Cardi B Discusses Her "Rags to Riches" Cinderella Story

Cardi B arrives at her favorite manicure salon in the Bronx down a dingy hallway draped in a $100 bill-themed carpeting. The salon is a temple to money, excess, and sexuality, with diamond-encrusted Buck knives applied to the nails, and it overlooks a bustling street of pizza shops, sports-gear superstores, and boutiques with weaves in 70 colors. Portraits of two pulchritude idols hang on the walls: Marilyn Monroe and Cardi B, who is the exact 2019 counterpart of Marilyn Monroe.

Cardi, 26, is escorted to a quiet side room by her father, half-sister, half-brother, and two Drogosize bodyguards, Bulwark and Spear, whose names I don't know but assume are Bulwark and Spear. Jenny Bui, her sassy nail technician of more than a decade, has her hands and feet, even when she couldn't afford to leave the borough.

Cardi, dressed in magenta leggings and a colorful Moschino hoodie, is a petite, make-up-free sprite who talks about where she is now. On the one hand, she says, "I feel like my life is a fairy tale and I'm a princess—rags to riches, people trying to sabotage," while on the other, "I feel like my life is a fairy tale and I'm a princess—rags to riches, people trying to sabotage." She, on the other hand, bemoans the fact that she is tired of living in a fairy-tale world and longs for peace and quiet. "Before, everything was important to me—relationships, gossip." She continues, "Now I don't feel like I have time to please everyone." "I don't give a damn about anything anymore—all I care about is my career and my child." What about money, which she raps about being so concerned about? Cardi replies, "Well, I care about my profession because of my money," with a "c'mon, stupid" expression on her face.

In this context, "before" refers to the tectonic shifts in Cardi's life over the last year: she became a global superstar; moved from New York to Atlanta to live with her new husband, the charismatic rapper Offset; gave birth to an unplanned but adored daughter, Kulture Kiari, in July; and then, five months later, announced on Instagram that the marriage was over, following the drip-drip-drip of rumors about Offset's infidelity.

Today Cardi tells me that Offset has been to her apartment, but they haven’t seen each other and are “not really” talking, which is a bit hard to believe after she shows me videos of her gurgling baby on her iPhone and happens to scroll past a photo of Offset with a time stamp reading today. When I ask her if she’s getting back with Offset, I can almost hear her curious entourage, who have arranged themselves on sofas on the perimeter of the room, lean forward to catch the answer. For a moment, the only sound is Bui engaging in some hard-hat-level sanding and scraping of the star’s three-inch nails. "I don't think so," Cardi says, as well as "Who knows?" You never know, you can never tell,” neither of which is exactly a definitive answer.

I’ve interviewed dozens of pop stars, and Cardi, despite the massive entourage and the bear-claw-like nails, seems the most normal. She’s not the most down-to-earth or the most perfect, and she’s definitely not the least into social media, but she knows who she is and where she came from, and has somehow managed to keep expressing genuine emotions in the face of blockbuster success. And, while her emotions can seem out of control at times, who hasn't been in her shoes? We might not have screamed and thrown a shoe at Nicki Minaj at a Harper’s Bazaar event this past September (in retribution, Cardi has said, for various slights from Minaj, including liking a negative comment about her parenting skills), or allegedly ordered an attack on two female bartenders at a strip club visited by Offset (a judge issued orders of protection in December for the accusers), but we’ve all been mad as hell. And the unbearable cuteness and sexiness of Cardi, a raunchy L.O.L. doll, quickly erases those moments, drowning them in adorable high jinks.

Leaving aside the fake nails and boob implants, with Cardi the artifice is in the artwork. In the space of less than a year, her music, videos, and fashion have made her a star of Lady Gaga proportions. She releases hit after hit; following last summer’s “I Like It,” the first Latin trap song to rise to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, with “Money,” a song, unsurprisingly, about money. In the video, she wears gorgeous clothes (she’s got “10 different looks and my looks all kill,” she raps), including outfits referencing Thierry Mugler, a gold bikini inspired by 1990s Lil’ Kim’s, and a custom Christian Cowan bodysuit fabricated from dozens of actual watches. She’s a post-Kardashian American superstar, a master of selfies, belfies, late-night Instagram videos, and all other manner of self-promotion— and also a creative genius. In 2019, no one needs to pick.

Cardi, who was born in Trinidad and raised in the Bronx, was the naturally rebellious daughter of a Trinidadian cashier mother and a Dominican Republic-born cabdriver father. Her mother was a strict individual. Despite this, she joined the notorious Bloods gang, moved out of her mother's house and into an apartment with a boyfriend, and when she ran out of money, she took a job as a grocery store cashier. She became a stripper in order to save money. She used social media to become a gorgeous girl in order to increase her savings. She began releasing her own mixtapes after being cast as a lovable loudmouth on the VH1 reality show Love & Hip Hop: New York in 2015. Her debut single, "Bodak Yellow," reached the top of the charts, and she only needed one album to break through: Invasion of Privacy, arguably the best debut album from a female rapper since Lil' Kim's Hard Core in 1996.

Cardi B, now one of the biggest rappers—and one of the most famous women in the world—is dealing with a semi-estranged husband and caring for an infant. Her response is to be as genuine as possible. She admires Meghan Markle for becoming a real princess, despite the fact that she fantasises about being one. "She must just be like, 'Who am I?'" Cardi says, referring to Markle's need to follow the rules of the royal family. Cardi's harshest punishment would be being unable to be herself.

On her social media channels, where she posts close-up, emotional videos like an Instagram mime, we've experienced all of her days: ups and downs, joy and pain, sunshine and rain. She isn't your typical clingy celebrity who thrives on constant adoration. "I work with someone who constantly compliments me, and I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh, can you just stop?'" she explains.

