Cardi B Promises To Release New Music This Year
In a new interview with XXL Magazine, Cardi B revealed a plethora of interesting tidbits of information, including when she plans to release her much-anticipated new album. She also discussed being a mother during the rise of her rap career, and her perhaps surpising interest in war history.
Cardi B was asked about her upcoming album, which was originally planned to drop in 2018 following her Invasion of Privacy album. After she dropped the single “Press” two years ago, Cardi B said it under-performed, causing her to take her time with crafting music ever since. She was keeping her studio sessions under wraps, but has been working on her sophomore album over the last year. She’s also had a few side gigs: she appeared in the film Hustlers, she was a game show host for Rhythm + Flow, and even was on a few collaborations… both with fellow artists (like Megan Thee Stallion) and fashion houses (Fashion Nova).
But fans are eager to hear new music from Cardi, and have been constantly asking her on social media about when she’ll drop something new. She gave fans a possible album preview when she dropped “WAP” last summer, featuring Megan Thee Stallion, showing that she could drop a smash single any time she wants.
Cardi says it feels like she created a timeline that was directly affected by COVID. Because of the pandemic last year, she said she felt like she had to put out her album this year. Feeling discouraged from the tolls the pandemic took, Cardi said she stopped working on her second album “out of nowhere,” pushing its release to this year because she also wants to tour.
In the interview, Cardi B said there’s no “feeling” to doing interviews with people through a computer. “I want to meet up with people. I want to have a conversation. It’s a better vibe. I love album release parties. I would love an album release party in New York. I could have one in Atlanta, but I want one also at home. And I want to see people. I shouldn’t fly out 50 of my friends just so they could be there in Atlanta and then somebody might catch COVID. No. So, it’s just something that I stopped, but then now that I keep putting out my singles, I keep saying like, ‘Damn. I have no choice but to put out my album this year.'”
When Cardi B finishes her forthcoming album, she says she’s “gotta make sure I do two epic music videos. And, it takes me a while to do a music video. It takes like, a whole month ’cause I suck at dancing, so I’ve gotta learn choreography. ‘WAP’ was very difficult, getting clothes because most of our clothes came from France. And they had like, a whole three-week holdup.”
As far as what we can expect for the sound to be, Cardi said “it’s a little bit challenging because it’s like, I’m young and I like trap. When I started rapping, if you listen to my mixtape, I like drill. My thing was always like, drill. I like drill Chicago music a lot. So that was my thing. I’m more of a trap, I’m more of a new era-type of rapper.” For those who don’t know what the Chicago South Side originated drill-style music is, it’s defined by its dark, violent, and nihilistic lyrical content and ominous trap-influenced beats.
She also discussed parenthood: Becoming a mom while she was on her way to becoming a rap star terrified her. “I’m not gonna lie, I was very, very, very scared. Everybody was very, very scared.” She pushed through it and would “wake up, throw up, and then I would be like, alright, I’m gonna brush my teeth and I’m gonna go in the booth. Because I was on a time limit.” After she completed the album and she was still pregnant Cardi said, “I can’t perform in these shows. I don’t know if my career’s gonna be the same after I give birth.”
In the interview, Cardi revealed she likes war history. When further asked about what wars specifically, she said, “civil Wars. I like World Wars. And like, let me tell you something. So, this is so silly, but I always have this in my mind. So, the Russians, the Soviet Union, right, they had women soldiers. And the Germans were so confused when they used to see them, like, ‘What the f—?’ And then, like, they used to be so confused that, that distract them and next thing you know, you’re getting shot.”
