Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar Cephus
October 11, 1992
Cardi B,
Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar is an American rapper. She was born on October 11, 1992, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Her father Carlos is Dominican and her mother Clara is a Trinidadian of African and Spanish descent; Almánzar identifies as an Afro-Latina. Almánzar was raised in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx, and spent much time at her paternal grandmother’s home in Washington Heights, which she credits with giving her “such a thick accent.” Almánzar developed the stage name “Cardi B” as a derivation of Bacardi, a rum brand that was formerly her nickname. She has a younger sister, Hennessy Carolina, who was born in 1995. She has said she was a gang member with the Bloods in her youth, since age 16, but stated she would not encourage joining a gang. She attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school on the Herbert H. Lehman High School campus.She first gained popularity through Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to early 2017, she appeared as a regular cast member on the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, which depicted the pursuit of her music aspirations, and earned further recognition with the release of her two mixtapes: Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 (2016) and Vol. 2 (2017).
During her teens, Cardi B was employed at an Amish deli in Tribeca. She was fired and became a dancer at a strip club across the street. Cardi B has said that becoming a stripper was positive for her life in many ways: “It really saved me from a lot of things. When I started stripping I went back to school.” She stated that she became a stripper to escape poverty and domestic violence, having been in an abusive relationship at the time after being kicked out of her mother’s house, and that stripping was her only way to earn enough money to escape the situation and get an education. She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College before eventually dropping out. While stripping, Cardi B lied to her mother by telling her she was making money by babysitting. In 2013, she began to gain publicity due to several of her videos spreading on social media, on Vine and her Instagram page. She was cast in LOVE AND HIP-HOP and from there the rest was history. By showcasing her talents and business-savvy mind in te sitcom it launched her career launched and she became a legendary Icon but she has never forgotten where she came from.
Cardi is a strong spirit who has a passion for life and the good for others and it shows in her work as an activist.
Her first studio album, Invasion of Privacy (2018), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was ranked the top female rap album of the 2010s by Billboard. Critically acclaimed, it made Cardi B the only woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album as a solo artist, and marked the first female rap album in 15 years nominated for Album of the Year. It spawned two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100; with “Bodak Yellow”, its lead single, Cardi B became the first female rapper to top the Hot 100 with a solo song in the 21st century and the first to achieve a diamond-certified song by the RIAA, while “I Like It” marked the first time a female rapper attained multiple number-one songs on the Hot 100. Her third Hot 100 number-one, the collaboration “Girls Like You” with the band Maroon 5, made her the only female rapper to achieve multiple diamond-certified songs by the RIAA. She has since released two singles from her upcoming second studio album—”WAP” (2020) and “Up” (2021), both of which topped the Hot 100 and other charts worldwide.
Relationships
As of early 2017, Cardi B began dating fellow rapper Offset. They became engaged on October 27, 2017. On April 7, 2018, during her second performance on Saturday Night Live, Cardi B revealed her pregnancy. On June 25, 2018, TMZ found a marriage license revealing Cardi B and Offset had actually secretly married in September 2017, one month before the public proposal. She later confirmed this in a social media post.
Cardi B gave birth to her daughter on July 10, 2018. In December 2018, she announced on Instagram that she and Offset had separated, though the pair later reunited. In February 2019, the couple made a public appearance for the Grammys He accompanied her onstage during her acceptance speech for Best Rap Album.
In September 2020, it was reported that Cardi B had filed for divorce from Offset, but the following month it was revealed they were back together. In June 2021, Cardi B revealed she was pregnant with her second child, a boy. She gave birth to her son on September 4, 2021. On the fifth anniversary of her marriage, Cardi B announced she is planning her official wedding.
Recognized by Forbes as one of the most influential female rappers of all time, Cardi B holds various records among women in hip hop; she is the female rapper with the most number-one singles (five) on the Billboard Hot 100, the only to achieve multiple solo number ones and the only to earn number ones in two decades (2010s and 2020s) on the chart. She is also the female rapper with the most diamond-certified songs (three) by the RIAA, the highest-certified female rapper of all time on their Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking, and has 100 million certified units (album and songs) sold in the US alone. Additionally, she is the female rapper with the most songs with a billion streams on Spotify—where she also has the most-streamed female rap album. She was the first lead artist to top the Billboard Global 200. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, eight Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, six American Music Awards, 14 BET Hip Hop Awards, and two ASCAP Songwriter of the Year awards. In 2018, Time magazine included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2020, Billboard honored her as Woman of the Year. Outside of music, she became the creative director of the entertainment magazine Playboy in 2022.
