana de la Herencia Dominicana (Dominican Heritage Week), an annual celebration of Dominican culture at home and abroad.
Whether he’s speaking Spanish or just being a toddler, Wave’s star is rising — but for Cardi B, it’s all part of the plan.
“I just want my kids to feel proud of who they are,” she’s said. “Not just where they live, but where they come from.”
