Nicki Minaj is pushing back against Instagram as the social media platform prepares to begin hiding likes in the U.S. next week.
Minaj stated in a tweet on Saturday that she would stop using Instagram in response to the companys decision.
Im not posting on IG after this week cuz they removing the likes, the artist said. Hmmmm what should I get into now? Think of all the time Ill have with my new life.
Im not posting on IG after this week cuz they removing the likes. Hmmmm what should I get into now? Think of all the time Ill have with my new life
— Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) November 9, 2019
Instagram first began experimenting with removing likes in April for users in Canada. Since then, the test has been expanded to six other countries including Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand.
The Facebook-owned app previously stated that it wants to see how users react when more emphasis is placed on content as opposed to how many likes a post receives.
We are testing this because we want your followers to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get, a company spokesperson said.
Although next weeks test will only be applied to a small portion of Instagrams U.S. userbase, Minaj argued that the move could cause significant damage to influencers. The rap star also appeared to accuse record labels of working with Instagram in an attempt to retain control over a music industry increasingly dominated by independent artists.
We are so easily pacified. Harriet would never. Yall smoking dick if yall think labels aint pissed about the level of power independent artists now have by way of IG. They all work TOGETHER. Unlike us… settling for crumbs. But memba when I spoke on other shit b4 it happened?
— Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) November 9, 2019
But Minaj isnt the only popular artist coming out against Instagrams proposed change. Cardi B also spoke out against Instagram in a post on the platform this weekend.
Cardi argued that instead of removing likes, the social media site should instead focus on the comment section.
If anything is affecting Instagram right now, its the way the comments have been doneor have been changing these past few years, she said in an Instagram video. I feel people been sayin the most weirdest shit, been starting the craziest arguments, been starting to race bait because they want to get to the top, they want to get the most reactions. And thats whatI feel:The comments affect more than the likes.
African American artists are taking wild west style from the fringes to the cultural mainstream
America is never far from the frontier mentality and 2019 is proving no exception, with an African American cultural boom in all things cowboy, known colloquially as the yee-haw agenda. Surprised? You should not be. African American cowboys have largely been erased from the record by Hollywood narratives starring John Wayne and Robert Redford, but were estimated to amount to one in four in the wild west. Now artists and musicians seem determined to put a stop to the exclusion with figures including Beyonc, her sister Solange Knowles and Cardi B adopting western style.
One reason is the increased awareness of the part African Americans played on the western ranges at the end of slavery, when many former slaves headed to Texas looking for work.
That history is now proving as rich for black America as it had been for the film director John Ford and the stories they tell are not very different. In 1907, the African American cowboy Nat Love wrote of his life in Dodge City, Kansas, as a great many saloons, dance halls, and gambling houses, and very little of anything else. Love, who was born into slavery near Nashville, Tennessee, drank with Billy the Kid, participated in shootouts with Native Americans, rounded up cattle and amused himself with activities like dare-devil riding, shooting, roping and such sports.
However, life for freed slaves was hardly an idyll where racism and oppression had suddenly ceased to exist; the word cowboy itself, some say, had roots in a slur on these black labourers.
Along with the rise of racism and xenophobia in Donald Trumps America, there has also been a reassertion of the role of African Americans in places that are not normally acknowledged.
The New York University photography professor Isolde Brielmaier says: This is much less of a trend and much more about representation and visibility and addressing the erasure of that culture in the American imagination. Were seeing a very strong move on the part of marginalised communities to say: We were here and we exist.
From a cultural standpoint, its hard to find a rhythm and blues star who did not at some point don a cowboy hat. Ray Charles recorded country tracks throughout his career, putting out the great Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music album in 1962, and often said he was drawn to the stories in the songs from Nashvilles songwriters.
From Charlie Rich to Otis Redding once filmed on his Big O ranch in denim overalls to Curtis Mayfield and the Gap Band (who put out the single Burn Rubber on Me with a video of the trio in denim and cowboy hats), the western style has always been in the fringes, so to speak.
