Cardi B
Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar[a] (formerly Cephus; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Born and raised in New York City, she is noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics. First gaining recognition on Vine, Instagram and as a cast member on VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York, Cardi B released her two mixtapes between 2016 and 2017. Her first studio album, Invasion of Privacy (2018), debuted atop the Billboard 200 with the largest female rap album streaming week of all time and became the best-selling and the highest-certified female rap album of the 21st century. Ranked by Rolling Stone as the best debut album of all time by a female rapper, it made Cardi B the first solo female artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Its singles "Bodak Yellow" and "I Like It" both topped the Billboard Hot 100 and were certified diamond by the RIAA; the former made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the Hot 100 with a solo song in the 21st century and the first to achieve a diamond-certified song, while the latter made her the first with multiple number-one songs. Her third US number-one, the collaboration "Girls Like You" in 2018, made her the first female rapper to earn multiple RIAA diamond-certified songs. Cardi B's second album, Am I the Drama? (2025), made her the only female rapper in history to have her first two albums debut atop the Billboard 200, is the highest-certified female rap album of the 2020s and became the fastest album in history to be certified platinum. Including the US top-ten song "Outside" and US number-ones "WAP" and "Up", it tied with her own Invasion of Privacy as the female rap album with the most Hot 100 number-one songs (two each). "WAP" is the only female rap collaboration to debut atop the Hot 100 and had a large cultural impact. Cardi B is the female rapper with the most number-one singles (five) on the Billboard Hot 100, the only female rapper to achieve multiple solo number-ones, and the only to earn number-one singles in two decades (2010s and 2020s). She further is the highest-certified female rapper of all time in US digital single sales (69 million), has three diamond-certified songs—with "Bodak Yellow" being the highest-certified female rap song of all time—and achieved an overall total of 100 million RIAA-certified units sold in the US. Additionally, Invasion of Privacy is the most-streamed female rap album on Apple Music and Spotify, and was the first album in history to have all of its tracks certified platinum or higher. Cardi B has won a Grammy Award, the most Billboard Music Awards (8), Guinness World Records (8), BET Hip Hop Awards (14), and ASCAP Songwriter of the Year awards (2) among female rappers, six American Music Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards. Time listed her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, while Billboard named her Woman of the Year in 2020 and ranked Invasion of Privacy as the top female rap album of the 2010s. Early life Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar was born on October 11, 1992, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.[1][2] Her father Carlos is Dominican and her mother Clara is a Trinidadian of mixed descent; Almánzar identifies as an Afro-Caribbean.[3][1][4][5][6] Almánzar was raised in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx,[7][8][9] and spent much time at her paternal grandmother's home in Washington Heights, which she credits with giving her "such a thick accent."[10] Almánzar developed the stage name "Cardi B" as a derivation of Bacardi, a rum brand that was formerly her nickname.[11] She has a younger sister, Hennessy Carolina, who was born in 1995. She has said she was a gang member with the Bloods in her youth, since age 16,[12][13] but stated she would not encourage joining a gang.[14] She attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school on the Herbert H. Lehman High School campus.[15] Belcalis speaks Dominican Spanish, English as well as a smidgen of Russian and French.[16] During her teens, Cardi B was employed at a grocery store in Tribeca.[17] She was fired and became a dancer at a strip club across the street.[18][19] Cardi B has said that becoming a stripper was positive for her life in many ways: "It really saved me from a lot of things. When I started stripping I went back to school."[20][21][22] She stated that she became a stripper to escape poverty and domestic violence, having been in an abusive relationship at the time after being kicked out of her mother's house,[23][24] and that stripping was her only way to earn enough money to escape the situation and get an education.[25] She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College[26] before eventually dropping out.[27] While stripping, Cardi B lied to her mother by telling her she was making money by babysitting.[28] In 2013, she began to gain publicity due to several of her videos spreading on social media, on Vine and her Instagram page.