Last summer, American pop culture was hit by a big personality in a small package — Cardi B.
It’s been nearly a year since Cardi B first made money moves with her hit “Bodak Yellow,” which made the Billboard Top 100 List faster than most of her lyrics.
Cardi B is seemingly unstoppable, and she showed that even before hitting true rapper stardom on charts and on social media. Still, that’s where the loud, fast-talking diva first made her debut as a personality music and reality TV lovers could get behind.
It’s no secret Cardi B came from a line of strip clubs and New York City streets most famous women wouldn’t dare be seen on. Her attitude showcases a blunt depiction of what it takes to become famous in the city.
The Cardi B we know now first made her debut on reality TV show, “Love & Hip Hop” in 2015. There she became a character most would call real, even on a VH1 reality show.
In 2017, she left the show to pursue her music. That was the year “Bodak Yellow” changed everything for the emerging rapper. “Bodak Yellow” went No. 1, making Cardi B the first female rapper to attain that feat since Lauryn Hill in 1998.
With two small mixtapes and one big hit, fame hit Cardi B like a Mac Truck.
With the brazen lyrics, overzealous style and a past that doesn’t usually come with the “celebrity type,” Cardi B is one of the strongest feminists we have in music — most of that stems from her music itself.
Her album “Invasion of Privacy” came out in April, giving fans and rap lovers a packed taste of her style as a bonafide, successful rapper.
Cardi B raps with force. Perhaps her biggest asset is the way she talks — the way she talks to fans, to the camera and to her listeners. You know Cardi B’s voice, even if you’ve only listened to a single song. Her voice is an instrument in itself.
She covers a lot of ground in this hit album: past boyfriends, rising to stardom, beef with other rappers and body image. Her songs sound like 2018’s idyllic rap, but her lyrics provide the perfect combination of authenticity and a hint of feminism — Cardi B’s kind of feminism.
She is a big enough celebrity now with 26 million followers on Instagram and more than 3 million followers on Twitter. Her presence is almost required in current American pop culture. If you don’t see Cardi B saying “Hi” to fans over Instagram or posting oddly deep thoughts to Twitter, did you even use social media that day?
If you don’t mess with rap or pop culture, you might not know the slow influence Cardi B has been imparting on the music world or even the female music world. You definitely won’t know what the term “okurrrrrr” means.
But when the influx of strong female rappers and musicians find their way into the spotlight over the next decade, we will have Cardi B to thank for that.
Hailey Stewart can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Hailey_ann97