This young star has been on everybody’s radar lately, and her hit songs keep on coming;
but, how did she become famous so quickly?
From ringing up groceries to inspiring women everywhere, here is the untold truth about
Cardi B:
13.
Early Life -
Cardi B stepped onto the scene just a few years ago; so, people don’t know much about
her life outside of her hit songs.
For instance, Cardi B was born with the name Belcalis Almanzar, which are Spanish versions
of a couple of Arabic words; Almanzar roughly translates to “lookout point.”
She was born in New York City in October 1992.
She grew up in the South Bronx and spent a lot of her time with her grandmother in Washington
Heights, which she noted is where she picked up such a heavy accent.
Cardi reportedly attended Renaissance High School to study the performing arts.
It was during her teenage years that she was employed by an Amish market, the manager of
which eventually fired her and told her to start dancing.
Why was she fired?
Well, apparently she was handing out a few too many discounts to friends and clocking
in past her scheduled time.
When she was only sixteen years old, she became a member of the Bloods… although, she doesn’t
recommend that anyone else join a group like this.
After losing her job as a cashier, she took her ex-manager’s advice and began dancing
at nineteen years old.
12.
College -
During her time working at the supermarket, she also started attending classes at the
community college in Manhattan.
Cardi enrolled in various classes including French and history and has noted the latter
as one of her favorite subjects.
However, after attending the school for just over a year, she dropped out since full-time
work and education aren’t easy to take on simultaneously.
11.
Family -
Many people also don’t know much about Cardi B’s family life.
As we discussed before, she spent a lot of time with her grandmother.
However, her mother and father were still present throughout the years.
Her dad is Dominican, and her mom is Trinidadian.
Her heritage, as well as her hometown, play a significant role in her accent.
Cardi also has a younger sister named Hennessy Carolina Almanzar.
Her sister was named after the drink.
According to an article from the Cosmopolitan website, her dad showed up under the influence
of alcohol right after she was born and chose to name her after his favorite type of liquor.
Hennessy is well-known on social media and has nearly three million followers on Instagram.
She also made appearances with Cardi on Love & Hip Hop: New York and is known widely for
her fashion sense.
10.
Rise to Fame -
We all know she got to the top, but how did she do it?
How did Cardi B go from dancing in clubs to having her music played in clubs throughout
the nation?
Well, like many stars before her, she started out on Instagram.
Something about those flattering selfies seems to capture people’s attention.
In 2013, Cardi B had several viral videos that were posted on her IG account and Vine;
because of these clips, she was pushed to pursue her dreams of a musical career.
People thought she had a unique voice that would be great for rapping, and it turns out
they were right.
Her debut was with Shaggy and Popcaan, two singers from Jamaica, on a remix of one of
the former’s singles, which took place in 2015.
Later that year, she starred in her first music video.
In 2016, she came out with her first complete mixtape, which included songs like “Selfish”
and “Washpoppin.”
Cardi put out another mixtape about a year later that had songs like “Pop Off” and
“Bronx Season.”
After gaining recognition, she signed with Atlantic Records in February 2017 and even
performed with fellow rappers Remy Ma and Lil’ Kim.
About six months later, she dropped her first hit single “Bodak Yellow”; it reached
number two in the Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
9.
Top of the Charts -
After rising to stardom quickly, her songs became popular almost instantly.
“Bodak Yellow” hit number one on the Hot 100 list in September 2017, making Cardi B
the first female rapper to occupy that spot since 1998.
The single remained in the top of the charts for three weeks straight, which matched her
with pop-icon Taylor Swift’s song “Look What You Made Me Do” for a female artist’s
longest duration in the top spot that year.
People also recognized Cardi B as the premier person to reach first place in the Hot 100
with Dominican heritage.
“Bodak Yellow” became five times platinum status, but all three of her first submissions
to the Hot 100 made it within the first ten spots.
In October of that year, she had five of her singles in the top ten places of the Billboard
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart at the same time.
She released her first album in April of this year.
8.
Cardi B -
Everyone can agree that Belcalis is unique as far as names go but maybe didn’t have
the same ring as her sister’s.
Since the younger of the two’s given name is Hennessy, people decided they would call
Belcalis by a name more similar to hers.
So, they came up with Bacardi.
Rum is the choice drink among people who live in the Caribbean; thus, it made sense that
she assumed this nickname, not only as a cute match for Hennessy but also as a tie to her
heritage.
But, how did “Cardi B” come about?
Well, she stated that when she made her Instagram account, she originally went by Bacardi.
However, they kept shutting her down, which probably had to do with copyright issues;
because of this, she got a little creative and mixed the word up to get the name she
goes by now.
Cardi noted that the “B” stands for anything that she decides on a day-to-day basis.
7.
Spirit Animal -
During her interview with Billboard, she lets viewers in on a little information about herself.
One of the questions they asked her was what she would consider her spirit animal to be.
She answered that it would be a monkey or an ape and laughingly stated it’s because
she “doesn’t know how to behave.”
Cardi B also talked about her favorite food and said that she likes Chinese food sometimes,
Mexican cuisine at other times, and, of course, she loves her grandmother’s cooking.
She also noted that the first album she purchased was Missy Elliott’s and that she’d describe
her single “Bodak Yellow” as “poppington.”
It seems that Cardi B stays true to herself, comes up with her own slang, and multiple
people have called her their spirit animal, which is no wonder considering her upbeat,
be-yourself personality.
6.
