American female rapper Cardi B released her debut album “Invasion Of Privacy” on April 6th through Atlantic Records. The record boasted three hit singles including the number 1 smash “Bodak Yellow”, “Bartier Cardi” and “Be Careful”. “Invasion Of Privacy” has already achieved gold status by the Recording Industry Association of America. Her debut album features artists such as 21 Savage, YG, SZA, Chance The Rapper, Migos and more, as well as productions from Boi-1da, Benny Blanco, Frank Dukes, Murda Beatz to name a few.
It’s hard to believe Cardi B has risen as fast as she has, she’s become one of music’s biggest stars in just the 10 months since “Bodak Yellow” dropped and to do that requires not only hot songs but a hurricane-force personality. The regular girl from the Bronx has a come up story unlike many current artists, she was a former stripper with a massive social media following, and her unfiltered rants on Instagram led to her TV screen debut on “Love & Hip-Hop New York”. This platform managed to catapult this budding rapper to stardom in a matter of months. Having only released her debut single “Bodak Yellow” a year ago, some doubters thought Cardi B was going to be a one hit wonder. The pressure to replicate the success of “Bodak Yellow” with her debut album is a tough job but “Invasion Of Privacy” is aggressively self-assured and radiates a confidence that is only common in artists set for stardom.
Cardi B is brash, brazen, ambitious and X-rated on “Invasion Of Privacy” and is built around her rags to riches story and her desire to shut down any one hit wonder talk. The media tsunami around the gold certified album amps up even higher with the high profile appearances on the record including YG, 21 Savage, Kehlani, Chance The Rapper and even her fiance’s Offset’s crew Migos. She’s now gearing up for an appearance on Saturday Night Live, a performance at Coachella, plus a co-hosting stint on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, leading to a heavy promotion of not only the album but Cardi as an artist.
After a couple of underground mixtapes Cardi and her team went all in for her debut album, creating musical diversity, with some razor-sharp hooks from A-list producers and co-writers. The image and style they’ve unleashed for her is quite similar to Nicki Minaj except more x rated, with tracks like “She’s Bad” containing lines about having a threesome with Rihanna and Chrissy Teigen which is lighting up the internet (“I need Chrissy Teigen/ Know a bad bitch when I see one/ Tell Rih-Rih I need a threesome”). There’s club bangers like “Bodak Yellow”, and latin flavoured tracks with “I Like It”, plus soft ballads like on “Ring (featuring Kehlani)”. She even dabbles into more pop style instrumentals on “Thru Your Phone”, a collaboration with pop producers Benny Blanco and Justin Tranter.
In just one year, Cardi has evolved from reality breakout star to an dominate force in hip-hop with attitude and rawness that has pushed her to the front line of the genre. If “Invasion of Privacy” proves anything, it’s that Cardi B is no longer the underdog.
Rating : 3 / 5