[29] Career2015–2016: Career beginnings In 2015, Cardi B joined the cast of the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, debuting in season six.[30] Jezebel considered her the breakout star of the show's sixth season.[31] The New York Times wrote that she garnered popularity with "her ability to rattle off one-liners".[32] The sixth and seventh seasons chronicle her rise to stardom and her turbulent relationship with her incarcerated fiancé. On December 30, 2016, after two seasons, she announced that she would be leaving the show to further pursue a career in music.[33] In November 2015, Cardi B made her musical debut on Jamaican reggae fusion singer Shaggy's remix to his single "Boom Boom", alongside fellow Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan.[34] She made her music video debut on December 15, 2015, with the song "Cheap Ass Weave", her rendition of British rapper Lady Leshurr's "Queen's Speech 4".[35][36] On March 7, 2016, Cardi B released her first full-length project, a mixtape titled Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1.[37][38] In November 2016, she was featured on the digital cover of Vibe magazine's "Viva" issue.[39][23] On September 12, 2016, KSR Group released the compilation Underestimated: The Album, which is a collaboration between KSR Group artists Cardi B, HoodCelebrityy, SwiftOnDemand, Cashflow Harlem, and Josh X. It was previously released only to attendees of their U.S. tour. the label's flagship artist, Cardi B, said: "I wanted to make a song that would make girls dance, twerk and at the same time encourage them to go get that Shmoney," in regard to the compilation's single "What a Girl Likes".[40] She appeared on the December 9, 2015, episode of Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne.[41] On April 6, 2016, she was on the twelfth episode of Khloé Kardashian's Kocktails with Khloé: in this episode, she revealed how she told her mother that she was a stripper.[42][43] In November 2016, it was announced that she would be joining the cast of the BET series Being Mary Jane. TVLine describes her character, Mercedes, as a "round-the-way beauty with a big weave, big boobs and a big booty to match her oversize, ratchet personality."[44][45][46] In 2016, Cardi B was featured in her first endorsement deal with Romantic Depot, a large New York chain of lingerie stores that sell sexual health and wellness products. The ad campaign was featured on radio and cable TV.[47][48] 2017–2018: Breakthrough with Invasion of Privacy On January 20, 2017, Cardi B released her second mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 2.[49][50] In February 2017, Cardi B partnered with MAC Cosmetics and Rio Uribe's Gypsy Sport for an event for New York Fashion Week.[51] In late February, Cardi B signed her first major record label recording contract with Atlantic Records.[52][53] On February 25, 2017, Cardi B was the opening act for East Coast hip hop group The Lox's Filthy America... It's Beautiful Tour, alongside fellow New York City-based rappers Lil' Kim and Remy Ma.[54][55] In April 2017, she was featured in i-D's "A-Z of Music" video sponsored by Marc Jacobs.[56] Cardi guest-starred on the celebrity panel show Hip Hop Squares, appearing on the March 13 and April 3, 2017, episodes.[57][58] She also released the freestyle "Red Barz".[59] In May 2017, the nominees for the 2017 BET Awards were announced, revealing that Cardi B had been nominated for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip-Hop Artist.[60][61] Although Chance the Rapper and Remy Ma won those categories, respectively, Cardi B performed at the BET Awards Afterparty show.[62][63] On June 11, 2017, during Hot 97's annual Summer Jam music festival, Remy Ma brought out Cardi B, along with The Lady of Rage, MC Lyte, Young M.A, Monie Love, Lil' Kim, and Queen Latifah, to celebrate female rappers and perform Latifah's 1993 hit single "U.N.I.T.Y." about female empowerment.[64][65] In June 2017, it was revealed that Cardi B would be on the cover of The Fader's Summer Music issue for July/August 2017.[66] She performed at MoMA PS1 on August 19 to a crowd of 4,000.[67] On June 16, 2017, Atlantic Records released Cardi B's commercial debut single, "Bodak Yellow", via digital distribution.[68][69] She performed the single on The Wendy Williams Show[70] and Jimmy Kimmel Live![71] The song climbed the charts for several months, and, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 25, 2017, "Bodak Yellow" reached the number one spot, making Cardi B the first female rapper to do so with a solo single since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted atop the chart in 1998.[72] The song stayed atop the charts for three consecutive weeks, tying with American pop singer Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" as the longest running female at the number one spot in 2017.[73][74] Cardi B became the first person of Dominican descent to reach number one in the history of the Hot 100 since it was launched in 1958.