Charlotte-born rapper DaBaby has become quite the viral sensation since he emerged as the hottest new artist in the game a few years ago. After working hard for years on the underground, the 29-year-old’s unmistakeable flow was finally picked up by the mainstream, blowing up with the success of his single “Suge”. A superstar career followed and now, DaBaby can’t go anywhere without being recognized by his fans.
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The young rapper is beloved across the nation and, sometimes, he ends up becoming a trending topic on social media for no reason at all. Such was the case this week when “#DaBaby” started picking up attention on Twitter. Following a week’s worth of absurd videos being uploaded to TikTok about DaBaby, in which fans show off their iPhone screens, which have been customized to feature solely the Baby On Baby album cover as each app icon, the trend has seemingly moved over to other mediums. Picking up worldwide attention on Monday night, the hashtag was filled with nonsensical videos and photos– some of which are included below.
You should know better than to underestimate Cardi B. From her initial rise as a social media personality, to her status today as the reigning Queen of Rap, Cardi has shown herself to be an immensely durable and versatile figure within the popular imagination: a true renaissance (wo)man, capable of flitting between several different spheres while remaining completely and authentically herself.
This is no mean feat. Historically, the general public has reserved a great deal of suspicion for celebrities who have worn several hats. We’ve all sniggered at Gwyneth Paltrow’s transition from Hollywood actress to wellness guru under the banner of her tiresome lifestyle brand GOOP. We’ve all rolled our eyes at another Hollywood star flogging a vanity album of themselves crooning their way through an uninspiring selection of jazz or folk standards. Reality TV stars who have transitioned into music have an even more dubious track record. Who can forget Kim Kardashian’s first and last single, “Jam (Turn It Up)” (apart from almost everyone?)
Cardi B was born Belcalis Almanzar in 1992 in The Bronx, to a Trinidadian mother and a Dominican father. After being fired from several jobs (including working at a deli counter and as a cashier), in 2013 Cardi began to work as a stripper – a decision which she credits with “saving her,” giving her the ability to leave an abusive relationship and go back to school. It is during this period that Cardi first appeared in the public consciousness, when she began posting videos on Instagram and dearly-departed microblogging site, Vine.
Despite being several years away from starting her rap career, the star of these Vines is instantaneously recognizable as Cardi B. All the ingredients are there: the distinctive accent (part abrasive New Yawker, part melodious Spanish), the outrageous cackle, the outsized personality (part silly, part sexy, part campy), the filthy sense of humor and carnal preoccupation that, several years later, would result in endless criticism from conservative Americans. By 2013, the full range of Card B-isms were already in place: the trills and exclamations, the tongue-pop she uses like punctuation.
A 2017 cover story with The Fader describes the moment Cardi B’s manager encouraged her to “give rapping a try,” citing her distinctive accent as evidence that she’d do well as a rapper: “She had a natural ear for music. Her speaking style, in certain scenarios – like when she yelled at a dude on the phone – were proof of a unique voice.” While it’s true that Cardi raps how she speaks, she also raps what she speaks. Many of the snappy, vivid punchlines from Cardi’s Vines were recirculated, several years later, as rap verses. In one clip, Cardi B addresses the camera, faux-seriously: “People be asking me, like ‘what do you does? Are you a model? Are you like a comedian or something?” She smirks: “Nah, I ain’t none of that! I’m a hoe. I’m a stripper hoe. I’m about this shmoneyyyyy.” Two years later, Cardi would release “Stripper Hoe” and “What a Girl Likes” (the chorus of which goes, ‘gimme shmoney, gimme gimme shmoney’) – a crafty repurposing of comedic material which had been years in percolation.
Indeed, it is very easy to imagine a reality in which Cardi is a model or a comedian. A VP of a New York celebrity talent agency described her as “A TV personality – she was born to be famous.” Unsurprising then, that Cardi excelled when she was cast on VH1 reality show Love & Hip-Hop, quickly becoming the show’s break-out star. One standout moment from the show went viral: while discussing an ex-friend, Cardi declares “if a girl has beef with me, she gon have beef with me -” a loaded pause, a pirouette – “forevah.” Again, a year later the zinger would reappear, as the chorus of excoriating single, “Forever.”
This phenomenon has begun happening without Cardi B’s input. In the first few months of the pandemic, Cardi posted an impassioned monologue imploring her followers to take the virus seriously, which resulted in several, ahem, viral remixes.
If you are a martian who somehow hasn’t heard a single Cardi B song, you would be forgiven for thinking, from these accounts, that Cardi makes novelty music. That her music is an extended joke, an overplayed meme, the commercially-driven over-extension of a social media personality. This isn’t the case, at all – Cardi B’s rhymes may be superficially amusing, but her songs frequently have great soul and depth. In this instance, the things that make her great at social media – her charm, her scrutiny, her self-awareness – translate into being great at making music.
