Cardi B has done what a lot of rappers are aiming for: Build a massively successful career for herself from the ground up. While her exact path may not be reproducible, she has offered some advice for up-and-coming artists who are looking for their shot at fame.
Cardi participated in a roundtable conversation with Rubi Rose, Sukihana, and Mulatto on Apple Music’s New Music Daily, and she told artists that to succeed, they need to do their own thing:
“Sometimes when I see these girls on a blog for some dumb sh*t, I be wanting like to hop in they DM and be like, ‘b*tch, don’t even worry about that. B*tch, you want to know what you do? Post a badass picture of you. Girl, post a freestyle or something. Don’t even pay [attention].’ I be wanting to say that because I been through it. I been through it. I been through f*cking responding to people. I been embarrassed before. I been canceled. I go through a ‘Cardi B is canceled’ party five times a year, you know what I’m saying? I been through all of that bullsh*t. So it’s like, when I be seeing girls coming up, I be wanting to tell them, ‘This what you should do. Just do your own lane.’”
Elsewhere in the conversation, she also encouraged hard work and collaboration:
“When you start climbing up there and you reaching up there, they’re going to embrace. You never know when one of these male rappers and everything they’re going to want to start doing a song. You never know. And if people ask you to do features, just keep doing it no matter who it is, just keep doing it. Just be there, just go to everybody. Everybody who has a fan, just go and do it and do it. And just be everywhere.”
Cardi also recommended that artists thinks of themselves as a brand, not just a musician:
“You just got to keep showing that, this why I’m the one, this why I’m that b*tch, this is why y’all got to pick me. This why you’re going to stan me. And just keep it going. Focus on your looks, focus on the music, focus on your brand. Because you’re going to be more than an artist, you got to think about being a brand. One day, you’re going to be more than just a artist. You’re going to be representing somebody’s product. You’re going to be f*cking… you might be in a movie. You might be in… bigger than life. After a while, you’re going to have so much opportunities.”
The conversation will be available to hear in full on Apple Music today at noon ET.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.