[75] An editor of The New York Times called it "the rap anthem of the summer".[67] Selected by The Washington Post and Pitchfork music critics as the best song of 2017,[76][77] "Bodak Yellow" was eventually certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song received nominations for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 60th Grammy Awards.[78] It won Single of the Year at the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards.[79] With her collaborations "No Limit" and "MotorSport", she became the first female rapper to land her first three entries in the top 10 of the Hot 100,[80] and the first female artist to achieve the same on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[81] In October 2017, Cardi B headlined Power 105.1's annual Powerhouse music celebration, alongside the Weeknd, Migos, and Lil Uzi Vert, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.[82] In December, she released two songs: a collaboration with Puerto Rican singer Ozuna titled "La Modelo",[83] and "Bartier Cardi", the second single from her debut album.[84] .jpg) On January 3, 2018, Cardi B was featured on the remix of Bruno Mars' single "Finesse",[85] and appeared in the 90s inspired video. It reached the top three on the Hot 100, Canada and New Zealand. On January 18, 2018, Cardi B became the first female rapper to have five top 10 singles simultaneously on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[86] She released another single, "Be Careful", on March 30, 2018, a week before her album's release.[87] Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, was released on April 6, 2018, to universal acclaim from music critics.[88][89] Editors from Variety and The New York Times called it "one of the most powerful debuts of this millennium" and "a hip-hop album that doesn't sound like any of its temporal peers," respectively.[90][91] The album entered at number one in the United States, while she became the first female artist to chart 13 entries simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, on the chart issue dated April 21.[92] It became the most streamed album by a female artist in a single week in Apple Music,[93] and the largest on-demand audio streaming week ever for an album by a woman.[94] Cardi held the latter record until 2019.[95] The album's title reflects Cardi B's feeling that as she gained popularity her privacy was being invaded in a variety of ways.[17] Following the album's release, during a performance on Saturday Night Live, Cardi B officially announced her pregnancy, after much media speculation.[96] She also co-hosted an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[97] After the release of "Girls" in May 2018, a collaboration where she had a featured verse, Cardi B responded to accusations of the song trivializing LGBT relationships; she tweeted, "We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song." She went on to add, "I personally myself had experiences with other women."[98] Several months later, in July 2018, Invasion's fourth single, "I Like It", which features vocals from Bad Bunny and J Balvin, reached number one on the Hot 100; this marked her second number one on the chart and made her the first female rapper to achieve multiple chart-toppers.[99] It received critical acclaim,[100] with Rolling Stone naming it "the best summer song of all time" in 2020.[101] Her collaboration with Maroon 5, "Girls Like You", also reached number one on the Hot 100 chart, extending her record among female rappers[102] and also making her the sixth female artist to achieve three number-one singles on the chart during the 2010s.[103] The song's music video has received more than 3.8 billion views on YouTube and was the fifth-best selling song of the year globally.[104] With "Girls Like You" following "I Like It" at the top of the Billboard Radio Songs chart, Cardi B became the first female rapper to replace herself at number one on the chart.[105] The single spent seven weeks atop the Hot 100, making Cardi the female rapper with the most cumulative weeks atop the chart, with eleven weeks.[106][107] It spent 33 weeks in the top 10, tying both Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" for the longest top 10 run in the chart's archives at the time.[108][109] In September 2025, Invasion of Privacy was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA. With the thirteen tracks, it became the first album in history to have all of its songs certified platinum or higher in the US.[110] Cardi B threw a shoe at and attempted to physically attack fellow rapper Nicki Minaj at a New York Fashion Week after-party in September 2018; bodyguards intervened before she could reach Minaj, leaving her a large bump on her forehead.[111][112][113] Cardi B alleged on Instagram that Minaj had "liked" social media comments that spoke negatively of Cardi B's ability to take care of her newborn daughter.[114] Minaj denied the allegations,[115] and she accused Cardi B of payola and bribing DJs and radio outlets with sex to play her records.