“Press, press, press, press, press/Cardi don't need more press,” Cardi B bellows on her latest single, Press. Aimed directly at the media, Cardi’s acerbic wit is tempered by her brazen delivery but this isn’t the first time the Bronx native has reckoned with the spotlight.
Since her meteoric rise to fame following the release of Bodak Yellow in 2017, Cardi B went from a national reality star to a global sensation virtually overnight. She dethroned Taylor Swift to top the Billboard Hot 100, became the second female rapper to ever score a number one solo hit since Lauryn Hill in 1998, was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time and won her first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
Being a social media luminary may have equipped Cardi for the initial attention Bodak Yellow brought in but it wasn’t quite enough to prepare the up-and-coming star for the onslaught of criticism, pressure and rumours perpetuated by fans, tabloids and gossip rags. But without the capacity to deal with this assault, as you may expect, Cardi began to lash out.
Admitting to searching her name on Twitter, Cardi broke the one cardinal rule of celebrity - do not fight with the fans - but the New York rapper has never taken to following the rules, which is part of what the world loves about her. She isn’t the first celebrity to revolt and certainly won’t be the last, but her penchant for Twitter arguments made her the target of online trolls.
“When in the airport waiting on flight that's what I do, [sic]” Cardi wrote to a fan in response to a negative Tweet. “[I] search my name to flame flap jack saggy tittie bitches like you.”
As her star rose, Cardi’s online retaliations became more frequent and increasingly frenzied. Everything from her relationship with Migos rapper, Offset, her attitude and her recent feud with self-proclaimed “queen of rap”, Nicki Minaj, became contentious topics of discussion on Twitter, until she couldn’t take it anymore.
In her first major cover story, Cardi revealed that the price of fame was already taking its toll. “One negative thing is that, even though I’m happy, I feel like I was a little bit happier two or three years ago when I had less money,” she told the CR Fashion Book. “I had less people who had opinions about my life. I felt like my life was mine. Now I feel like I don’t even own my life. I feel like the world owns me.”
"Now I feel like I don’t even own my life. I feel like the world owns me.”
The release of Cardi’s debut record, Invasion Of Privacy, was her case in point. Compounded by an irreverent frankness, Cardi narrates hapless tales of love on single Be Careful and infidelity on Thru Your Phone while struggling with the perils of fame’s zoo-like enclosure. Carried by her nascent staccato flow, the rapper reckons with everything her success has brought with it; both the good and the bad. But when she’s rapping things like, “’Fore I fixed my teeth, man, those comments used to kill me/But never did I change, never been ashamed,” she’s inviting listeners to view her vulnerability on her own terms.
The world’s fascination with Cardi has always been on her terms. From when she started stripping and captivating fans on Instagram with videos about hustling money and scamming men to appearing on Love & Hip Hop: New York to boost her fame, Cardi has always exercised control. But following a string of controversies, including causing a scene at a mall after refusing a photo with a fan, the rapper’s power over her narrative started to dissipate. “I used to tell myself that I will always be myself,” she told Rolling Stone last year. “Little by little, I’m feeling like I’m getting trapped and muted.”
Following the record’s release, Cardi became uncharacteristically reserved. Withdrawing from social media, keeping her marriage to Offset under wraps, and refusing photographs, the once-carefree rapper became incredibly subdued. In a profile for Rolling Stone, she visibly winces at the word, “album.” She’s even admitted to sympathising with Britney Spears, whose public struggles with fame seemed more relatable than ever: "I totally understand why these artists go through what they go through, why they're shaving their head. It's just crazy!" But in the year since her debut release, she’s promised to "thug it out, because I'm already famous. I got no choice but to keep it going".
Pulling back from interacting with fans on social media may prove to be an exercise in restraint for the no-holds-barred rapper, but Cardi’s learned to toe the line between privacy and laying everything bare. Following the birth of her first-born, Kulture Kiari Cephus, Cardi has turned inward, towards family life and away from the rigmarole of daily Instagram videos; they’ve gotten her into trouble one too many times.
In a video from December last year, wearing a pink Fashion Nova dress and a slick black bob Cardi mimes over a booming beat, heavy with gunshots and 808s. The arrival of Press five months later was teeming with anticipation, but since the song’s inception so much has changed. Cardi may continue to struggle with fame but it’s now clear she’s begun to use it to her advantage. The artwork features the near-naked star’s new sculpted body as she’s dragged out of a venue by two security guards, scowling at the surrounding cameras. It’s a scene we’ve all seen before. But this time, Cardi is back in control.
