Money Move

Cardi B’s debut is the album you were hoping for.

- Craig Jenkins

YOU COULD TELL Cardi B would be a huge star long before the history-making Billboard-chart run that’s turning her into a household name. Her early Instagram videos roasting scammers, haters, lazy lovers, and gossip blogs exhibited a no nonsense personality and flawless comedic timing. She was a joy to watch on Love & Hip Hop: New York, where her motivational speeches about fleecing thirsty men and her habit of saying exactly what’s on her mind frequently broke the show’s fourth wall. In a series about has-been rappers’ dirty laundry and young artists’ fights for management deals and studio time they don’t necessarily deserve, Cardi’s talent and drive stuck out. The song “Everything,” off her 2016 mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1, spelled out why: “I’m worried about my father [stopping] cab driving / Beforehe turn 60, and my mom to stop being a cashier before she turn 50.”