Cardi B (1992-…) is an American rap singer and songwriter. She quickly rose to fame in the 2010’s as a social-media personality, then as a musician. Cardi B has won praise from music critics, as well as achieving popular success.
Cardi B was born on Oct. 11, 1992, in the Bronx , New York City, to a Trinidadian mother and a Dominican father. Her real name is Belcalis Almanzar << `behl` cah LEEZ ahl MAHN zahr >> . She chose the name Cardi B based on a childhood nickname. From a young age, Cardi B had an interest in performing. She attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology in the Bronx. She also attended Borough of Manhattan Community College for a time. As a teenager and young woman, Cardi B worked at a supermarket, then as a dancer at a nightclub. Around 2013, Cardi B began posting videos about her life on the social-media websites Instagram and Vine. Her posts drew millions of followers. From 2015 to 2017, Cardi B appeared on the reality-television program “Love & Hip Hop: New York.”
Cardi B began her professional music career in the mid-2010’s. She signed her first major recording contract, with Atlantic Records, in 2017. That year, she released the hit single “Bodak Yellow,” which sold millions of copies. Cardi B’s first album, Invasion of Privacy, was released in 2018. It included the hit song “I Like It.” Cardi B also has collaborated (worked together) with a number of other artists, including the American musician Bruno Mars .
Cardi B has received many music awards, including American Music Awards, BET (Black Entertainment Television) Awards, and MTV Video Music Awards. In 2019, she won her first Grammy Award , for the album Invasion of Privacy (2018). Her music has topped a number of music charts in the United States.
