Cardi B Is Back. Has Hip-Hop Left Her Behind?

Seven years is a long time. For Cardi B, those years have crept by even slower. Her debut, the critically acclaimed and insanely successful Invasion of Privacy, was released on April 6th, 2018. (That’s approximately a century ago in rap years.) In a social media post on June 23rd, Cardi finally announced her long-awaited follow-up, Am I the Drama?, set to drop on September 19th.

Hip-hop is a persnickety beast. It both depends on and impacts pop culture; because of this cyclical reliance, and the short attention span of audiences, the genre moves fast AF. Cardi B has done her damndest to not be left behind, but is it enough?

While she hasn’t been a key player in the album conversation, Cardi has remained present and visible through her dominant features run over the past few years. In particular, her guest verses on GloRilla’s confidence-boosting 2022 single “Tomorrow 2” and Latto’s 2023 summer anthem “Put It on da Floor Again” have kept the rapper relevant, and generated excitement for Cardi’s new material. With Am I the Drama?, Cardi will be re-entering a familiar space — but it has transformed since those fiery features, and even more since her arrival.

Let’s start from the top down. The world is in a vastly different place than it was in 2018. Unbeknownst to us then, we were two short years away from a pandemic. COVID changed the way we interacted, supported, and engaged with one another. In fact, Cardi B took advantage of that moment when she released “WAP” with Megan Thee Stallion in the summer of 2020. Debuted on YouTube in a live video premiere with Megan, the song was an instant hit and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart immediately upon its release. It was right around then that we were expecting an album from Cardi; in hindsight, it’s understandable why she didn’t want to release her sophomore effort into a vacuum.

We’ve collectively transformed, and that, in turn, has altered the mechanics of the music industry. The rise of COVID also brought about the rise of TikTok, the platform we love to hate. With TikTok came an overemphasis on viral snippets, which worked to the advantage of artists who are now able to make club appearances off of 30-second clips. (What a rich life, indeed.) Labels are now outright pushing artists to be content creators, and in some cases, coercing them to create music that is social-first. Before, during, and after the release of her new album, Cardi B will have to contend with this shift.

She already seems to be adapting. The lead single, “Outside,” is Cardi’s first solo release since last year’s “Enough (Miami).” While the latter song had a decent run, peaking at No. 9 on the charts, the new track sounds much more energized and dynamic. The production, handled by Charlie Heat, HeyMicki, and DJ SwanQo, is driven by a sample of The Showboys’ popular cut “Drag Rap,” better known as the “Triggaman” sound that is used in countless songs out of New Orleans. Over the booming, elastic production, Cardi pops her shit at the highest level, declaring that she’s ready to be back outside after a tumultuous marriage to her ex, Atlanta rapper Offset: “I been cuffed up too long, let me remind n****s,” she spits with venom.

“Outside” leaked weeks before Cardi officially dropped the single, and her fans ate it up. According to the rapper, she didn’t “care much for the song,” and she had no intention of releasing it. “I don’t know if I really wanna put that song out, to be honest with you,” she said on Instagram Live on June 9th. “And it’s not because I’m doubting myself and this, this, and that. I’m really, really grateful for all the love. It was never the plan. I don’t think I wanna put out a single to be honest with you. I just wanna put out my album all at the same time.”