From Bronx-born exotic dancer to mainstream chart sensation, Cardi B has just become the first female rapper in nearly twenty years to top the charts as a soloist – and she hasn’t even released her debut album yet. Her single ‘Bodak Yellow’ has soared to the top spot and she’s changing the face of hip hop.
Cardi B at Rihanna’s 3rd Annual Diamond Ball
You might know the 24-year-old from the reality show ‘Love & Hip Hop: New York’ and her popular Instagram page, but now that she’s entering the world of music, you can forget about all that. She has just made history by becoming the first lady hip hop star to single-handedly top the Billboard 200 in 19 years, with the last female rapper to hit number one being Lauryn Hill with 1998’s ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’. She’s actually managed to knock Taylor Swift’s ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ off the top.
‘I loveee you all each and everybody contributed for this’, Cardi B said on an Instagram post alongside an emotional vidoe. ‘Ya made it happen for me!!!!! The number 1 WAY!!’
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There have been others who have made it to the top, but they have all been accompanied by other artists. Lil’ Kim hit number one with ‘Lady Marmalade’ alongside Christina Aguilera, Mya and P!nk in 2001, Shawnna in 2003 with Ludacris’ ‘Stand Up’ and Iggy Azalea in 2014 with ‘Fancy’ featuring Charli XCX.
Earlier this year Cardi B dropped her third mixtape ‘Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 2’ via KSR Group, following last year’s ‘Underestimated: The Album’ and ‘Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1’. She also went on to be nominated for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip-Hop Artist at the BET Awards. 2016 saw the release of singles ‘Stripper Hoe’, ‘What a Girl Likes’ and ‘Bronx Season’, but ‘Bodak Yellow’ is her first release to chart.
Produced by J. White, the single was inspired by Kodak Black’s 2014 song ‘No Flockin’ and the video for the track saw Cardi B riding camels through a desert in Dubai. The super catchy tune was used in the first episode of season two of the HBO comedy ‘Insecure’.
Cardi B’s debut album is thought to be arriving in October this year on Atlantic Records.