[116] Cardi B was on the cover of the 2019 spring fashion issue of Harper's Bazaar, which featured her in a Cinderella-themed photo shoot wearing a red gown and leaving a shoe behind. Some interpreted this as a reference to the incident.[117][excessive detail?] Cardi B received the most nominations for the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards with 12 mentions—including for Video of the Year, winning three awards.[118] She tied with Drake for the most nominations at the 2018 American Music Awards. She won three AMAs and performed at the ceremony.[119][120] Her single "Money" earned her a fourth Video Music Award, with visuals that feature Cardi playing characters in different locations, including in an art museum, a bank and a strip club.[121] Her collaboration with DJ Snake "Taki Taki" topped the charts in a number of Hispanic countries, made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the Spotify Global 50 chart,[122] and has garnered more than 2 billion views. Both singles were certified multiple-platinum by the RIAA.[123] People en Español named her Star of the Year,[124] and Entertainment Weekly deemed her "a pop culture phenomenon", as she was named one of "2018 Entertainers of the Year".[125] On November 30, 2018, Cardi B was honored at Ebony's annual Power 100 Gala.[126] Cardi ranked fifth on the 2018 Billboard Year-End Top Artists chart, while Invasion of Privacy ranked sixth. She achieved the most-streamed album of the year by a female artist globally in Apple Music,[127] and ranked as the most streamed female artist of the year in the United States in Spotify.[128] Editorial staff from Apple Music and Billboard named "I Like It" the best song of 2018,[129][130] while Time magazine and Rolling Stone named Invasion of Privacy the best album of the year.[131][132] Also in 2018, Time included her on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[133] In its decade-end review article, NME stated that the era secured "her crown as the new Queen of Rap."[134] 2019–2020: Hustlers, Rhythm + Flow and "WAP" Cardi B received five nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including for Album of the Year, Best Rap Album and Record of the Year ("I Like It").[135] She became the third female rapper to be nominated for Album of the Year, following Lauryn Hill (1999) and Missy Elliott (2004).[136] On February 10, 2019, she then performed at the award ceremony, where she wore three vintage Thierry Mugler couture looks during the telecast and became the first female rapper to win Best Rap Album as a solo artist.[137] Cardi B led the 2019 Billboard Music Awards nominations, with 21, earning the most nominations in a single year by a female artist and the third most nominations in a year (behind Drake and The Chainsmokers, who both had 22 in a year).[138] She ended up winning six awards, including for Top Hot 100 Song, bringing her career total wins to seven—the most of any female rapper in history.[139] An article by Omaha World-Herald called her "the biggest rapper in the world."[140] On February 15, 2019, Cardi B released "Please Me", a collaboration with Bruno Mars, which became her seventh top-ten song on the Hot 100, reaching number three.[141] The song marked Cardi and Bruno's second collaboration, following "Finesse" in 2018. The official music video was released two weeks later.[142] On March 1, Cardi set a new attendance record at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, with 75,580 fans in the audience.[143] With "Backin' It Up", "Twerk" and "Money", Cardi became the first female artist to occupy the top three on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay chart.[144] Her following single titled "Press" was released on May 31, 2019.[145] The parental-advisory labeled music video marked her directorial debut—being credited as co-director, and was released on June 26, 2019.[146] It had its debut performance at the 2019 BET Awards, where she received the most nominations with seven, and won Album of the Year.[147] During the summer of 2019, she embarked on an arena tour.[148] In September, she led the BET Hip Hop Awards nominations with ten.[149] Cardi B made her film debut in Hustlers directed by Lorene Scafaria, opposite Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, and Lili Reinhart.[150] The film was released on September 13, 2019.[151] Cardi B, along with Chance the Rapper and T.I., were confirmed as judges for the Netflix series Rhythm + Flow, a ten-part hip-hop talent search that premiered on October 9, 2019, which she also executive produced.[152][153] In December 2019, Cardi B embarked on her first tour of Africa, performing in Nigeria and Ghana.[154] Her collaboration "Clout" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance.[155] She was the most streamed female rapper of 2019 in the US, according to Spotify.[156] Consequence of Sound deemed her "one of the most formidable hip-hop artists of the decade."