Lest any of this rich history go to waste, Idris Elba is to star in Concrete Cowboys, a film about Philadelphias black equestrian community, the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, which has provided safety and security for the neighbourhood for more than a century.
The film was inspired by Greg Neris 2011 novel Ghetto Cowboy about a 15-year-old boy from Detroit who is abandoned by his mother and sent to live in Philadelphia with the father he has never met, who is a black urban cowboy. In an interview last year, the director Ricky Staub said he was surprised to see a cowboy ride past his office. What the heck is going on? he wondered. Why are you riding a horse in the hood?
In the murder capital of Compton in Los Angeles, there is another effort to harness horses and the cowboy ethos as a counter to gangs and violence. The Compton Cowboy posse officially came together as a group in 2017, though the area of Richland Farms has been home to African American equestrians since the mid-20th century.
They dont pull us over or search us when were on the horses, Compton Cowboy Anthony Harris, 30, told the New York Times last year. The horses, Harris explained, protected the 10 members of the posse from police harassment. They would have thought we were gangbangers and had guns or dope on us if we werent riding, but these horses protect us from all of that.
Elba and the Compton Cowboys, it turns out, will be in good company. Nashvilles ability to turn out crossover stars such as Kacey Musgraves has helped re-establish an upbeat version of country in the pop mainstream, but it is the black cowboy who has been turning up all over town, as witnessed by Texas pop-culture commentator Bri Malandro.
Malandros Instagram account @theyeehawagenda serves as a celebration of black cowboy aesthetics in popular culture. Its a treasure trove where youll find anyone and everyone, old and new, offering a nod to the western style, from Beyonc in her Destinys Child days wearing a cowboy hat to her more recent Daddy Lessons, and her sister Solange who put western visuals to her album When I get Home.
Meanwhile, the New York fashion label Telfar put the black cowboy aesthetic on the catwalk in its autumn/winter collection this year.
But it is hats off, as it were, to Lil Nas X, creator of the unclassifiable, record-breaking Old Town Road, now registering on Billboard as the longest-running Hot 100 hit of all time. Earlier this month at the VMA music awards, 20-year-old Nas X walked the red carpet in a silver sequined suit, ruffled shirt and silver cowboy boots a little yee-haw mixed with the rock-star flash of Little Richard and Prince, noted Billboard. Nas X may not be the first R&B star to put out a countrified hip-hop song Nelly, UGK and Outkast have been there but he has single-handedly codified what had been bubbling up as a style trend for a year or two.
Vogue decided that Nas Xs look from designer Christian Cowan may just be the most dazzling interpretation of the boundary-pushing trend.
Now we know even the Lone Ranger is based on an African American cowboy, the black cowboy in pop culture, crossing and recrossing cultural lines, erasing them in the process, is in full swing.
To Brielmaier, the yeehaw agenda is about reasserting visibility.
Its very intentional on the part of Lil Nas X to place a black, gay cowboy in our visual purview. His playfulness is grounded in an important history that has gone underrepresented for a long time. Im here. This is my space. Whats the big deal?
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/sep/21/black-america-cowboy-heritage-wild-west-style
The Hollywood stars attempt to become an online player has had to be brought to a halt after trolls broke his app
I have spent more of my life than I would like to admit imagining who a Jeremy Renner fan would be. In my mind, they have dogs and a gleaming pickup truck, but they dont live on farmland; instead, they live in a grey-fronted new-build on an uphill cul-de-sac in a generic American town. They have a number of sweated-in caps that they wear every day, even to formal events. At least one pump-action shotgun and possibly a long-range weapon, too.
I dream that Renner fans literally all air guitar along to Dont Stop Believin, even when the song is not actually playing. The males still somehow have early-00s goatees and jeans that pool over their boots like curtains. When they walk into a gas station which Renner fans do up to seven times a day, always making a creaking, groaning noise when they pay at the register in damp, crumpled wads of cash they walk sideways and stiff-legged, like Liam Gallagher after bruising his tailbone, so that other people cannot easily navigate past. My imaginary female Renner fans, meanwhile, self-describe as mom in their Instagram bios, have one eye that cannot look directly at a camera lens and are always making some sort of vile American casserole that is mainly pork lumps and garlic powder.
