It’s been a wild year forInvasion of PrivacyrapperCardi B, who made headlines with multiple Billboard Top 10 hits and subsequent Grammy nominations – and stayed in them, thanks to everything from relationship drama to explosive feuds with other music industry powerhouses.
Before she arrives at the 61st annualGrammy Awardson Sunday, at which she’s nominated for five awards including album of the year, take a look back at her unprecedented year in the spotlight.
“No bitch I’m just getting fat. Let me fat in peace,” the star replied. (Cardi would go on to welcome a daughter in July.)
February 2018: Starring in a Super Bowl Commercial
The star made a splash in a spot that aired during the 2018 showdown between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots.
The Amazon ad, in which the rapper replaces smart home speaker voice Alexa, ended upranking the highestof the night among consumers and marketing experts. (In 2019, she went two for two:She brought her signature “Okurrrr” catchphrase to a giant Pepsi promo.)
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images
February 2018: Stealing the Show at the NBA All Star Game
Cameras captured Cardi grooving to her own hit song, “Bartier Cardi,” while watching the Feb. 18 game from her court-side seat.
It was, once again, a perfectly meme-able moment from the star.
Swan Gallet/WWD/REX/Shutterstock
“It’s like everybody is coming down my neck like, ‘Why are you not leaving him? You have low self-esteem.’ I don’t have low self-esteem … I know I look good. I know I’m rich, I know I’m talented,” she said. “I know I could get any man I want — any basketball player, football player. But I want to work out my s— with my man, and I don’t got to explain why. I’m not your property. This is my life … I’m going to take my time, and I’m going to decide on my decision … It’s not right, what he f—ing did — but people don’t know what I did, ’cause I ain’t no angel.”
March 2018: Hanging With Madonna andKim KardashianWest
The starsformed a trio of iconsat Madonna’s Oscars bash, where Cardi took the stage.
“I can’t even believe I performed at her event and it was the most meaningful performance ever,” Cardi wrote about meeting Madonna, her “real life IDOL,” on Instagram. “I grew up with my mom listening to Madonna for hours. I performed Material Girl freshman year in High school, listen to her on all my photo shoots to have super confidence and always mentioned her in my interviews. The best part about it is she was everything I thought she would be a Liberal Kick ass feminist bitch 😱😱I’m soo happy.”
April 2018: Releasing Her Debut AlbumThe world was gifted Cardi’s debut studio album,Invasion of Privacy, on April 5.
She celebrated the milestone with analbum partyat New York City’s Common Ground. “I put it on the album cause that’s the song that made me rich motherf—er,” she joked at the bash about her ubiquitous smash “Bodak Yellow.”
April 2018: Revealing Her Pregnancy onSaturday Night LiveThe star finally confirmed that the rumors were true while making her debut on the late night sketch show.
“I’m finally free,” she said in a backstage video after leaving the stage.
April 2018: Making her Coachella DebutCardi made her grand debut at the music festival just one week after announcing her pregnancy.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella
“I’m running out of breath. You know my pregnant ass,” shejoked on stage.
Despite the jest, Cardi delivered an energetic performance that received rave reviews.
Cardi B at the 2018 Met Gala.Dia Dipasupil/WireImage
A jeweled crown topped off the regal ensemble.
“Two years ago, the conversation surrounding black women’s culture was really reaching an all-time high,” Banks said during a visit toThe Breakfast Club. “There was just this really, really, really intelligent conversation going on nationally and then everything just kind of changed and then it was likeCardi B.”
“I’m just talking about this caricature of a black woman that black women themselves would never be able to get away with,” she continued. “Like, if my spelling and grammar was that bad, I’d be canceled. IfNicki Minajspelled like that, we would be ragging on her all day.”
Banks got even more vitriolic when she responded in a series of tweets, targeting Offset’s previous relationships and telling Cardi “You’re a real life episode ofMaurysis.”
Cardi replied again in a biting Instagram message before deleting her account:
Cardi B/Instagram
She made her return to social media a week later.
Cardi apologized for causing offense on Twitter, and opened up about some of her own sexual experiences.
“I know I have use words before that I wasn’t aware that they are offensive to the LGBT community. I apologize for that. Not everybody knows the correct ‘terms’ to use. I learned and i stopped using it,” Cardi added, referring to a lesbian slur. “My own friends be like ‘I’m a d— ‘ so i never thought it was [an] offensive word. I was like wtf.”