[157] In March 2020, Cardi B created a reaction video about the coronavirus pandemic. DJ iMarkkeyz, a Brooklyn DJ known for turning memes and online moments into full-length songs, created a track, based on her reaction titled "Coronavirus", which became an internet meme and was released to music platforms.[158] Netflix announced the return of Rhythm + Flow for 2021.[159] Cardi B released the single "WAP" featuring American rapper Megan Thee Stallion on August 7, 2020, as the lead single off her forthcoming second studio album.[160] The song received critical acclaim and was praised for its sex positive messages.[161] The Colin Tilley-directed music video accompanied the song itself, and broke the record for the biggest 24-hour debut for an all-female collaboration on YouTube.[162] She became the only female rap artist to top the Global Spotify chart multiple times.[163] "WAP" debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, garnering Cardi B her fourth chart-topper in the US, extending her record as the female rapper with the most number-one singles, and also making her the first female rapper to achieve Hot 100 number one singles in two different decades (2010s and 2020s).[164][163] With 93 million streaming units, it became the largest first-week streams for a song, breaking the all-time record held by Ariana Grande's "7 Rings".[165] It has spent four weeks atop the Hot 100. The single has also spent multiple weeks at number one in seven other countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom. Neil Shah of The Wall Street Journal deemed it "a big moment for female rappers" and "a historic sign that women artists are making their mark on hip-hop like never before".[166] "WAP" became the first number one single on the inaugural Billboard Global 200 chart.[167] It became critics' best song of the year according to a compilation of rankings made by the BBC,[168] with publications such as Pitchfork[169] and Rolling Stone[170] placing it at number one. Cardi B won the Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Female Artist for the third time at the 2020 ceremony.[171] In December 2020, Cardi B became the first female rapper to be named Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women in Music Awards.[172] With her win for "WAP" at the American Music Awards, she became the first artist to win the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Song multiple times, following her win for "Bodak Yellow" in 2018.[173] 2021–2024: Standalone singles and other venturesOn February 5, 2021, Cardi B released "Up". The song was praised by NME magazine for its lyricism and fresh approach as a successor to "WAP".[174] "Up" debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the highest debut for a solo female rap song since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" in 1998.[175] It debuted at number one on the Rolling Stone Top 100, becoming both Cardi B's second number-one single and second number-one debut, as well as the first time a female rapper debuted atop the chart with a solo song.[176] Cardi B became the first female artist and first lead artist with consecutive number-one debuts on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and second overall performer following Drake in 2016.[177] "Up" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 after her Grammy Awards performance, making her the only female rapper to reach the summit multiple times with solo songs, following "Bodak Yellow", and extended her record as the female rapper with the most number-one songs on the Hot 100 as her fifth chart-topper.[178] Cardi B received a second nomination for the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist.[179] Cardi B made a last-minute appearance in "Big Paper", from DJ Khaled's album Khaled Khaled released on April 30, 2021.[180] She received two nominations for the BET Award for Video of the Year, for the music videos of "Up" and "WAP", winning for the latter and becoming the first female rapper to win Video of the Year as a lead artist. It marked the tenth time that an artist had two nominated videos in this category as a lead act, and the second time for her, following her nominations for "Money" and "Please Me" in 2019.[181] Cardi played a brief role in F9, which was released on June 25, 2021, by Universal Pictures.[182] On July 16, she was featured on the Normani single "Wild Side".[183] Cardi collaborated with Lizzo on "Rumors", which debuted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her tenth top-ten single on the chart, and her seventh number-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[184] She received six nominations at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, including her second nomination for Video of the Year.[185] Cardi also led the nominations for the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards along with Megan Thee Stallion, with nine each;[186] both rappers won the most awards during the ceremony with three for "WAP", with Cardi becoming the first female artist to win Best Hip Hop Video twice (2019 and 2021).[18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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