Despite hip-hop being a cultural art form that’s practically still a baby at just around 40 years old, it’s secured its spot as the most popular and most lucrative, music genre worldwide. Considering that, it makes sense that consumer tastes are constantly changing.
This probably couldn’t be more evident than with Billboard's latest announcement: Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy has surpassed Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill for longest-charting debut by a female rapper in Billboard history, according to Chart Data.
.@iamcardib's 'Invasion of Privacy' is now the longest charting debut album by a female rapper in Billboard 200 history outright, surpassing 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' (92 weeks).— chart data (@chartdata) January 13, 2020
The Bronx, New York, native has had an unlikely, Cinderella-like rise to superstardom and rap icon status. With a character arc that began as a young woman who dropped out of community college, stripped to sustain herself, became a viral social media celebrity turned reality TV show-stealer — Cardi B's trajectory has played out like a modern fairy tale.
Just four years ago, Jezebel writer Clover Hope pretty much summed up Cardi’s undeniable appeal. Namely, she’s fun to listen to and you find yourself genuinely rooting for her because of — or in spite of — her outlandish persona.
“Like with many reality stars, whether you agree with anything Cardi’s saying matters less than how she says it. Not much of what she says even makes sense,” Hope said.
A lot has changed since her days as the new kid on Love and Hip-Hop New York. Since then she’s received Grammy, Billboard, MTV and American Music Awards among others. She also somehow manages to make court appearances look like high-fashion events. Cardi B expressed her gratitude and appreciation for fans that have helped catapult her into record books and stardom via Instagram.
“Thank you everybody! Hopefully by the time I put my second album out [I’ll] still [be] charting,” she wrote. “It will be dope to have two albums charting at the same time! Ugh THE PRESSURE! Thank you for the love.”
Cardi has yet to reveal many details about her upcoming sophomore album, but she’s focused on delivering something that’s authentically her, despite whatever vibe is popular whenever it releases.
“My album is on my mind 24/7. It’s practically all I’m focusing on,” she told Billboard.
“There’s certain music that I want to do, but I feel like, is people interested in that? I feel like things have changed. It’s more like a twerk sound going on right now. It’s just like, ‘Should I just do my music around that?’ But I cannot just go with what’s hot. I still gotta go with what I want to do.”
Her formula obviously isn’t broken, so we can only hope she doesn't try to go and fix it. It’s going to be fun to see what ceilings she continues to break for 2020.
