Cardi B
Belcalis Almánzar grew up in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx, the daughter of a Dominican father and a Trinidadian mother, and first became a public figure through stripping and a scene-stealing run on VH1's reality series 'Love & Hip Hop: New York' before committing fully to music. In 2017 her single 'Bodak Yellow' reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 — the first solo female rapper to top the chart since Lauryn Hill in 1998 — and her 2018 debut album 'Invasion of Privacy' made her the first solo woman to win the Grammy for Best Rap Album. Blending hardcore New York braggadocio with pop-scaled hooks and unfiltered candor, she became one of the defining rap stars of the late 2010s and 2020s, from 'I Like It' to the cultural lightning rod 'WAP.'
Cardi has said her older cousins raised her on the records of Lil' Kim and the other female MCs who were out at the time, and has named Kim among her inspirations; the explicit, luxury-flexing, sexually frank bravado that defined Kim's 'Hard Core' persona is the template Cardi works in.
listen forPlay Kim's 'Big Momma Thang' right before Cardi's 'WAP' — both are unapologetic, X-rated boasts delivered as pure dominance, a woman narrating her own desire on her own terms rather than as anyone's object.
Cardi has cited Foxy Brown among the female MCs she came up idolizing, and Foxy's cold, unbothered New York flow and designer-flexing confidence echo in Cardi's own delivery — the sound of a young woman from the boroughs announcing she has arrived.
listen forCue Foxy's 'I'll Be' next to Cardi's 'Bodak Yellow' — hear the same unhurried, hard-edged New York cadence and blunt money-talk swagger, the boast landing precisely because it stays so calm.
Cardi has said a Missy Elliott album was among the first records she ever bought, and Missy's playful, personality-forward approach — hooks carried by charisma and fun rather than menace — surfaces in Cardi's brightest, bounciest singles.
listen forThrow on Missy's 'Work It' before Cardi's 'I Like It' — both build around a bold, sample-driven groove and a joyful, instantly quotable hook that rides on sheer force of personality.