Cardi B Talks Debut Album, Beyoncé, & Female Rappers

Cardi B is ready for her debut.

After soaring to No. 2 on the Hot 100 with “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” the New York rapper is set to release her debut album next month, and she has a lot of varying emotions about it. Speaking with The Associated Press, Bacardi explained why she’s nervous and excited for this next phase of her career.

“I have an album coming,” she said. “It will be dropping in October. I’m a little nervous to put the project out but I think it’s gonna do pretty good. It’s a lot of pressure on me. Everybody is waiting to see what I’m gonna have next and it’s like, I hope people love it. But I have confidence. I’m really good.”

There’s a reason for her confidence. Currently, she has the No. 2 song in the country, and Belcalis has also garnered respect from peers and heroes alike.

“It feels amazing. It’s overwhelming,” she said. “It fills me up with a lot of happiness, a lot of joy, and a lot of — I don’t know, not sad, but it’s like an unbelief — I’ve been through a lot of things and it was so hard for me to be here and now I’m finally here, getting what I wanted, the respect from other artists and from everybody.”

Beyoncé was one of those people showing love, according to Cardi, who gushed about meeting Queen Bey at Made in America. “I’m surprised Beyoncé liked me,” she said. “Ah! I met Beyoncé!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYkV6oWAeGD/

With the release of her debut album, Bardi will etch her name into the history books, alongside a long line of female rappers who’ve made an impact on the game. When asked which female rappers she would love to work with, the former reality television star was not selective. “With all of them,” she said. “I love Lil’ Kim, I love Trina, I like Remy Ma, I love Nicki, I love all of them. Sheesh!”

The latter question follows speculation of a Cardi-Nicki feud. On “No Flag,” Minaj said “Lil’ bitch, I heard these labels trying to make another me / Everything you getting, little ho, is ’cause of me.” Although Nicki would later deny that the verse was about Cardi, many thought that Bardi responded on G-Eazy’s “No Limit,” when she rhymed, “Can you stop with all the subs? Bitch, I ain’t Jared / If you really want some smoke, you can pull up, you can get it.”

Cardi’s debut album, which follows two volumes of her Gangsta Bitch Music mixtape series, drops sometime next month.