Night after night, these Renner fans sit in a cuddle puddle with their dozens of large rescue dogs. As the lights dim against the night, truck engine tinkling cool outside, they watch The Hurt Locker, then all the Marvel films, that Bourne one Renner did, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Renner fans are fundamentally happier and more at peace than you and me, yes, but will history remember them when they are dead? It will not.
What history will remember, though, is Renners attempt at becoming an app billionaire, which came crashing down this week. In case you have somehow not downloaded the Jeremy Renner app called, simply, Jeremy Renner it was a bit like Instagram, but only for pictures of Jeremy Renner, posted by Jeremy Renner, with Jeremy Renneresque captions such as: Have a rockin weekend everyone!!! You could communicate with other Jeremy Renner fans, and every time someone commented back to you on the app you got a push notification that, due to an incredibly thoughtless quirk of design, made it seem as if Jeremy Renner himself was whispering it directly into your phone. So you could type, say, I dont know: I literally dont know how my movie career happened. I am entirely charmless and a completely forgettable actor. My go-to facial expression is midway through a polite conversation with an unfamiliar neighbour, I realise my dog has rolled in a dog turd. They should have left me in the makeup truck where they found me and it would appear as if Jeremy Renner was saying that, about himself. So you can see how this instantly and spectacularly fell apart.
As Stefan Heck wrote on Deadspin, I Broke the Official Jeremy Renner App by Posting the Word Porno On It. After a screenshot of someone responding to the word porno with Nasty!! Not Cool went viral, the Jeremy Renner app was inundated by Renner impersonators all saying how much they loved porno and pornography-aligned things. And lo: Renner had to shutter the app he primarily used as a way of wishing people a rockin weekend.
The app has jumped the shark. Literally, Renner said in a statement, literally. Due to clever individuals that were able to manipulate ways to impersonate me and others within the app I have asked ESCAPEX, the company that runs this app, to shut it down immediately.
Ah yes, those galactic-brained hackers who were able to manipulate the iron-clad security of the Jeremy Renner app by simply signing up with Renners name and photograph. How on earth could we have seen this happening?
The thing is this is not even the first time the Jeremy Renner app has been shut down because of trolling. In 2017, around the time of the apps initial launch, the Renner community (Rennerheads? Renoids? Jerryboys? God knows) was tearing itself apart in the comments section under Jeremy Renners updates. This was due to a multipronged controversy involving a Hurricane Harvey giveaway experience (fans were mad that a Renner-promised visit to the set of the Avengers film turned out to just be a visit to his house), comment moderation described as totalitarian, a wonky app update and accusations of bullying. I simply cannot believe that Renner somehow attracts this much online drama. But see you in 2021 for the inevitable Biannual Jeremy Renner App Catastrophe.
Not in front of Cardi, please, children
I am both sad and delighted to announce that Cardi B is locked in a rap feud with four 10-year-old boys. In a way, we should have seen this coming, shouldnt we: Cardi B, a lightning bolt of drama, glamour and soft-spoken charisma, who took possibly the last original path to superstardom going from viral motivational Instagram speaker (A hoe never gets cold) to alumni of the reality show Love & Hip Hop: New York, to multiplatinum artist to one of the biggest stars in the world was always, truly, destined to have this headline written about her: Cardi B tells 10-year-olds who wrote diss track to go drink f***ing milk.
To catch you up: on Monday night, Cardi broadcast one of her regular tell-all Instagram Lives, in which she uttered the immortal lines: Not gonna let no little fucking white boys come at me all motherfucking day long. Motherfucking shut the fuck up and stay in your motherfucking place. Go drink your motherfucking milk, bitch. The clip was interpreted as being a dig at ZN8tion, a group of four fraternal quadruplets who had recorded a diss track aimed at Cardi in which they chant, They fixed your teeth / but they couldnt fix your face and that they Dont know whats faker / your life or your butt, before one of them dances toward the camera with a cushion down their tiny childs trousers to simulate a curvy arse. I simply dont know how four children Hollywood, Slim Z, Bonez McKoy and Mr Great, before you ask got access to a studio, a camera, a cushion, a beat to diss over the top of and 143,000 Instagram followers, but its 2019 and we just have to accept these things as facts now. Thats just the world we live in. I mean its better than a Jeremy Renner app, isnt it?