Something particularly notable about Cardi’s debut album, Invasion Of Privacy, is that it feels retro – oddly so, for a star who has built their career through social media. In an age where albums are frequently formatted to appease Spotify algorithms (see: Drake’s Scorpion, which stretched to a whopping 25 tracks, presumably to wring as many streams out of each user as possible), Cardi’s debut is a very reasonable 13 songs.
It would have been easy for Cardi to pack Invasion Of Privacy full of racy raps and crowd-pleasing braggadocio, but instead, the album is nuanced, an emotionally varied piece of work. One example of this is “Be Careful,” a bruised ode to a cheating lover. Here, Cardi is measured and beneficent, rather than vengeful: “Do you know what you’re doing? Whose feelings that you’re hurting and bruising? You gonna gain the whole world, but is it worth the girl that you’re losing?”
In a 2019 article for The Guardian, Jia Tolentino described social media as humans “reproducing the lessons of the marketplace.” In many ways, Cardi has done this throughout her entire career – she’s just been one step ahead of the marketplace the entire time. Rather than waiting for the internet to make memes out of her, Cardi memes herself, exhaustively mining her own back catalogue and reprocessing her best bits. Rather than working with a label A&R department to form her image and to grow her fanbase, like a rapping Venus, Cardi arrived fully-formed. Watching back over her old Vines, we see a fully-fledged star, a totally cohesive media personality with a distinct vocabulary and a ready-made fanbase of millions of followers. All Atlantic had to do was ink the contract and send over the songwriters.
As streaming and social media has complicated the business of being a pop star, a new term has emerged in A&R circles. The ‘artist-brand’ – a marketing construct which presents the idealized pop star as a global media personality, who can command several streams of revenue, and who are able to communicate and promote themselves effectively across cultural contexts, and within many different forms of media. Cardi has intuitively taken to the spheres of social media, television, and music – what comes next? Interestingly, Cardi has proven herself to be a skilled political commentator. She was a valuable asset to the Bernie Sanders campaign, hosting a charming interview with the senator. Her presence loomed large during the New York Women’s March, with her tweets and song lyrics appearing on several signs held by attendees.
While Americans may be finished with reality TV stars becoming president, it isn’t difficult to imagine Cardi establishing herself as a maverick political influencer. Personally, I can’t wait for the next installment of The Cardi B Show.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne‘s daughter Reginae Carter is playing it safe even when she’s turning up. Reg hits up Instagram with footage of herself turning up and losing herself in a party moment. Miss Carter even goes the extra mile wearing her face mask and showing off long hair in a neon green and pink […]
Legendary emcee Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five knows a thing or two about the art of rap. Today, DJ Vlad released the fourteenth chapter of his extensive interview with Grandmaster Melle, during which he reflected on whether or not he could defeat Eminem in a rap battle — a topic with which he is certainly familiar.
“Easily,” he declares, his confidence unwavering. “It would be the easiest thing I ever did. At the end of the day, mechanically, technically, he’s a great rapper. But I’m the greatest. I know how to write it. I put it down, it’s going to stay down. It would be the easiest thing I ever did. When people bring it up, just say you can’t beat Eminem. Just say that.But I’ve been doing this all my life. It would be easy, and I don’t even write like I used to.”
Scott Legato/Getty Images
“This is my destiny,” he continues. “Everyone out there rapping, ya’ll trying to do something I already did forty years ago. Easiest thing I ever did. Everyone would say oh that’s impossible! No, you can’t!” Clearly, he feels strongly about his prowess in the battle rap arena, essentially positioning himself as the pinnacle of lyrical prowess. In fact, he goes so far as to state that there aren’t even fifty great emcees in the game, period.
“If you think there’s fifty great emcees, you aren’t one of them,” he states. “There’s not even fifty great n***as, how its going to be fifty great emcees? Great, that changed territory. It’s not there. It’s just fifty guys that can rap, and made records. That’s not of all time, that’s when records came out. My mechanics and my dynamics, my knowledge of what rap is all about, it supersedes anything that goes on out there. People like, how this old muthafucka going to beat so-and-so? Easy — cause I’m an old muthafucka, I’ve been doing it longer. I can do it better than you.”
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
He maintains that when Rakim entered the game, rappers were forced to adapt and re-evaluate their own stylistic approach. “I never had to rap different for nobody else,” he states. “When I heard Eminem I could rap the same. The game didn’t change. It didn’t stop nothing. They toss around greatness too much. In order to be great, you had to change something. You could call Eminem a great rapper — if he was so great, then why isn’t there fifty white rappers?”
While it’s likely that Mel’s comments will draw the ire of Em’s dedicated Stans, it’s likely that Slim himself would respect the Furious Five emcee’s dominance, given the deep reverence he holds for his rap predecessors — though some of Grandmaster Mel’s latter points might certainly spark a bit of debate. Check out Mel’s take on greatness, as well as his reflections on a hypothetical Eminem battle, below.
