Cardi B is that Grammy Award-winning and BET Award-winning rapper, actress, TV personality, and social media master that emerged as a reality star and then evolved into the music hitmaker the commercially explosive single, “Bodak Yellow” that was slaying all the music charts back in 2017.
From the working-class environment of the South Bronx section of New York City, to the gleam and glamour of the entertainment industry, the outspoken breath of fresh air that is Cardi B has that youthfully cute face that makes you smile even when she is roasting your ears with profanity. The longer that she is in the rap game, the more you start to wonder, just how old is Cardi B in the first place? As we look at Cardi’s age, we will also take a glance at some of the accomplishments that she has earned during that time.
Cardi B from the Bronx
Before she was called Cardi B, she was born as Belcalis Almanzar on October 11, 1992, raised in The Bronx, New York, and splitting her time with her grandmother in the nearby neighborhood of Washington Heights that she was very close to. Her ethnicity is a radiant blend of Caribbean culture by way of Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic. Her mother is Trinidadian, and her father is of Dominican descent. Her sister’s name is Hennessy Carolina, which is how she got her nickname “Cardi B” as a derivative of “Bacardi.”
During Cardi’s teenage years, she was associated with the Bloods gang and attended Renaissance High School For Musical Theater & Technology. In order to acquire the financial flexibility to pull herself out of the economic and emotional poverty of an abusive relationship, before the fame Cardi B was stripping, working as an adult dancer in a strip club, something that she has had no problem publicly discussing, sharing that:
“It really saved me from a lot of things. When I started stripping I went back to school.”
Cardi B may have eventually dropped out of school, but you still had her mind busy as working, occupying herself with Instagram, Tweets, and Vine social media posts under her handle “@iamcardib”, owning her raw personality and sharing it with the world to the point that she was able to be seen and heard not just on the internet, but also on television.
Reality TV Princess
In the world of Reality TV, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, and their entire orbit of family and famous friends like Kanye West may be the first name you think of. But Cardi B was determined to have her name be the last one you would ever forget. With her straight-up no-chaser attitude and complete transparency about her life as a stripper, frank attitude about life as a stripper, Cardi wasn’t taking no for an answer from anybody when she first appeared on VH1’s reality show Love & Hip Hop: New York.
With recognizing rap celeb cast members on Love & Hip Hop: New York like Joe Budden and Remy Ma in the mix, Cardi proved that she not only belonged in the same room with them but also on the same microphones as well. Just as quickly as the world fell in love with her on the reality series, she ended her two-year contract in 2017 to make music her full-time grind.
If there was any skepticism in the air, Cardi B cleared up all the stink really quick with a mega-hit song that kept the world guessing what she was about and repeating her every word. Her No. 1 debut single “Bodak Yellow” through Atlantic Records paved the way for the 2019 Grammy she won for her debut album, Invasion of Privacy.
After releasing the album Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B made a far-reaching impact by breaking some records in the process:
- First woman with five Top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at the same time: Imagine the amazement Cardi B must have felt for her musical achievements when she surpassed Beyoncé as the first woman to have five Top 10 singles simultaneously on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Before this occurred, Cardi had already tied with Beyoncé. The hits that did it for Cardi B were her appearances on Bruno Mars’ “Finesse” and her own single “Bartier Bardi,” “Bodak Yellow,” G-Eazy’s “No Limit,” and Migos’ “MotorSport.” She also made a remix of “Boom Boom” alongside Shaggy.
- The first rapper to have her first three singles in the Hot 100’s Top 10 at the same time. This was made true in the first week of the year of 2018, Cardi B was the first rapper ever to get their very first singles in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 10 simultaneously: her appearances on G-Eazy’s “No Limit,” Migos’ MotorSport,” and “Bodak Yellow.”
- First woman to have her first three placements in the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ Top 10 simultaneously: Cardi B was not playing around with her songs. She became the first woman to have the first three songs of hers make their way simultaneously into the Top 10 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart: “Bodak Yellow,” Migos’ “MotorSport,” and G-Eazy’s “No Limit.” This incredible feat put Cardi into the renowned company of Ashanti, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Beyoncé, and Rihanna, who were the only other women to chart three simultaneous Top 10 smashes.
- First woman soloist rapper to hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100: Cardi B emerged as the first female rapper to go No. 1 in nearly 20 years without a featured credited artist. In September 2017, Cardi became the first to achieve this since Lauryn Hill in 1998 with “Doo-Wop (That Thing).” If that wasn’t enough, Cardi Mania went full force to the point that Cardi overtook pop music giant Taylor Swift and her single “Look What you Made Me Do.”
- Longest-running No. 1 song by woman soloist rapper: There was another record that “Bodak Yellow” afforded Cardi B when she released it. During the blockbuster single’s third week at the top of the chart, “Bodak Yellow” became the longest-running chart-topper by any solo lady artist on the Hot 100. Yet again, this massive move blew right past Lauren Hill’s “Doo-Wop (That Thing),” which remained for two weeks in the No. 1 slot back in 1998.
- Most simultaneous Billboard Hot 100 title spots: Invasion of Privacy maintained its location on an extremely impressive 13 chart entries on the Hot 100, pushing past Beyoncé for having the most simultaneous titles by a woman, whether you are talking about hip hop, R&B, pop, jazz, or any music genre you can possibly think of.
- Invasion of Privacy was streamed over 100 million times on the Apple Music platform: Invasion of Privacy was able to get streamed over 100 million times throughout the world. To put these numbers into context, just realize that Invasion of Privacy doubled the streaming numbers that T-Swift’s Reputation album had garnered.
- Second Billboard No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart: Thanks to her guest appearance on Bruno Mars’ “Finesse,” Cardi B earned her second chart-topper on the Billboard songs chart. This contagious collaboration did another excellent deed and seized the top spot of the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales, Streaming Songs, and Airplay Gainer charts. Her song “I Like It” also later peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
From movies, television appearance, and a monopoly on social media exposure, take into consideration that Cardi B is only turning 28-years-old in 2020, and she has already accomplished so much with just her debut album Invasion of Privacy alone. She now has a daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus with fellow hip-hop artist Offset, whose real name is Kiari Kendrell Cephus.
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