Anyway, turns out it was all a misunderstanding. Cardi was actually lamenting footage from Travis Scotts Netflix documentary, Look Mom, I Can Fly, in which he seems visibly annoyed to lose the best rap album Grammy to Cardis Invasion of Privacy. So she defended herself and her work on Instagram, relating how she recorded it throughout a difficult pregnancy, and these eerily matching 10-year-olds had absolutely nothing to do with it. This has, therefore, become a self-fulfilling rap beef: ZN8tion have somehow blipped above the radar by swinging for Cardi and fundamentally missing, and now shes mad that everyone thinks shes mad at four identical children. So in a way: yes, Cardi B is now annoyed at ZN8tion because everyone thought she was annoyed at ZN8tion, but she isnt, shes annoyed at I dont know. The industry.
I think the main takeaway from this, though, is: this cannot be the last I hear from Hollywood, Slim Z, Mr Great and my precious Bonez McKoy, please. Its a dark and miserable year, a grey and torrid time to be alive, and what I need what my soul craves! is four matching 10-year-olds in wraparound sunglasses rapping on an anti-bullying platform, but bullying Cardi B as they do it. Please, more beef from the ZN8tion quads. Go for Kanye next, or Taylor Swift. Call Ed Sheeran out for a rap battle. This is what the future of culture needs: four aggy 10-year-olds, cushions firmly down their trousers, calling Drake a fart boy.
A jazz pianist is transforming viral videos into hilarious original instrumentals that are quickly becoming hits on the internet. While not his first, Charles Cornell’s musical take on an Instagram video of Cardi B flexing Swisher Sweets Uggs blew the 26-year-old up with millions of views.
Uploaded earlier this month, it shows the Denver-based musician matching Cardi B’s inflections and bizarre catchphrases note for note as he follows along on piano. As simple as it is brilliant, the short video rocketed Cornell from a few hundred Instagram followers to nearly 100,000. After his girlfriend convinced him to post it to TikTok, he told the Daily Dot, it quickly went viral. A tweet sharing it has racked up 5 million views and was even retweeted by the rapper herself.
This is the greatest thing I've seen this week @iamcardib pic.twitter.com/HJJqC34ITU
— sad bart (@snapbxtch) May 10, 2019
Cornell originally got the idea when reading an article curating many of President Donald Trump’s infamously outrageous Twitter posts. “I wondered what it would sound like if they were put into song. In my head, I started doing one and I couldnt stop laughing at how stupid and ridiculous the idea was.”
For his first few videos, he sang Trump’s signature name-calling antics about “Crazy Joe Biden” and the “fake news media” accompanied by a piano melody of his own creation.
“I just look for hilarious and/or ridiculous statements that I can work into a rhythmically sensible cadence,” Cornell told the Daily Dot. “If the rhythm works, the melody almost writes itself.”
This was around the first week of May, when he had about 250 followers on Instagram, mostly friends and family. Since they enjoyed the videos, though, he decided to try taking the idea further: “Rather than singing a tweet, I decided to try my hand at transcribing the notes of spoken word. This was something I had seen done years ago by a drummer named Dan Weiss and by a guitarist named Publio Delgado. Both who do incredible work. These videos seemed to do even better than singing the tweets.”
He chose Cardi B as his first test subject because he found her videos funny and thought her speech pattern worked perfectly for this kind of musical conversion.
“I think the Cardi B video did so well because her spoken word is very song-like and rhythmic to begin with, so the video sounded almost like an intentional composition. Its way harder to do somebody that talks fast and monotone,” said Cornell.
