Cardi B has probably become one of the biggest artists around right now but there are still people asking ‘who is Cardi B?’ Belcalis Almanzar (known by her stage name Cardi B) is probably best known for her ‘no filter’ attitude and her debut single ‘Bodak Yellow’ which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the second-ever female rapper to do so, following Lauryn Hill in 1998. Her first album ‘Invasion of Privacy’ debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums and Time magazine labelled her one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list in 2018.
But where did she begin? Cardi B was born in The Bronx, one of New York City’s five boroughs and was associated with gangs in her teens. She faced domestic difficulties, which she escaped by turning to exotic dancing at the age of 19 to be able to earn money and get by. Cardi B has also said 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." She says stripping was her only way out, a way to earn enough money to escape her dire situation and get an education. Cardi’s fame first started to grow on platforms such as Instagram and Vine back in 2013. Between 2015 and 2017 Cardi B appeared on the VH1 reality show ‘Love and Hip Hop: New York’ and she first showed her over the top personality and the world was first showed her now well-known catchphrases ‘Eeeow’, ‘Okurrt’ and ‘shmoney’. She is considered the breakout star of the show's sixth season. 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.
Cardi B’s debut album ‘Invasion of Privacy’ was released on April 6, 2018. During a performance on Saturday Night Live in April 2018, Cardi B officially announced her pregnancy after much media speculation. The album entered at number one in the United States, while she became the first female artist to chart 13 entries simultaneously on Billboard Hot 100, for the chart issue dated April 21. Cardi B has recently exploded onto the scene and she continues to grow in popularity. How long will she last? Are her 15 minutes of fame going to run out? Only time will tell.