In February 2017, she partnered with M.A.C and Rio Uribe’s Gypsy Sport for an event for New York Fashion Week. Her April appearance in i-D’s “A-Z of Music” video was sponsored by designer Marc Jacobs, and she made the cover of The Fader’s July/August 2017 Summer Music issue. Tom Ford’s Cardi B-inspired lipstick, named after her, was released in September 2018. It sold out within 24 hours. In November, she released a clothing line collection with Fashion Nova. The same month she partnered with Reebok, promoting the brand’s Aztrek sneaker. In partnership with Reebok, she released a footwear and apparel collection in 2020, inspired by her personal style and paying homage to “classic 80s styling” and motifs. She released her second collection with Reebok in 2021, including sneakers, tracksuits, and corsets, inspired by everyday life in New York City. The fourth collection with the brand was released in September 2022, titled “Let Me Be…Next Level Energy”. Inspired by Cardi B’s “unmatched energy”, the collection includes crop tops, sneakers, bodysuits, leggings, and woven jackets; its color palette is based on crystals. Her fifth and final collection with Reebok, a second edition of “Next Level Energy”, was released in December 2022, bringing an end to her four-year partnership with the brand.
Cardi B teamed up with Pepsi for three television commercials, which aired during the Super Bowl LIII, the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, and Christmas. In early 2019, Cardi also joined other hip hop artists (including her husband Offset, as part of Migos) in releasing her flavors of snack food Rap Snacks: two flavors of chips, and two of popcorn. The bags’ artwork was designed by Jai Manselle and inspired by the cover of Invasion of Privacy.
She premiered the series Cardi Tries via Facebook Messenger in December 2020, with herself as one of the executive producers. The web series ran for three seasons until 2023.
In December 2021, Cardi B partnered with PLBY Group Inc. as creative director in residence for Playboy and founding member of Centerfold, a creator-driven website in the works. The partnership also includes fashion and sexual-wellness products. In collaboration with Starco Brands, she launched a vodka-infused, vegan whipped cream “Whipshots” the same month. It has sold over two million cans as of March 2023.
In February 2023, Cardi B and Offset partnered with McDonald’s to create the Cardi B and Offset meal which was launched on Valentine’s Day. The meal was first announced in the 2023 McDonald’s Super Bowl commercial which the couple appeared in.
Philanthropy
On September 13, 2022, Cardi surprised her old elementary school, I.S. 232 in the Bronx, and announced that she would be donating $100,000 to the institution.
Political statements
Cardi B identifies as a feminist. The rapper has been called “unabashedly, directly political” and often uses social media to advocate for causes she believes in, such as gun control. During the 2016 presidential primaries, she warned her fans of President Trump’s immigration policies and encouraged them to vote for Senator Bernie Sanders. At the Grammy Awards in 2018, she appeared in a video along with Hillary Clinton to narrate a portion of Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff’s insider’s account of Trump’s administration, and stated “Why am I even reading this shit? I can’t believe this. I can’t believe—this is how he really lives his life?”
Early in 2018, she used her social media to demand transparency on tax policy, asking for detailed information on how her taxpayer dollars are being spent in New York state and criticizing the maintenance of its streets, prisons, and public transportation. Cardi B endorsed Sanders once again in his second bid for the presidency in the 2020 United States presidential election, while praising U.S. Representative Tim Ryan.She stated that one of the reasons for her endorsement is Sanders’ long-time involvement in supporting underprivileged minorities and “people getting Medicare because he knows they can’t afford it,” while Politico argued that she “might be one of Bernie’s most powerful 2020 allies.”
She has used her social pages to raise awareness for victims of police brutality and has encouraged people to vote for mayors, judges, and district attorneys in local elections. In a conversation with Democratic candidate Joe Biden for Elle, they discussed Medicare, free college tuition, and racial equality. According to a study published by The Hollywood Reporter, Cardi B ranked as the fifth most influential celebrity, and fourth among Generation Z, for the 2020 presidential election.
She praised President Franklin D. Roosevelt for advocating for the Social Security program and the New Deal project. She said of President Roosevelt, “he helped us get over the Depression, all while he was in a wheelchair. Like, this man was suffering from polio at the time of his presidency, and yet all he was worried about was trying to make America great—make America great again for real. He’s the real ‘Make America Great Again,’ because if it wasn’t for him, old people wouldn’t even get Social Security.” Sanders has praised her for her “leading role” in calling attention to Social Security