The video’s virality caused some viewers to point out another musician, Instagram user mononeon, who has built a following similarly converting viral videos into guitar solos. While Cornell never claimed to originate the idea, he said on Instagram that he only became familiar with mononeon after his Cardi B video blew up. The coincidence did inspire a pretty epic mash-up though.
Cornell quickly moved on to transcribing beloved creations from the now-defunct platform Vine. While not as popular—after all, lightning rarely strikes twice—they’ve garnered a few hundred thousand views in their own right.
Where most of Cornell’s experience has been, though, is in songs and jazz compositions. His band’s second album, Tales, releases later this year. So it was only natural for him to try applying this treatment to other pop icons like Eminem and Taylor Swift.
Once he began taking requests from fans, he moved on to topical subjects like make-up artist James Charles‘ apology video amid his ongoing YouTube scandal with fellow artist Tati Westbrook. The more fervently fans request a particular video, the more excited he gets about creating its musical counterpart.
“If I have a ton of people all pointing to the same piece of content, its pretty likely that its going to be a good one!Otherwise, I just look for funny videos that already sound slightly musical in the way the person speaks,” he said.
Last week he even tried his hand at another Cardi B video.
Fans gather as rapper attends court following incident last year, in which police say an argument led to brawl
Cardi B has rejected a plea deal in a case stemming from a fight at a New York strip club last year.
WNBC reported that the rapper did not speak to journalists before or after a three-minute court appearance on Friday.
Fans got as close as they could. One, Briana Minore, 19, came from another part of Queens to catch a glimpse of the star, who waved to her, according to the New York Daily News.
They wouldnt let you close to her, but I was shaking, Minore told the newspaper after Cardi swept past in an all-white outfit. I love her so much, Ive been planning this day for so long.
The singer is due back in court next month on misdemeanor reckless endangerment and assault charges.
Police say Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, and her entourage were at the club when she argued with a bartender and a fight broke out in which chairs, bottles and hookah pipes were thrown, slightly injuring the woman and another employee.
Cardi Bs lawyer has said she didnt harm anybody.
From Offset interrupting Cardi Bs show to Birdman ambushing Toni Braxton, could male artists please keep their gestures private?
At a gig, there is only one thing worse than an artist playing something from the new album a surprise special guest. Worse still is one thats a surprise even to the performer, AKA the worrying new trend of men making a public apology in the middle of their other halfs live concert. The video of Offset who got dumped by wife Cardi B after she allegedly caught him cheating invading the stage during her Rolling Loud festival set is worth watching just for the look of sheer disgust on her face.
Still, that didnt put Cash Money boss Birdman off ruining his ex-fiancee Toni Braxtons Atlanta concert last month by pulling a slightly-less-prepared version of the same stunt. Interrupted halfway through her final song by Birdman sheepishly ambling out of the wings, Toni took the stage invasion better than Cardi, in that she hugged him, then dragged him off the stage by his hand, throwing him a well talk about this later look on the way.
Weirdly, both couples are back together now, so public apologies clearly work that, or Cardi and Toni just want to make it through a gig without their other halves trying to steal the spotlight and this is the easiest way. It is unclear if these men are so stupid they dont see anything wrong with ruining their exs concerts (the crowd actually boo in the Offset video, and he has since said he didnt give a damn about the criticism, claiming hed do whatever it takes). Or is it just a natural extension of living on social media? The saying sorry by posting a screengrab of the Notes app on Instagram method, but IRL!
It is oddly performative, and counterintuitive to do something so publicly when it would be more meaningful in private. Its unconvincing, like when men make birthday photo collages of their girlfriends and post them on social media with an OTT caption. It doesnt make you think that theyre head over heels in love; rather its a huge red flag that theyve been caught exchanging flirty texts with the girl who sits next to them at work and now have to pay a weird Facebook-based penance.
It isnt just apologies that go wrong. Rihanna says her friendship with Drake ended after he hijacked her moment at the MTV VMAs in 2016. He introduced her as the girl Ive been in love with since I was 22 and tried to kiss her as she accepted the award. Two years later, she said his comments made her uncomfortable, probably because to turn around and tell him to piss off would make her look heartless. There is, though, a right way to do a public apology. Jay-Zs 4:44 was basically one giant Im sorry to Beyonc; then he had the good grace to sound rubbish next to her on The Carters album. Men of hip-hop: please take note. Jay-Z finally got something right. Please stay off the stage.
