Cardi B is the biggest star in hip-hop right now, but here’s how her rap skills actually measure up.
She may not be your cup of tea, but there is no denying Cardi B’s appeal.
Since bursting onto the scene with her 2017 hit single “Bodak Yellow,” the 26-year-old star has smashed record after record, particularly with music streaming, and upended expectations with an astonishingly versatile debut album.
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She has also, however, been open about her lack of musical experience and technical skills in comparison to other rappers.
So how does she actually measure up to other comparable artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, and Nicki Minaj? Here’s a full breakdown of her skills, triumphs, and shortcomings.
Cardi B may be the most dominant person in hip-hop today, rivaled only by Drake.
Cardi B’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric; she hasn’t even been rapping that long. She released two mixtapes in 2016 and 2017 that felt more like rough drafts than clear artistic vision.
“Bodak Yellow,” however, dethroned a Taylor Swift single at the top of the chart and put Cardi in another lane entirely. She became the first female rapper to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with a solo track since Lauryn Hill did in 1998. Soon after, the seven-times platinum hit became the longest-running No. 1 single by a solo female rapper of all time.
The following year, with “I Like It” and “Girls Like You,” Cardi B became the first female rapper in history with three number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
Are you sensing a pattern?
Put simply, Cardi has smashed records in every possible category, from streaming services (14 of her songs charted simultaneously, besting Beyoncé’s record of 12) to album sales. Her first full-length LP, “Invasion of Privacy,” shot to No. 1 immediately upon release and has now become the first album ever by a female artist to have its entire track list certified gold or higher.
These numbers are not a fluke; it’s a truly astounding debut. Rolling Stone’s Rob Sheffield equated it to a “greatest-hits album” and praised the rapper’s ability to “steal any style of music that catches her ear and wear it home… stomping on everything tame or dull in hip-hop.” TIME dubbed “Invasion of Privacy” the best album of 2018.
It has now been nominated for five Grammys, making her one of the most-nominated artists this year behind Kendrick Lamar (eight) and Drake (seven).
Cardi B is the only artist in the running for both best rap album and album of the year.
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