Cardi B first became a household name in 2018 on the strength of her breakthrough hit, “Bodak Yellow,” as the song racked up plays and accolades on its way to becoming Cardi’s first No. 1 hit — and the first No. 1 record from a solo female rap artist since Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” twenty years earlier in 1998.
Today, the video for “Bodak Yellow” reached a milestone reserved for only the most popular clips on YouTube: reaching over one billion views. It’s Cardi’s first solo video to reach one billion, after her video for “I Like It” — her second No. 1 record featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin — and Maroon 5’s video for “Girls Like You,” which also went No. 1 and on which Cardi features, reached one billion views in 2019.
Cardi recently revealed that despite its popularity, “Bodak Yellow” was relatively inexpensive as far as music videos go. “Fun fact: ‘Bodak Yellow’ music video cost me 15 thousand dollars,” she tweeted back in January. “I was in Dubai and I said… I gotta fly Picture (videographer) out here… BOOM BOOM BANG! Ya know the rest.” By comparison, her more recent videos, like the ones for “Money” and “WAP,” cost astronomically more — $400,000 and $1 million, respectively.
Fun fact : Bodak yellow music video cost me 15 thousand dollars .I was in Dubai and I said ….I gotta fly picture (videographer) out here …BOOM BOOM BANG ! Ya know the rest .
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) January 13, 2021
Naaaa honey ….Money cost 400K ,Please me Cost 900K ,Wap Cost a M ! https://t.co/7M2hFezoe9
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) January 13, 2021
More recently, Cardi B appeared in the video for Normani’s new single “Wild Side,” but was forced to tone down her performance as a result of her pregnancy. She’s also working on her second album as well as her second child.
Check out the video for “Bodak Yellow” above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.