Do you remember drinking from water fountains? Well, Belcalis Almánzar took a wholesome sip from one after watching David Letterman gulp down a few big slurpy drops. Or, have you ever had a chopped cheese sandwich at a deli grocery in the middle of the Bronx? It’s something that the mainstream star does every few months when she travels back to her hometown.
Other small details we learned about Cardi B is that she never learned to drive, used to earn her bad grades, would cut classes, and chose hooky parties over school so she could wild out with friends.
For day one fans of Cardi B, it’s no surprise she was rebellious in her childhood to the point where she ended up getting kicked out of the house. Is it the perfect example that you would want your children to follow? Probably not. But Cardi B’s story resonates because of it’s authenticity.
The “Get Up 10” artist understands the power of having representation that looks like you in high places. Despite how her critics may feel about her rise to fame, song choices, or social media angst, the mother of two sees it all as a science. She delivers the medicine in the candy — well, at least that’s how she sees it. And you better be certain there’s a method to her madness.
Many people probably haven’t caught on yet, but Cardi B moves the goal post faster than one of her songs hitting the top spot on the charts.
“The goal is always to make enough money so you can invest in things,” Cardi B said in the sit-down discussion with Letterman.
As goal-driven as Cardi can be, she has some of the same self doubts as the next person. At one point, when she was first pursuing hip hop, she didn’t take it seriously and didn’t think everything that she’s accomplished thus far would ever happen.
“There’s a million people doing what I do,” she thought at the time. “What makes me think that I’m going to be the one?”
She thought the process of making music was “dumb” because she “hadn’t done it before” and she didn’t like her voice. If it wasn’t for her manager at the time, not sure if this was DJ Self, believing in her and constantly putting her to work in the studio, she would’ve never found her voice.
Cardi B continued, “I’ve always been a person where I just set realistic goals for myself. And becoming a rapper, to me, was like a dream.”
Sometimes, you just need that one person to believe in you. Sometimes, you just have to believe in yourself. And sometimes, as Cardi B has demonstrated, you just have to be yourself.
Cardi’s interview on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman can be viewed on Netflix.