Cardi's fans have been so protective of her that when Offset interrupted her act at a concert, stepping onstage with a $15,000 rolling flower display made up of 2,000 roses that screamed TAKE ME BACK CARDI, they erupted on social media in fury at a man who failed to accept a woman's "no" at face value. (A behind-the-scenes video of one of Cardi's reps leading Offset to the stage did little to calm the storm.)

I inquire if her choice to leave Offset was influenced by any family or friends. "No, I made my own decision," she insists, her gaze fixed on me. "I am the only one who makes decisions regarding my life." Offset wanted Cardi to see a therapist before they split up. "I didn't want to go to marriage counseling," she states emphatically. "He suggested it, but I'm like, 'I'm not interested in going.'" Nothing, not even a counsellor, could persuade me to change my views."

She, like many other women who have been through heartbreak and alleged infidelity, appears to be torn between wanting to stay and wanting to go. Offset is "[her] lighthouse and [her] albatross in equal measure," as Elizabeth Gilbert wrote in Eat Pray Love. Cardi is aware, however, that dating new guys can be strange. She says quietly, "I have a child and I'm also famous." "As a result, I can't just sleep with anyone." People converse. You know, if I date someone in the industry, that's just another industry person. He might not understand my lifestyle if I date someone who isn't in the industry." Since the breakup, she’s been getting a tonne of messages from guys but ignoring them. “It’s like, ‘Bro, why would you want to holler at me right away? You’re weird.’ If you think Imma automatically hop onto you after a marriage, that just means you think I’m a sleaze. And I’m not. I have a kid—I have to show an example.”

Bui, who has been listening intently to our interview while crafting Cardi’s nails, waves a hand and then interjects, “You’re so old-fashioned!”

“Jenny, just because I’m out there and very sexual doesn’t mean that I have to be whorish,” says Cardi. “I like to have sex. That doesn’t mean I have to have it with everybody.” "Not that I judge women who want to have sex with the world," she adds after a brief pause.

Cardi finishes her rant and concentrates on her nails. "Damn, that's sharp," she says to Bui, a little whistling in her voice. "Won't the polish make them less sharp?" "We can't forget about the baby," she says. Ignoring her, Bui says only, “Don’t move.”

Throughout our chat, Cardi has been jiggling her leg up and down like a schoolkid. I ask her how long she’s had that habit. “Forever, and you know what? People always talk shit about it, but now it’s like, ‘Ha ha,’ because when I do it my daughter likes it,” she says.

Cardi isn't breastfeeding Kulture, whom she's dubbed KK, despite the iconic picture of her breast-feeding in the "Money" video, wearing a black gown open at the bodice. "It was too difficult," she says. In reality, she was in a cloud of postpartum depression for the majority of the period after the kid was delivered. "I thought I'd be able to get away with it," Cardi says. "When the doctor told me about postpartum depression after I gave baby, I was like, 'Well, I'm doing fine right now, I don't believe that's going to happen.' But out of nowhere, the weight of the universe descended onto my shoulders."

Cardi dropped out of a lucrative tour with Bruno Mars after realising that having KK on the tour bus was impractical but she couldn't stand leaving her at home. Cardi claims she began to feel better a few months after the kid was born, and her mother has been assisting her; she hasn't engaged professional help since she isn't sure she can trust anyone outside her family.

Cardi is still feeling aches and pains as a new mother. "I still don't feel like my body is the same for some reason," she adds. "I don't think I've found my equilibrium yet." I'm not as good at walking in heels as I used to be. I feel as if I'm carrying a burden. I'm not sure why, because I'm the skinniest I've ever been. But there's an energy I didn't have before I was pregnant that I haven't regained yet. It's the strangest thing."

However, the baby is beginning to assist Cardi in balancing her emotions. "Every now and then, I'll see something online that irritates me, and then my baby would cry or whatever, and it's like, 'You know what? I've got to take care of the milk. 'Forget about it.' She's considering taking a step back from social media. "I've noticed that every time you answer, you exacerbate the situation, therefore I'm done." I'm just done with it. I don't require it, yet it occasionally causes confusion in my mind." "I can stay off social media," she adds. "I've been attempting." Cardi didn't post images of KK on social media for months after she was born, and she surely didn't sell any to the tabloids. She claims Offset asked her to hang a photo, but she was unsure.

"He was like, 'She's so gorgeous.' As soon as she was born, he was like, 'She's so beautiful.' 'Watch how people will react.' Because a lot of people were saying derogatory things about her, such as that we shouldn't post her because she's ugly. 'I'm about to upload my baby right now,' he said. However, we were frightened since we were receiving several threats, so he stated, 'The world doesn't even deserve to see her.'" "It's incredibly bothersome and we don't have a life," Cardi eventually decided to post a photo. We have to keep her hidden at all times. I can't take my infant to L.A. or Miami and go down the beach. I'd like to take my infant shopping. I'd want to go for a walk with my infant. I feel awful for her sometimes since all she knows is the house." But you can't put on a baseball cap, can you? I enquire. Will people be able to tell you apart? She says, "Yeah." "It's my nose," says the narrator.

Bui paints a last coat of purple paint on Cardi's nails—a there's little conversation about whether the shade is the exact "baby purple" Cardi requested—and then she mentions needing to get home to sleep. "I've got a major meeting in Boston in the morning," Cardi says softly, nodding. "There's a lot of money in Boston." She starts horseplaying with her six-year-old half-brother, berating him for being as wayward as she was. "He's a corn child!" she exclaims. "He reminds me of myself." "Like you, sharp but sweet," her half-sister adds.) Bui claims she assumed she wouldn't see Cardi at the salon when she became famous. 'You're going to forget about me,' I told her,' says Bui. "And she said, 'Never,'" says the narrator.