Cardi B

About

Cardi B is an American rapper and television personality known for her appearance on TV's Love & Hip-Hop: New York as well as her single "Bodak Yellow" and her popular debut album, Invasion of Privacy. She is candid about her past as a stripper and a member of the Bloods gang and has demonstrated knowledge about American presidents and is outspoken on political issues.

History

Cardi B, real name Belcalis Almanzar, was born October 11th, 1992 in The Bronx borough of New York City.^[1] She joined the Bloods at the age of 16, and began stripping at age 19 to escape poverty and domestic violence. She began developing an Instagram following in 2013 and amassed hundreds of thousands of followers in two years thanks to several videos of her talking to the camera.

She began her music career in November of 2015, appearing on a remix of Shaggy's "Boom Boom" (shown below, left). On December 15th, 2015, she released her first music video for the song "Cheap Ass Weave." The video gained over 3.4 million views (shown below, right).

On December 14th, 2015, she debuted on television in the sixth season of reality show Love & Hip-Hop: New York.^[2] Jezebel deemed her the breakout star of the show.^[3] She stayed on the show for two seasons before leaving to focus solely on music.

On June 16th, 2017, her single "Bodak Yellow" was released. The song is her most successful to date. In addition to gaining over 529 million views on YouTube, the song reached number 1 on the Billboard US Hot 100 (shown below).^[4]

"Bodak Yellow" was the first single off her debut album, Invasion of Privacy, which was released on April 6th, 2018, and entered at number 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album was very well-received by critics, scoring an 84/100 on review-aggregate site Metacritic.^[5]

Political Opinions

Cardi B has been outspoken with her left-leaning opinions on issues in the United States. She is an outspoken supporter of Bernie Sanders ^[6] and is pro-gun control. She has also spoken about American tax policy.^[8] In a GQ profile, Cardi B talked about presidential history and her support of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, particularly for the creation of Social Security.^[7] On April 18th, 2018, Bernie Sanders quote-tweeted a quote from Cardi B's GQ interview about Roosevelt, saying, "Cardi B is right. If we are really going to make America great we need to strengthen Social Security so that seniors are able to retire with the dignity they deserve." This led to jokes on Twitter about the strangeness of seeing the Senator and former Democratic primary candidate endorsing the opinions of the rapper.^[9]

Online Presence

Cardi B has a very active social media presence. She has over 22 million followers on Instagram,^[10] 254,000 Twitter followers,^[11] and 5.1 million Facebook likes.^[12]

Transphobic Facebook Post Controversy

On September 16th, 2018, the Cardi B's verified Facebook account featured a variation of the Rolf Stares Out a Window meme that had the caption "I hope nobody see thisTranny leave my house." The post (shown below) has since been deleted; however, it received more than 2,500 reactions, 220 comments and 470 shares before deletion.^[13]

Following the post, people on Twitter began commenting on the post and Cardi B's previous comments on the transgender community. New York magazine writer Yashar Ali tweeted^[14] her previous apology next to the Facebook post. Within 24 hours, the tweet (shown below, left) received more than 900 retweets and 2,000 likes in 24 hours.

That day, Cardi B tweeted about the controversy from her verified Twitter account, stating that a "former" employee was in control of the Facebook account and that she is not responsible for the meme. She wrote, It's come to my attention that there have been offensive posts made on what used to be my Facebook page. For the past year and a half a FORMER team member has been the only one with access to the account." The tweet (shown below, center) received more than 5,900 retweets and 55,000 likes in 24 hours.

Later that day, Cardi B posted a video that documented a text conversation between her and the man in control of the Facebook account in which he takes responsibility for the post. The video was shared by Yashar Ali, who commented, " @iamcardib posted this video of a conversation she says is with the man who ran her FB page. I don't understand why her verified FB page with 6.5 million fans is under some other person's control. In the conversation she's acting as if she has no choice – just take control!"

Several prominent public features commented on the controversy. Orange Is The New Black actor Laverne Cox tweeted,^[16] "I am a huge advocate for free speech but as long as its socially acceptable to make jokes about trans people, to make and share memes disparaging & demeaning trans folks, trans folks will continue to be murdered &denied civil rights. #TransIsBeautiful #transrightsarehumanrights." The tweet (shown below, left) received more than 3,500 retweets and 13,000 likes in 24 hours.

Through out the day, more people online reacted to the controversy (examples below, center and right). That day, Twitter^[17] published a Moments page to archive the reaction and controversy.

Several media outlets covered the controversy, including Billboard,^[18] NME,^[19] Us Weekly^[20] and more.

Government Shutdown Rant

On January 16th, 2019, Cardi B posted a video to Instagram voicing her frustration with the federal government shutdown of 2018-2019 (shown below). She defended Obama and criticized President Trump for "ordering and summoning federal government workers to go back to work without getting paid."^[22] The video gained over 10 million views within the first day.

That same night, senators Brian Schatz, Chris Murphy and Chuck Schumer^[21] Tweeted in response to Cardi's post debating whether or not to retweet her video (shown below).

Cardi responded later that night with a Tweet asking, "Why am I trending?" which was retweeted over 9,000 times and liked by 137,000 Twitter users within 24 hours (shown below).

#SurvivingCardiB

On March 24, 2019, The HipHopRatchet twitter account resurfaced a video of Cardi B on Instagram live from three years earlier. In the video, Cardi B claims to have drugged and robbed men who wanted to sleep with her (shown below).

After the video resurfaced, Twitter users began using the hashtag #survivingcardib to comment on cardi's past and compare the situation to #SurvivingRKelly. Twitter user @mrtrprt^[24] tweeted, "I just don’t understand how she can get away with ALL these crimes she did. Really disgusting. Really sad. #survivingcardib" (shown below, left). The tweet gained 100 retweets and 600 likes in three days. @rebecca01146617^[25] also tweeted on the subject saying, "why isn’t anyone talking about #CardiB and her drugging men then robbing them… like if this were a man for example… this would be a different story. waiting for #survivingcardib" (shown below, right). The tweet garnered 800 retweets and 2,300 likes in three days.

On March 26th, Cardi B^[23] responded by attaching a long note to a tweet saying, "All I can do now is be a better me for myself my family and my future" (shown below). The tweet gained 8,500 retweets and 62,700 likes in a day.

Search Interest

External References