The Bronx rapper Cardi B took 2017 by storm when her track “Bodak Yellow” dropped June 16, 2017, by Atlantic Records. In the three months since the debut of “Bodak Yellow,” the song climbed all the way to No. 2 on the Hot 100. VH1’s reality series Love and Hip-Hop made her a cultural phenomenon and she capitalized on this to its fullest extent. She went from the woman who made the vine “A Hoe Never Gets Cold” to top the Billboard charts, which was an unexpected gift that we keep thanking her for. This was pretty shocking and exciting to see a female rapper, besides Nicki Minaj getting so much attention and praise.
Watch Cardi’s famous vine here:
“Bodak Yellow” became one of the highest-charting songs by a solo female rapper since Nicki Minaj‘s “Anaconda,” which reached the same peak in 2014. Should Nicki be scared that Cardi is going to take her place? When there is a clash of interests, much like Nicki’s feud with Remy Ma, when Remy dropped “ShETHER,” on February 25th, 2017. Nicki responded by teaming up with her Young Money crew by releasing “No Frauds” on March 14th, 2017. Nicki also has a history of disliking the previous queen of the rap game, Lil Kim. Nicki has a lot of bad history with other female rappers but she seems to have a liking towards Cardi B, which could be a result of actual fear. But I believe that Nicki is rooting for Cardi and taking her under her wing since Minaj has always been a proud feminist. It would be hard to take Nicki’s spot when she already has 15 top 100 tips on the Billboard Top 100. Migos, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B even released a song together, “Motorsport” on Dec 7, 2017.
Cardi B just dropped her latest single, “Bartier Cardi” ft. 21 Savage on December 22, 2017, and it is showing a lot of promise. She also just released a feature with Bruno Mars called, ‘Finesse’ that has jumped from just outside the Top 40, all the way to No. 3. Cardi seems to be getting bigger and better, which is only a positive. Love her or hate her, she is doing so much for the rap community and for female rappers that want to come up in the game. Nicki Minaj has been one of the only female rappers that have been on the charts for the last eight years, and I think we have grown tired of the same few rap verses on every pop song. Nicki’s verses have been played out and have been showing a lack of creativity, especially on her verse in “Swish Swish.” At least when we turn on the radio we will get more variety and another voice in this genre. I’m glad we can hear the phrase “money moves” besides “pussy on your sideburns” for once, and maybe this might make Nicki step up her game as well.