Now I like dollars, I like diamonds, I like stunting, I like shining
I like million dollar deals, where's my pen, bitch, I'm signin'
I like those Balenciagas, the ones that look like socks
I like going to the jeweler, I put rocks all in my watch
I like texts from my exes, when they want a second chance
I like proving niggas wrong, I do what they say I can't
They call me Cardi Bardi, banging body, spicy mami, hot tamale
Hotter than a Somali, fur coat, Ferrari
I like million dollar deals, where's my pen, bitch, I'm signin'
I like those Balenciagas, the ones that look like socks
I like going to the jeweler, I put rocks all in my watch
I like texts from my exes, when they want a second chance
I like proving niggas wrong, I do what they say I can't
They call me Cardi Bardi, banging body, spicy mami, hot tamale
Hotter than a Somali, fur coat, Ferrari
— "I Like It"
Cardi B (born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar on October 11, 1992) is an American rapper and social media personality.
Born in The Bronx of Dominican and Trinidadian descent, she grew up in poverty and became a stripper at age 19 to pay the bills and escape an abusive relationship. After gaining a large social media following on Instagram and Vine, she joined the cast of Love & Hip Hop in 2015 and grew even more in popularity.
She started releasing music in 2015, with her Gangsta Bitch Music mixtape series getting recognition. Her music career exploded in 2017 following her song "Bodak Yellow" hitting #1 on the Billboard charts and her having multiple high-profile features on hit songs, making her the first female rapper to land her first 3 songs in Billboard's Top 10. She has since been nominated for various awards, including two Grammys for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song in 2018.
Discography:
- Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 (2016)
- Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 2 (2017)
- Invasion of Privacy (2018)
Filmography:
- Hustlers (2019) as Diamond
- The Fast and the Furious films as Leysa
Bring a bucket and a mop for these wet-ass trope links:
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: She appears as a colossal giant in the music video for French Montana's "Writing On The Wall".
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Played With in "WAP", a collab with Megan Thee Stallion. They acknowledge the challenges of dealing with a Gag Penis, but seem to consider them part of the fun.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Was the "little girl" (5'3") to Megan Thee Stallion's big guy (5'10") in their video for their controversial hit "WAP".
- Bilingual Bonus: She's bilingual (English and Spanish) and has included Spanish lyrics in some of her songs. The Latin Trap Remix of "Bodak Yellow" featuring Messiah mixing English and Spanish lyrics together.
- Boastful Rap: The majority of her songs are basically this, including her biggest hit "Bodak Yellow".
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In a livestream on Instagram, she recounted all the effort she'd had to put in to get to where she'd gotten, then veered into this now-infamous bit: "I had to go strip. I had to go, 'Yeah, you wanna fuck me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go to this hotel.' And I drugged niggas up and I robbed them!"
- Brooklyn Rage: Cardi makes absolutely no attempt to downplay her Bronx roots or her boisterous personality. Trying to convince her to do either will only result in mockery.
- Catchphrase: "Washpoppin" and "Shmoney" just to name a couple.
- Cover Version: “Bodak Yellow” was basically this, as she admitted to stealing the flow from Kodak Black's "No Flockin", hence the title.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cardi has her moments. For instance, that time on Love and Hip-Hop where she was supposed to be taking etiquette classes with a couple of other cast members, but didn't take it seriously and got into exchanges like this...Cardi: My name is Cardi B, and I'm from the Bronx.
Interviewer: I want you to go a little bit more in-depth about yourself. You're not just Cardi from the Bronx.
Cardi: Hello there. My name is Cardi B, and I am from the Bronx. - Girl on Girl Is Hot: Lyrics/imagery of female-on-female action is pretty common in her work, especially her song "Girls" with Rita Ora.
- Hidden Depths: Cardi is something of a history buff and loves trivia about U.S. Presidents, especially FDR.
- "I Am Great!" Song: Her most iconic song, "Bodak Yellow", is one of these, with her boasting about her quick rise to fame while denouncing all her critics and competitors.
- The Lad-ette: Cardi loves fast cars and Henny as much as any other rapper.
- Level Grinding: In a sense, Cardi's career trajectory. She started stripping to make enough money to get away from an abusive relationship, then used that to build up a following on Instagram and Vine. That, in turn, got her enough attention to become a cast member on Love and Hip-Hop: New York, where she further raised her profile, before finally launching her music career—and where most reality stars' attempts at making the jump fail miserably, Cardi not only succeeded but became the mainstream rapper of 2018, racking up multiple #1 hit singles and winning the Grammy for Best Rap Album for her debut LP.
