Rollout

More than any artist, Cardi B paved the way for social media personalities and reality stars to parlay their internet following into a music career. In the lead-up to her sophomore album, Am I The Drama?, she’s taking it back to reaching her audience through a string of viral skits, public appearances, and an emphasis on physical sales. At the risk of sounding like an armchair A&R, Cardi’s grabbed the rollout baton from Clipse and stoked our collective anticipation for her album, out Friday. 

Her first skit, on September 3, doubled as a celebration of winning her civil battery case against former bodyguard Emani Ellis. “Just because I won this case…I still got lawyers.” she joked, imploring fans to buy Am I The Drama? CDs for $9.99. The special “Courtroom Edition” CD covers showcase her different viral hairstyles during the trial. “I swear to God, if I don’t sell these albums, I’m gonna have to give up my Rolls-Royce,” she mock cried. She dropped the following promo video days later in Harlem, lampooning 125th Street’s infamous vendors with CDs and vinyl strewn on the sidewalk. The video’s caption read, “My label said I gotta get out in these streets and sell this album,” as she hawked the $9.99 physicals (and incense) while Bob Marley’s “One Love” played in the background. 

Her next clip was in a boardroom, where she joked that after shooting her lavish “Imaginary Players” music video, Atlantic Records had scaled back its spending. With expert comedic timing, she opened an envelope and revealed that her “budget” had dwindled to just $50. “I have to get out on the road and sell these CDs and [vinyl] myself,” she said. And the beginning of that journey took her to New York’s MTA, where she did a skit selling CDs and vinyl on a train. She had so much attention to detail that she used the same Welch’s candy box that candy sellers on the train typically use. The latter two clips felt especially familiar to New Yorkers used to people selling items on sidewalks and in between trains. 

Collectively, the videos didn’t just help promote the album; they needled wannabe industry insiders. Nowadays, music fans can’t just enjoy the music, they need to speculate about first-week sales and the permutations of an artist’s label situation like they’re a manager. Cardi’s meta promotion gets at how invasive music fandom has become while placating those same fans. 

The theme of the videos, chronicling her selling music like a starving busker, is another example of Cardi playing into her biomythography. She’s repeatedly expressed her frustration with Atlantic Records over the past few years, especially since the regime that signed her was replaced last September. In July, she made an X post about “being tried by these new people,” shortly before the release of her single,  “Outside” — a release that she’s said was contentious between her and the label. In August, she likened  Atlantic to a “correctional facility” in a since-deleted Instagram post. She’s seen fans speculate about acrimony at Atlantic, and how it may play into the rollout of her new album. Instead of ignoring the fracture, she’s comedically leaned into the turmoil. 

Even during her recent rollout, she’s criticized Atlantic for “underestimating” the turnout for her New York City Bodega Baddie pop-up. In an Instagram post, she explained that she wanted to give attendees QR code coupons for her digital store, but the crowd was too ruckus to do so. That snafu might be a good problem for Am I The Drama?, however, demonstrating that her demand is still there.

It’s been a long wait for her latest project. Since the Invasion of Privacy, she has released songs and done features, but her fans have been anticipating a second album. In her June 2024 Rolling Stone cover story, she told writer Mankaprr Conteh about the perfectionism that’s delayed the project: “I take my music so fucking seriously that that’s why I don’t put it out. Because if it’s not perfect to my ear, if every fucking word doesn’t sound like it’s pronounced right, if the beat is overpowering the words or the words is overpowering the beat, I don’t want to put it out.” It’s also worth wondering how pregnancy may have delayed the album; she’s given birth to three children since her April 2018 debut release. Today, she revealed to Gayle King that she’s pregnant with her fourth child and her first with her boyfriend, NFL star Stefon Diggs. Even so, it looks like it’s all steam ahead on her new album; she tweeted shortly after clips from the interview went viral that “by the time tour comes I’ll be doing splits, somersaults, backflips and handstands.”

Cardi B is a natural star. Before she was a rapper, she was a well-known stripper and social celebrity who parlayed outrageous Vine skits into a spot on Love & Hip-Hop: New York — the rest is history. Her career ascended quickly in part because of her sense of humor and charisma. She radiates a bold, no-filter charm that feels familiar to her fellow New Yorkers and captivates the rest of the world. It’s why, despite not dropping an album since 2018, she’s been on shows such as Rhythm + Flow and films like Hustlers, and F9, also doing voice acting for Baby Shark’s Big Movie!  No matter how this album performs, there will always be opportunities for her in front of a camera. 

It’s refreshing to see Cardi get back to having fun. As entertaining as she is, she’s also been in the social mediasphere too often behind civil suits, back-and-forths with other rappers, label drama, and issues with Offset, her ex and the father of her children; her latest album title isn’t surprising. With these self-deprecating skits, she’s going back to what worked for her on day one. In a cheesy movie about a rapper, their manager or partner would have a come-to-Jesus moment with them about reminding fans why they love them, and they’d go to a cipher, or hold a free concert in the park to reacquaint the people. For Cardi, returning to her essence is just about doing silly skits back home in New York. 

Clipse were able to parlay a concentrated media press run into commercial success, turning their buzz into a Vatican performance. While Cardi hasn’t done as many interviews, speaking with Billboard, Kelly Rowland, and King, she’s still won goodwill with fans and shifted the discussion from controversy to her comedic chops. If she can put effort into promoting her album, get outside, and head on a national meet and greet tour, there’s no excuse for pretty much anyone else.