Legendary emcee Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five knows a thing or two about the art of rap. Today, DJ Vlad released the fourteenth chapter of his extensive interview with Grandmaster Melle, during which he reflected on whether or not he could defeat Eminem in a rap battle — a topic with which he is certainly familiar.
“Easily,” he declares, his confidence unwavering. “It would be the easiest thing I ever did. At the end of the day, mechanically, technically, he’s a great rapper. But I’m the greatest. I know how to write it. I put it down, it’s going to stay down. It would be the easiest thing I ever did. When people bring it up, just say you can’t beat Eminem. Just say that.But I’ve been doing this all my life. It would be easy, and I don’t even write like I used to.”
Scott Legato/Getty Images
“This is my destiny,” he continues. “Everyone out there rapping, ya’ll trying to do something I already did forty years ago. Easiest thing I ever did. Everyone would say oh that’s impossible! No, you can’t!” Clearly, he feels strongly about his prowess in the battle rap arena, essentially positioning himself as the pinnacle of lyrical prowess. In fact, he goes so far as to state that there aren’t even fifty great emcees in the game, period.
“If you think there’s fifty great emcees, you aren’t one of them,” he states. “There’s not even fifty great n***as, how its going to be fifty great emcees? Great, that changed territory. It’s not there. It’s just fifty guys that can rap, and made records. That’s not of all time, that’s when records came out. My mechanics and my dynamics, my knowledge of what rap is all about, it supersedes anything that goes on out there. People like, how this old muthafucka going to beat so-and-so? Easy — cause I’m an old muthafucka, I’ve been doing it longer. I can do it better than you.”
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
He maintains that when Rakim entered the game, rappers were forced to adapt and re-evaluate their own stylistic approach. “I never had to rap different for nobody else,” he states. “When I heard Eminem I could rap the same. The game didn’t change. It didn’t stop nothing. They toss around greatness too much. In order to be great, you had to change something. You could call Eminem a great rapper — if he was so great, then why isn’t there fifty white rappers?”
While it’s likely that Mel’s comments will draw the ire of Em’s dedicated Stans, it’s likely that Slim himself would respect the Furious Five emcee’s dominance, given the deep reverence he holds for his rap predecessors — though some of Grandmaster Mel’s latter points might certainly spark a bit of debate. Check out Mel’s take on greatness, as well as his reflections on a hypothetical Eminem battle, below.
Judging by the internet’s reception of her social media content, it’s more than fair to say that Chloe Bailey is a pretty hot commodity. She goes viral on social media nearly every other week, attracting the attention of both fans and fellow artists alike. Her recent cover of Yung Bleu and Drake’s hit “You’re Mines Still” had the rapper ready to collaborate with the beautiful songstress, and it seems like she’s also attracted the attention of comedian Lil Duval, albeit to social media’s disapproval.
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
The 43-year-old cheekily tweeted on Sunday (March 21) “How old is that Chloe girl again?” slyly suggesting he was interested in the 22-year-old. He added in the caption of a repost of the tweet on Instagram, “I’m asking for my nephew,” with dozens of laughing emojis.
“the fact that you called her a girl instead of a woman means you know she’s too young for you,” penned one dissenting user, pointing out the glaring age difference between the two of them.
Another user fired, “Young enough to be your child. Go find you someone in their 40s.” What seems to be another matured man wrote the lengthy explanation, “Bruh… here’s a little advice. If you think she’s old enough for you then refer to her as a woman. If you view her as a girl then inquiring about her probably is not in her or your best interest, because it makes your intentions look suspect.”
Check out more reactions to Lil Duval shooting his shot at Chloe and let us know your take.
Vixen Amber Rose is all about capturing precious moments. The mother of two lights up Instagram with a super adorable clip. Muva Rose shares a video of her youngest born Slash Electric walking around their home moments after waking up and even stepping on a Victor Victor mat. Around Valentine’s Day, Amber made jaws drop. […]
“Idk who tf y’all think y’all playing with but I don’t need to clout chase off my baby daddy,” said Jania on Twitter before seemingly deactivating her page. “There’s a reason I never say his name weird ass people.”
When somebody tried to argue that she is clout chasing by posting the rapper’s son, Jania kindly reminded the fan that Kacey is also her son. “He came out my p***y b*tch,” she responded before concluding. “Only 7 little people really matter right now idgaf about the rest.”
For what it’s worth, Jania really doesn’t talk all that much about NBA Youngboy. For people to come after her for posting her own son is pretty absurd, but it shows that people just want something to be mad at.
Hopefully, Youngboy is freed soon so he can resume his fatherly duties. We’ll keep you posted as more details come out.
G.O.O.D Music’s Big Sean is giving his mom an up-close look at the man responsible for making him dream big as a child. The hip-hop star lights up Instagram with priceless footage showing the interaction between his day one and “Dragon Ball Z” voice actor Sean Schemmel. A few days ago, Sean Don turned up […]