- Moonwalk Dance: Referenced in "Bartier Cardi":Red bottom MJ, moonwalk on a bitch
Moonwalkin' through your clique
I'm moonwalkin' in the 6
Sticky with the kick, moonrocks in this bitch - Ms. Fanservice: Naturally, since she's almost always semi nude in her music videos.
- Multilingual Song: Her song "I Like It" has a verse and the chorus by Cardi in English, and two other verses by J Balvin and Bad Bunny in Spanish.
- Non-Appearing Title:
- Subverted with "WAP", the actual acronym doesn't appear until the second last line of the coda.
- N-Word Privileges: Even though it has been heavily debated on whether or not she's Afro-Latina or not, most don't question her usage of the word.
- The Oldest Profession: Her original line of work before her fame in TV and rapping was stripping.
- Pink Is Erotic: WAP (Wet Ass Pussy) uses a lot of raunchy lyrics and sexual references. In both the music video and the live performance, pink is a common sight as shown by the lighting, the clothing, and pink decorations. Cardi B is a supporter of sex positivity and is unashamed of her history as a stripper and a sex worker.
- Pregnant Badass: Kept hitting the studio, shooting videos, and playing massive festivals like Coachella well into her pregnancy. And here's how she revealed it
. - Proud Beauty:
- Cardi B is proud to have been a stripper at one point, excessively mentioning it. She also shows off her boobs too.
- Cardi has rapped about her sex appeal on numerous occasions. In her most known song "Bodak Yellow", in the seconds verse, she says that her "pussy is gold, tell that lil bitch play her role".
- In her song "I Like It" not only does she brag about men calling her things like "Spicy Mommy" and "Hot Tamale", she openly admits to flexing on people."Flexing on bitches as hard as I can"
- Later, during the chorus, she says "bad bitch make you nervous", and considering she has called herself a bad bitch before, it's more than likely she's referring to herself here.
- In "Bartier Cardi", Cardi takes this trope to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. She talks about diamonds shining all over her body (21 precisely), insults people's intelligence, says that people's partners are attracted to her as though she's Molly (a psychoactive drug that causes euphoria and heighted sensations), admits to having sex with said partners, calls people lame, accuses people of being jealous of her ability to steal people's boyfriends and her rich lifestyle, and excessively flexes on not only her haters but her fans.
- Rhyming with Itself: “Be Careful” ends four consecutive lines with “shit”.
- The Rival: The one and only Nicki Minaj. The feud started immediately when Cardi hit the scene but it amplified in the summer of 2018, and went to a breaking point that September when they got into a near physical altercation at the Harper's Bazaar fashion show in New York Fashion Week, which left Cardi with a knot on her head due to Nicki's security.
- Sex Goddess: "Please Me" involves her lover (Sang by Bruno Mars) admitting that he's been so blown away by her sexual prowess that he's been reduced to begging.
- Shout-Out:
- Let's just say she really enjoys shouting out her husband, Offset (from Migos), in her music.
- Kulture, their baby daughter, got a ton of these in her singles."Must be that whip that I ordered; And a new crib for my daughter; You know a bad bitch gon' spoil her..."
- Spicy Latina: All of her antics on Love And Hip-Hop and afterwards have cemented this about her. Some of her songs, most notably "I Like It" (featuring Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and Colombian singer J. Balvin), also serve to showcase her Latin heritage in the most colourful way possible.
- Spoken Word in Music: Her outro on "Bitter" by Summer Walker is very much this.
- Stock Rhymes: She has taken to rhyming "party" with Cardi.
- Third-Person Person: Some of her songs have her referring to herself in the third person.
- Toplessness from the Back: "Money" has a shot of her naked from the back as she plays the piano.
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: From "Up": "If that nigga had a twin, I would let 'em run a train!"
- A Wild Rapper Appears!:
- She was featured on the remix version of Bruno Mars' "Finesse".
- Textbook example in "Girls Like You" with Maroon 5.
- A downplayed example with Megan Thee Stallion in "WAP". While both rappers, Megan's verses are noticeably faster-paced and less melodic compared to Cardi B's
- Wolverine Publicity: Within months of the release of "Bodak Yellow" she was all over the radio, appearing as a feature on three Top 10 songs in addition to her own music.
- Word, Schmord!: Has described herself as a "regular degular schmegular girl from the Bronx." There's also her love of "schmoney".