Confrontation reported at Harpers Bazaar event where Cardi B was seen leaving with what appeared to be a bump on her head
Nicki Minaj and Cardi B were involved in an altercation on Friday night at a New York fashion week party, leaving the latter rapper with a mark on her head.
Cardi B reportedly threw one of her shoes at Minaj.
A person who witnessed the incident but asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly said Minaj was finishing a conversation with someone when Cardi B tried to attack her, but Minajs security guards intervened.
Video from the Harpers Bazaar Icons party circulating on social media showed Cardi B lunging towards someone and being held back. Another video showed the rapper being escorted out of the event by security.
Cardi B, wearing a voluminous red Dolce & Gabanna gown, was seen leaving the party with what appeared to be a bump on her head. She was barefoot.
She and Minaj have been rap rivals since Cardi B began achieving huge success over the last year.
In a post on Instagram Cardi B did not call out Minaj by name but alluded to the fight and said she was sparked because her mothering skills were being disparaged. She and rapper Offset recently had their first child together, a girl.
Minaj did not immediately comment.
Belcalis Almanza worked her way to the top, and she’s not stepping down anytime soon.
History often favors the bold and unwavering, so it should be no surprise that Belcalis Almanza, known by her stage name Cardi B, made history in 2017. Cardi B became the first woman rapper to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in almost 20 years, thanks to the wild success of her single “Bodak Yellow.” But Cardi didn’t get her No. 1 hit overnight. Here’s everything you need to know about the new queen of rap, and how she did things her way from the start.
10 fascinating facts about Cardi B
1) Cardi B famously hails from the Bronx
Belcalis Almanza is just a “regular degular girl“ born and raised in the Bronx. The 25-year-old’s mother is Trinidadian and her father is Dominican. Because of her Latin roots, the rapper speaks Spanish and talks with a thick Bronx accent. During the Dominican Day parade in New York City back in August, the rapper debuted her Spanish-language remix of “Bodak Yellow.” We can expect more Spanish tracks from Almanza soon.
2) She worked as a stripper before she was famous
In 2011, 19-year-old Cardi B became a stripper after being fired from an organic Amish supermarket in lower Manhattan. Stripping became a way for the young Becalis escape poverty, an abusive relationship, and pay to go to school. “When I got fired from there I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’” she told Complex in 2015. “The manager from the Amish Marketplace said, ‘You’re so pretty and you have such a nice body. Why don’t you go across the street and work at Private Eyes?’” From then on Cardi B has been all about making her shmoney. To this day, the rapper is not ashamed of her past as a dancer but instead uses it as a source of empowerment and material for her music. “People want me to be so full of shame that I used to dance,” Cardi told the Guardian. “I would never be ashamed of it. I made a lot of money, I had a good time and it showed me a lot.”
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3) Social media boosted Cardi’s fame
By 2013, Cardi had gained a large social media following on her Vine and Instagram accounts for posting hilarious videos of herself addressing topics spanning from sex, to money, to haters. One of her most famous videos, posted in 2014, shows Cardi made up in a tight dress promoting one of her winter club appearances. This is where she coined one of her most famous quotes. “Canada, it’s cold outside but I’m still looking like a thotty,” she says walking toward the camera. “Because a hoe never gets cold.”
4) Cardi’s personality and follower count led her to reality TV stardom
In 2015, Cardi B’s posts were reaching over a million followers on Instagram. That year VH1 asked her to take a spot on the sixth season of its reality show Love & Hip Hop New York. Cardi B is considered one of the few breakout successes from the series. After only two seasons, the rapper left the show to pursue her rapping career full-time. While she was on the show, VH1 captured the release of Cardi’s first mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1, and the turbulent relationship she had with her then-fiance, who was incarcerated.
