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Cardi B gives a good interview.
The mother-to-be, whose pregnancy declaration broke on SNL over the weekend, sat down with GQ about her new record, Invasion of Privacy, and while her quotes about illegal butt implants and gangs are certainly buzzy, the whole article is filled with some interesting tidbits from the “Bodak Yellow” rapper.
Here are seven amazing moments from the profile:
Cardi B, real name Belcalis Almanzar, is a huge history buff who could once list all the U.S. presidents in order. For those wondering, FDR is her absolute favorite. “First of all,” she begins, “he helped us get over the Depression, all while he was in a wheelchair. Like, this man was suffering from polio at the time of his presidency, and yet all he was worried about was trying to make America great — make America great again for real. He’s the real ‘Make America Great Again,’ because if it wasn’t for him, old people wouldn’t even get Social Security.
“I love political science,” she continues. “I love government. I’m obsessed with presidents. I’m obsessed to know how the system works.”
Makes sense given her political interest.
In a rare move, the rapper talks about her rumored affiliation with the Bloods. “Here’s the thing,” she says. “I never really wanted to talk about that, because I always wanted a music deal. I always want to keep my endorsements. When I was 16 years old, I used to hang out with a lot of … Bloods. I used to pop off with my homies. And they’d say, ‘Yo, you really get it poppin’. You should come home. You should turn Blood.’ And I did. Yes, I did. And something that — it’s not like, oh, you leave. You don’t leave.”
Cardi B adds, “When I was younger, I used to go very hard. As I got older … you can do your own thing, but you always got to check in with your set. You don’t leave your people behind. They will understand I don’t be doing it because I’m an adult now. After you’re in your 20s, why would you join a gang? That’s something that you do when you’re young. I don’t even got to keep up communications. I keep communication because I’m used to it.”
The singer began stripping at age 19. ”When I was a stripper, I didn’t give a f*** about gangs, because I was so focused on making money,” she confesses. “You could ask any gang member: Being in a gang don’t make you not one dollar. And I know for a fact every gang member, he asking himself, ‘Why did I turn this?’ Sometimes it’s almost like a fraternity, a sorority. Sometimes it’s like that. And sometimes I see people that’s in the same gang kill each other. So sometimes there is no loyalty. Sometimes you gotta do certain things to get higher, to get higher and higher. You’re doing all of that and you not making money off of it.”
Cardi B continues, “That’s why I don’t talk about it much. Because I wouldn’t want a young person, a young girl, to think it’s OK to join it. … If somebody was to tell me right now, ‘I want to join a gang,’ I would tell them that it’s a waste of your money, it’s a waste of your time. And then you can never leave it.”
Four years ago, the rapper decided she wanted a larger rear end so she could make more money stripping … and also because a boyfriend cheated on her with someone who “had a fat, big ass.” This led Cardi B to a basement apartment in Queens, where a woman injected her with filler for $800.
“It was the craziest pain ever. I felt like I was gonna pass out. I felt a little dizzy. And it leaks for, like, five days,” she recalls. She was happy with the result but couldn’t get a touch-up. “But by the time I was gonna go get it, the lady got locked up ’cause she’s supposedly killed somebody. Well … somebody died on her table.”
When asked how often she sees her fiancé — and the father of her child — Offset, the singer says a couple of times a week. As for longer stretches? “I think we’ve spent like about six days together in L.A.,” she says.
After meeting around January 2017, Cardi B and the Migos rapper got engaged, and cheating rumors soon swirled. She doesn’t acknowledge his alleged infidelity specifically but talks about how trust has been an issue in their relationship.
“For a long time … we was in love with each other but we didn’t really trust in each other,” she reveals. “People used to put things in my head: ‘He gonna leave you. He be f***ing with mad bitches.’ People used to put things in his head: ‘Cardi, she’s a dog. Don’t trust her.’ We never really trusted each other because I always feel like he could get any girl he wants — what makes me think he’s gonna want me? I think he felt the same way.”
She adds, “It was just too much playing games. He would look for me; sometimes he would take a jet to me. And it was just like, ‘Let’s stop playing. We really love each other. I’m scared to lose you, and you scared to lose me.’”
Cardi says that she and Set — which is what she calls him unless she’s pissed off; then it’s his given name, Kiari — will likely get married in the fall in Atlanta, but doesn’t specify a year.
While Cardi B’s mother speaks English, her father, who is from the Dominican Republic, speaks to her exclusively in Spanish. She calls her English “broken” and, despite her chart-topping success, feels insecure in the studio.
“I don’t got the best English in the world, so sometimes I really got to ask somebody, ‘Does this make sense? Would this make sense?’ Because I will probably use the words … that they don’t even supposed to go there,” she admits. “That’s my biggest problem, that takes me a long time in the booth. I be trying to pronounce words properly and without an accent. Each and every song from my album, I most likely did it over five times, because I’m really insecure about my accent when it comes to music. In person, I don’t care.”
Most people hate criticism (Cardi B isn’t a fan of that either), but compliments puzzle the singer. “When people give me a compliment like, ‘Oh, you look so cute!’ it’s like … [in a patronizing tone] ’Aww, thanks!’ Or when I do a good thing for somebody, they’ll be like, ‘Thank you! Thank you so much!’ It’s like, ‘Please. Just leave me alone and be happy.’ I hate that,” she says.
Cardi B says she’s so nervous and shy that she had no idea what to do when meeting Beyoncé. “When I met Beyoncé, people be like, ‘How that felt? I bet you was mad happy,” she recalls. “It’s like, ‘Actually, I wanted to s*** on myself.’ It was a very scary thing. All she was doing was like, ‘Hi. I love your music.’ And I was like UHHHN!”
