Cardi B is an American rapper.
She stands out as one of the most commercially successful female rappers of her era.
Early life and EducationÂ
Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, born on October 11, 1992, in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City, is known professionally as Cardi B. Her father, Carlos, is Dominican, and her mother, Clara, is of Trinidadian and Spanish descent, making Cardi B identify as Afro-Latina. Raised in the South Bronx’s Highbridge neighborhood, she frequently visited her paternal grandmother in Washington Heights, which influenced her distinctive accent.
Cardi B’s stage name is derived from Bacardi, a rum brand that was once her nickname. She has a younger sister, Hennessy Carolina, born in 1995. Cardi B has admitted to being a member of the Bloods gang from the age of 16 but discourages others from joining gangs. She attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology.
In her teens, Cardi B worked at a grocery store in Tribeca but was fired and subsequently became a stripper at a club nearby. She credits stripping with saving her from poverty and domestic violence, allowing her to return to school and gain financial independence. She briefly attended Borough of Manhattan Community College before dropping out. During this time, she lied to her mother about her job, claiming she was babysitting.
Cardi B started gaining attention in 2013 through viral videos on Vine and Instagram, which helped launch her career.
Career
Cardi B’s debut studio album, “Invasion of Privacy” (2018), premiered at number one on the Billboard 200 and was named the top female rap album of the 2010s by Billboard. The critically acclaimed album earned her the distinction of being the first solo female artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and was the first female rap album nominated for Album of the Year in 15 years. It produced two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: “Bodak Yellow,” which made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the chart with a solo song in the 21st century and the first to achieve a diamond-certified song by the RIAA, and “I Like It,” which made her the first female rapper with multiple number-one songs on the Hot 100. Her third Hot 100 number-one, “Girls Like You” with Maroon 5, established her as the only female rapper with multiple diamond-certified songs. Cardi B’s singles “WAP” (featuring Megan Thee Stallion) in 2020 and “Up” in 2021 also topped the Hot 100 and other global charts.
Forbes recognizes Cardi B as one of the most influential female rappers ever. She holds several records in hip hop, including the most number-one singles (five) on the Billboard Hot 100 for a female rapper and the only female rapper to achieve multiple solo number-ones and earn number-ones in two different decades (2010s and 2020s). She is the female rapper with the most diamond-certified songs (three) by the RIAA, the highest-certified female rapper in history on their Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking, with 100 million certified units sold in the US alone. She also has the most songs with a billion streams on Spotify and the most-streamed female rap album on the platform. Cardi B was the first lead artist to top the Billboard Global 200. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, eight Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, six American Music Awards, 14 BET Hip Hop Awards, and two ASCAP Songwriter of the Year awards. In 2018, Time magazine listed her among the 100 most influential people in the world, and Billboard named her Woman of the Year in 2020.
Beyond music, Cardi B has been a judge on the music competition series “Rhythm + Flow” (2019), acted in the films “Hustlers” (2019) and “F9” (2021), and voiced a character in “Baby Shark’s Big Movie!” (2023). In 2022, she became the creative director for Playboy magazine.
Controversies
In September 2018, Cardi B sparked controversy by throwing a high heel shoe at fellow rapper Nicki Minaj and attempting to physically attack her at a New York Fashion Week after-party. Bodyguards intervened, leaving Cardi B with a large bump on her forehead. Following the incident, Cardi B claimed on Instagram that Minaj had previously “liked” social media comments questioning Cardi B’s ability to care for her newborn daughter. Minaj denied these allegations on her Queen Radio show, expressing embarrassment over the altercation and accusing Cardi B of building her career through “sympathy and payola,” implying she bribed DJs and radio outlets with sex to play her records. Minaj also criticized Cardi B’s rapping skills and called her a “disgusting pig” for allegedly cyberbullying a guest on Minaj’s show. Minaj unearthed posts where Cardi B called dark-skinned black women “cockroaches,” a term Cardi B had previously defended as a Bronx-specific derogatory term for disrespectful behavior.
Cardi B was featured on the cover of the 2019 spring fashion issue of Harper’s Bazaar, depicted in a Cinderella-themed photo shoot wearing a red gown and leaving a shoe behind, which some interpreted as a nod to the Fashion Week incident.
In May 2018, after the release of “Girls,” a collaboration where Cardi B had a featured verse, she faced accusations of the song trivializing LGBT relationships. She responded on Twitter, stating, “We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song,” and added, “I personally myself had experiences with other women.”
Legal issues
On October 1, 2018, Cardi B was accused of assaulting two female bartenders, with the victims alleging that she and her entourage threw bottles and alcohol at them. She denied any involvement. Cardi B was charged with two misdemeanors: assault and reckless endangerment. After missing her initial court date due to a scheduling conflict, she appeared for her arraignment on December 7, 2018. On June 21, 2019, a jury indicted her on 14 charges, including two counts of felony assault with intent to cause serious physical injury. She pleaded not guilty to all charges during her arraignment on June 25, 2019. On September 15, 2022, she pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and second-degree reckless endangerment, receiving a sentence of 15 days of community service.
On January 24, 2022, Cardi B won a defamation case against YouTuber Latasha Kebe (Tasha K), who had conducted a “malicious campaign” to tarnish her reputation by spreading false rumors. Cardi B testified that these lies had led her to contemplate suicide in 2019. The jury found that Cardi B had been defamed and awarded her $1.25 million in damages, with subsequent proceedings increasing the total fine to $3.82 million.
On March 25, 2022, Cardi B, her sister Hennessy, and Hennessy’s girlfriend won a defamation lawsuit filed against them by three men over an incident at a Suffolk County beach.
In July 2023, during a concert in Las Vegas, Cardi B threw her microphone into the crowd after a fan threw a liquid at her. Although one fan attempted to press charges, the Clark County Police Department decided not to pursue the case following an investigation.
Personal life
Cardi B is a practicing Catholic. In 2016, she confessed to drugging and robbing men during her time as a stripper to make money, later justifying her actions in 2019 by explaining that these men “wasted her time by falling asleep” and continued to come back. Openly bisexual, Cardi B has also recounted being sexually assaulted while working as a stripper, aligning her experiences with the Me Too movement.
In a 2018 interview, Cardi B stressed her Afro-Latina and Afro-Caribbean identity, expressing frustration over the lack of understanding of Caribbean culture and history. She pointed out the African roots within Caribbean people and criticized those who attempt to invalidate her heritage based on her skin complexion.
Cardi B started dating fellow rapper Offset in early 2017. They got engaged in October 2017, but later it was revealed they had secretly married in September 2017, before their public proposal. Cardi B announced her pregnancy during an April 2018 performance on “Saturday Night Live,” and she gave birth to their daughter on July 10, 2018. Despite announcing their separation in December 2018, they reconciled, with Offset joining her at the Grammys in February 2019 when she accepted the award for Best Rap Album.
In September 2020, Cardi B filed for divorce from Offset, but they reconciled the following month. She announced her second pregnancy in June 2021 and gave birth to their son on September 4, 2021. Cardi B mentioned planning an official wedding for their fifth anniversary. In December 2023, she announced on Instagram that she had been “single for a minute,” indicating another separation from Offset. However, by March 2024, their relationship status was unclear as they continued to work together, with Offset directing a music video for her.
Net Worth
Estimated to be over 80 million dollars