One of the most iconic Cardi B moments from her time on the show is when the rapper shut down Peter Gunz during a LHH reunion episode. Gunz attempted to slut shame her on national TV, but Becalis gracefully delivered the best clap back of 2016. The footage is a required watch for any true Cardi B fan.
5) She used to have crooked teeth
Before getting them fixed in May of 2016, Cardi was known for her crooked teeth, which were often an easy target for her haters. The rapper got them straightened for a steep price, and silenced the petty mouth critics for good.
6) She personally funded her own success
Cardi invested her own money into her career. In a recent Instagram story, the Bronx artist revealed that she launched her rap career using tens of thousands of dollars from her savings from stripping. “I spent so much money for this shit,” Cardi said. She goes on to explain that for just one of her older songs titled “Get Me Money” she spent $60,000 of her own money for song promotion, and the song never took off.
7) So far, Cardi has released two mixtapes
Cardi currently has two full-length projects out, both mixtapes: Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1, which dropped in 2016, and Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 from January of 2017. Though “Bodak Yellow” is the rapper’s breakout hit, her singles “Foreva,” “Cheap Ass Weave,” “Lick” are among her more popular tracks that helped put the rapper on a path to be taken seriously as a rising artist. Cardi has yet to release her debut album, and though she originally announced that it would come out back in October, it looks like fans will have to wait until 2018 for the rapper’s next big project.
8) “Bodak Yellow” broke more records than one
Cardi B broke several records with her No. 1 hit “Bodak Yellow.” The song snags the beat from Kodak Black’s 2014 song “No Flockin’.” With it, Cardi B became the first Dominican to ever have a No. 1 single in the entire history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. When “Bodak Yellow” first hit the No. 1 spot, it knocked off Taylor Swift’s single “Look What You Made Me Do.” Becalis also became the first woman rapper to get a No. 1 hit since Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” in 1998. Cardi went a step further by dethroning Hill as the woman rapper with longest-running No. 1 hit.
READ MORE:
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9) Her upcoming wedding to rapper Offset might be the next reality TV event
Cardi and Migos’ Offset have been dating since the beginning of 2017. Among their relationship highlights, the two were the cutest couple during the 2017 fall fashion week. They first collaborated on Cardi’s track “Lick,” released back in May. On Oct. 27, Offset proposed to Cardi in Philadelphia in front of 19,000 people with a giant diamond ring. The couple hasn’t set a date for their wedding yet, but rumor has it they’ve already received offers from VH1, BET, and others outlets to host a television wedding special. Talk about hip-hop royalty.
10) She’s all about a good deal
Despite her exponential commercial success, Cardi B is the queen of bargains and still loves to save. She famously spends thousands of dollars on her “bloody” shoes and jewelry, while sporting thrifty Fashion Nova outfits. “You know what’s crazy,” Cardi said in a recent Instagram video. “$100,000 on the wrist, but my outfit costs like $60.” She also complained once via Instagram about a $7 bowl of cereal from a hotel she was staying at. “I feel like I’m getting hustled and bamboozled,” the rapper said. No matter how much shmoney she’s getting, Cardi likes to keep her expenses in check.
Editor’s note: This article is regularly updated for relevance.
No bad blood here.
Taylor Swift may have had a rivalry-filled summer, but she was nothing but an ally to Cardi B this week after the rapper usurped the pop star for the number one spot on the charts.
“Bodak Yellow” dethroned “Look What You Made Me Do” after its three-week reign in the top spot, and it’s a historic win for Cardi. She’s the first solo female rapper to top the Hot 100 since Lauryn Hill in 1998—that’s 19 years since a lady MC last held the position.
And there’s no rivalry, apparently. Swift sent Cardi a huge pink bouquet backstage at the Tonight Show—where the rapper was appearing with G-Eazy—as a congratulations.
“Sooo beautiful and lovely,” the Bronx native wrote on Instagram. “Thank you @taylorswift for the flowers… and I freaking love your music.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZhVxNZhlo_/
What a refreshingly straightforward moment!
Read more: https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/taylor-swift-cardi-b-flowers/