June 2018: Baring Almost Everything on the Cover ofRolling Stonewith Offset
The rap couple posed for intimate photosfor their sitdownwith the legendary magazine. A pregnant Cardi appeared nearly-naked on the cover, with Offset tenderly embracing her bump.
Ruven Afanador
“We really love each other. She’s real. I wanted real. I also wanted successful,” the Migos star said of his love in their joint interview.
June 2018: Confirming that She Married Offset
“This why I name my albumInvasion of Privacycause people will do the most to be [nosy] about your life. Well f— it,”Cardi Btweetedafter TMZ reported that she and Offset hadsecretly tied the knotmonths prior.
“There are so many moments that I share with the world and then there are moments that I want to keep for myself! Getting married was one of those moments!” she wrote in a message written on the Notes app that accompanied her tweet. “Our relationship was so new breaking up and making up and we had a lot of growing up to do but we was so in love we didn’t want to lose each other, was one morning in September we woke up and decided to get married.”
Cardi B/Twitter
Cardi B/Facebook
Twenty-five thousand flowers were used to create animal sculptures, subway-car models, a 16-foot decorative piece and more for the party. Guests feasted on a five-tier cake covered in flowers, with each tier comprised of a different flavor: red velvet, chocolate ganache, strawberry, honey bun and Dominican pineapple.
Offset/Instagram
July 2018: Welcoming Daughter Kulture Kiari
Cardi announced the July 10birth of her daughterwith a nude maternity photo on Instagram.
Later that month, the star broke the news that she’ddropped outof Bruno Mars’ tour to give her body time to recover from giving birth.
August 2018: Hanging with the KardashiansKim KardashianWestinvited the rapperto her momKris Jenner’s house for a “late night house party.”
Cardi joked that the hangout finally made her a part of the “rich people club” on Instagram.
September 2018: Fighting withNicki MinajCardi was left bruised after getting into a fight with her nemesis at theHarper’s BazaarICONS party during New York Fashion Week.
An insider told PEOPLE that Cardi arrived at the event first. After Minaj showed up, there was an “altercation” on the second-floor balcony during a Christina Aguilera performance. “The scene was f—— crazy,” the insider said. “It was entourage against entourage. They had their altercation on the second-floor balcony, right above the red carpet. All of the sudden there was a big commotion and everyone didn’t know what was going on.”
Steven Ferdman/WireImage
Videos of the altercation were posted on social media. In one video, Cardi can be seen making a lunge towards someone, and in another, she can be seen removing her shoe as she repeatedly screams, “I will f— you up!”
The rapper seemed to address the feud in a message she later posted on Instagram:
September 2018: Revealing it was her One-Year Wedding AnniversaryCardi showed the world the first photo from her secret wedding one year after it took place.
The low-key ceremony went down in their bedroom, according to TMZ, and the only witness, aside from the officiant, was Cardi’s cousin.
October 2018: Ruling the American Music Awards with a Performance of ‘I Like It’Cardi and collaborators Bad Bunny and J Balvin got the crowd on their feet (and dropping their jaws) with anelectrifying performanceof their hit.
October 2018: Revealing Pregnancy ‘Broke’ Her Vagina“It was totally harder,”the rapper saidwhen host Jimmy Kimmel asked if giving birth was as hard as she expected during her appearance on his talk show. “She broke my vagina.”
“Why nobody tells you about those things? Nobody told me they were gonna stitch my vagina,” Cardi added. “People just be like, ‘Oh, you know, when you give birth, it’s gonna hurt.’ But nobody tells you [that].”
Cardi had previously lamented the fact that she has to nowtape her breaststo get camera ready:
November 2018: Clapping Back at Jameela JamilThe Good Placeactresscalled outCardi for posting a sponsored Instagram for a detox tea. “They gotCardi Bon the laxative nonsense ‘detox’ tea. GOD I hope all these celebrities all s— their pants in public, the way the poor women who buy this nonsense upon their recommendation do,” Jamil wrote in a series of tweets.
December 2018: Sharing the First Photos of Kulture
The proud mama shared the adorable first photo of her little one on Instagram:
December 2018: Announcing Her Split from OffsetIn a since-deleted Instagram video, Cardiupdated fanson her relationship with the Migos star.