Love & Hip Hop -
Cardi B gained a lot of her initial recognition through the show Love & Hip Hop: New York.
She appeared on the sixth season of this reality series and arguably became its most prominent
star.
Her boisterous personality and various antics made her the primary focus of viewers everywhere.
Although Love & Hip Hop had several well-known celebrities participate over the years, they
are also acknowledged for helping to ignite numerous lesser-known musicians’ careers.
Various parts within her season caught the attention of the audience, one of which is
when Cardi B attends Mariahlynn’s birthday party.
She spots another girl with DJ Self and confronts them because she was seeing him too.
Then, just like in any good reality television show, they start fighting.
Cardi B starts beating up on the other woman and all chaos breaks loose.
It’s no surprise that she stole the spotlight from the other Love & Hip Hop cast members.
5.
Why She Danced -
Most people have heard about Cardi B’s previous work as a dancer.
But, why did she choose to go this route?
While working at the Amish market, she discovered quickly that life isn’t as easy as it seems
when you’re young.
Minimum wage jobs hardly pay any bills and aren’t a great option for someone who is
trying to be self-sufficient.
So, although the suggestion by her manager might’ve been sarcastic, she was serious
about it.
She viewed it as an opportunity to start providing for herself.
Cardi B was in a destructive relationship at the time.
In an interview with VLADTV, she stated that her ex-boyfriend struck her on a regular basis
and nobody helped her out of the situation.
She also implied that young women shouldn’t be so quick to move in with their significant
others.
Cardi B had to make enough money on her own to move away from her ex, and that’s when
she began dancing.
While working as a cashier, she only made two hundred dollars per week, whereas she
could make upwards of three hundred dollars per night at the club.
However, she also said she wouldn’t recommend dancing to other women because she lost a
lot of self-esteem during that time and felt she had to change her physical appearance
to work there.
Either way, she became independent and eventually rose to the top, overcoming a rocky start.
4.
Political Views -
This outspoken star has no shame when it comes to giving her opinion on any matter, including
those that are political.
She does not support Donald Trump as President of the United States, which has been apparent
since his 2016 campaign.
Cardi encouraged people to vote for Bernie Sanders and posted statements on her Instagram
account that opted for gun control.
She is firmly against the current president’s policies on immigration and was even featured
alongside Hillary Clinton in a video at the Grammys earlier this year; during the clip,
they read excerpts from Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, a book that discusses Trump’s
actions during his run.
Cardi B was also quoted saying that Franklin D. Roosevelt was the one who actually focused
on “making America great again,” for his work on the New Deal and Social Security programs.
3.
Date Night -
Most people would prefer a quiet date with their significant other, such as going out
to a fancy dinner, enjoying a romantic movie at the theater, or maybe even holding hands
during a moonlit stroll through the park.
However, Cardi B isn’t a fan of the charming stereotypical outings most lovers find appealing.
She likes to get in touch with her roots, so to speak.
She noted during an interview that her ideal night out includes going to a club, like the
one she used to work at.
She enjoys watching the ladies strut their stuff while taking in the big bucks; but,
if she doesn’t think they’re working hard enough on their looks or dancing, then she
won’t spend her money on them.
What’s her ideal end to this date?
Well, we aren’t allowed to say…
2.
Inspirations -
There’s no arguing the fact that Cardi B is a unique person regarding herself and her
career.
She says what she wants, does what she wants, and makes a great living through it all.
Her quick rise to fame caught everybody by surprise, and she continues to awe people
worldwide with her catchy songs.
But, who were her artistic inspirations?
Cardi has credited several other female singers and rappers as being people who influenced
her and shaped her musical style.
One of them is Khia, a rapper whose most well-known song is titled “My Neck, My Back.”
Another is Trina, a rapper who has released five albums so far.
Cardi B explained that she liked their songs because they were “fighting songs,” which
she hadn’t heard in some time, noting that they inspired her assertive manner of rapping.
She further stated that she wanted to rap about things other women could relate to,
such as the regular conflicts between females.
Cardi B included Missy Elliott, Lady Gaga, and Madonna as influences and favorite artists
as well.
She has not only copied some of Lady Gaga’s one-of-a-kind looks but while she was in high
school, she even covered one of her songs!
During a talent show, Cardi B performed “Bad Romance” with friends on stage.
Her other inspirations are Spice and Ivy Queen; plus, she has been compared to Foxy Brown
and Lil’ Kim.
1.
Offset -
Although Cardi B didn’t want to pursue a serious relationship for a long time, after
she met Offset, a member of Migos, things changed drastically.
Last year in February, the two went on their first date.
It wasn’t dinner and a movie either; it was at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas for
Super Bowl LI.
Prior to the outing, she had her publicist relay a message to him, stating that if they
went out in public together, then he better not make her look dumb afterward.
But, it seems Offset was genuinely interested in the talented young star.
However, when she was asked about their date by Wendy Williams, Cardi B kept most of the
information to herself.
Later on last year, the duo went to a party following the Met Gala in New York City.
They also made a music video together for “Lick,” a song off of her second studio
album.
In October 2017, Offset decided to pop the question during a concert in Pennsylvania,
and soon after, Cardi posted a photo of her engagement ring on Instagram.
Just a few months after that, rumors spread that Offset was being unfaithful.
However, the two stayed together he had her name tattooed on him.
During an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, she stated that she could have any guy she
wants, but she would discuss the issue with him and said that she’s isn’t an angel
either.
Earlier this year, she announced to the world that she is pregnant with Offset’s baby
and that she’s having a little girl.