“It’s nobody fault I guess we just grew out of love, but we are not together anymore. It might take time to get a divorce and I’m going to always have a lot of love for him because he is my daughter’s father,” she added.
December 2018: Offset Begs to Get Her BackTwo weeks after Cardi confirmed the breakup,Offset crashed her setat the Los Angeles Rolling Loud Festival in an attempt to win her back.
Cardi B and Offset.Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
Stagehands rolled out three boxes that spelled out “Take Me Back Cardi” in flowers (which Venus et Fleur priced at $15,000). Then, Offset appeared with a bouquet of white flowers in hand, declaring into a microphone, “in front of the world, I love you.”
The proclamation of love came after Offset pleaded for her to take him back in a video filmed on his birthday.
“I only got one birthday wish and that’s to get my wife back Cardi,” he said. “We’re going through a lot of things right now, a lot of things in the media. I want to apologize to you Cardi. I embarrassed you. I made you go crazy. I was partaking in activity that I shouldn’t have been partaking in, and I apologize. You know what I’m saying? For breaking your heart, for breaking our promise, for breaking God’s promise and being a selfish, messed up husband.”
December 2018: Learning About Her Grammy Nominations as She Left Court
“I am?” she asked, “How many nominations?”
“This is not How expected to find out I’m nominated for a Grammy 😩😩😂I need a do over,” she later tweeted.
Cardi had to appear in court following the alleged summer assault, when bartenders Baddie Gi and Jade of Angel’s Strip Club claimed that she ordered an attack on them because she believed one of them had been involved with Offset, according to theNew York Timesand TMZ. A police spokesperson told CNN that Cardi was allegedly “throwing chairs, bottles and hookahs in the club at 3 a.m.”
In October, Cardi surrendered to police and was subsequently arrested and charged with one count of assault and two counts of reckless endangerment. That month, a judge issued orders of protection for the alleged victims.
January 2019: Stopping a Concert to Fix a WedgieProving once again just how much of a relatable superstar she is, Cardi halted her performance at the Mount Maunganui Bay Dreams festival in New Zealand to deal with a wardrobe malfunction.
“Anyways, y’all, I need a little break. I’ll be right back, I gotta take this wedgie out my ass,” she says in a fan video from the show before exiting the stage.
January 2019: Getting Involved in the GovernmentAfter Cardislammed President Donald Trumpfor his role in the federal government shutdown and his call for some federal employees to return to work without pay, FOX Nation host and commentator Tomi Lahren insulted her on Twitter. “Looks like @iamcardib is the latest genius political mind to endorse the Democrats. HA! Keep it up, guys!”she wrote.
To the delight of her fans, Cardi replied to the tweet, writing, “Leave me alone I will dog walk you.”
Lahren responded to the tweet, telling the rapper that her threat “still doesn’t make your political ramblings any less moronic.”
“You’re so blinded with racism that you don’t even realize the decisions the president you root for is destroying the country you claim to love so much,” Cardi hit back. “You are a perfect example on no matter how educated or smart you think you are you still a SHEEP!”
“Don’t make me get my leash,” Cardi wrote in response to Lahren’s mocking tweet.
In aHarper’s Bazaarinterview released the next month, Cardi discussed Offset’s attempt to seek help from a marriage counselor.
“I decided on my own,”she said. “Nobody makes my decisions about my life but me. I didn’t want to go to marriage counseling. He suggested it, but it’s like, ‘I don’t want to go.’ There’s no counselor or nothing that could make me change my mind.”
February 2019: Opening Up About Her Struggle with Postpartum Depression
“I thought I was going to avoid it. When I gave birth, the doctor told me about postpartum and I was like, ‘Well, I’m doing good right now, I don’t think that’s going to happen,'”the hitmaker saidin herHarper’s Bazaarcover story, for which she channeled fairytale princesses in a photoshoot. “But out of nowhere, the world was heavy on my shoulders.”
Cardi also opened up about why she waited so long to share a photo of her daughter, explaining, “As soon as she was born, one month in [Offset] was like, ‘She’s so beautiful. Watch how people gonna go crazy.’ ‘Cause a lot of people were saying mean stuff, like that we don’t post her because she’s ugly.”
The 61stGrammy Awardswill take place at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 10. The telecast will be broadcast live on CBS at 8 p.m. EST.
source: people.com
