Category: News

Senator Ted Cruz never misses a chance to speak out against gun control and digs the Second Amendment. He does so to such a degree that (as seen above) he held a 2015 campaign event (during the presidential primary race) at an Iowa gun shop and range. Before he ascended to Congress (and abandoned freezing Texas constituents while fleeing to Cancun), Cruz served as an NRA lawyer, and he believes that gun control is tantamount to government tyranny. He’s still somehow one of the first to offer empty “thoughts and prayers” tweets after a mass shooting, and after the second headline-making mass shooting in less than a week, Cruz is already arguing against gun control laws in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence.

Monday saw a still-unidentified (to the public, though the man remains in police custody) gunman open fire in a Boulder, Colorado grocery store and kill ten people (including one police officer). Cruz’s immediate position is that Congress shouldn’t even consider passing gun control laws (apparently, not even on AR-15s) because that only “makes it worse.” In the below video from The Recount, Cruz declares, “Every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater.” He added, “Democrats propose taking away guns from law-abiding citizens… it makes it worse.”

Via this clip from the Washington Examiner, Cruz continued to push for some sort of action, including mysterious gun laws (targeting felons and the mentally ill) that he supports, which he insists will not “scapegoat innocent, law-abiding citizens” like he claims that Democrats want to do with gun-control laws. Cruz goes on to claim that guns are used by private citizens to defend their own safety, during at least a million instances per year in the United States. He railed against “the Democrats who want to take away guns from those potential victims would create more victims of crimes, not less.” He further stated that “I don’t apologize for thoughts or prayers … and the contempt of Democrats for prayers is an odd sociological thing.”

Well, people weren’t here for Ted claiming that doing something somehow “makes it worse” while suggesting that doing nothing (even considering that the NRA recently blocked an AR-15 ban in Boulder) will somehow work miracles.

For the record, Cruz has bragged about his role in blocking gun-control legislation in response to the Sandy Hook massacre. “There’s a reason when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition,” Cruz previously declared. “Along with millions of Americans, we defeated that gun control legislation.” And people aren’t going to forget it…

Bad Bunny is a lifelong fan of WWE. That’s why he was over the moon when he was invited to perform at the WWE’s Royal Rumble earlier this year. But he didn’t just showcase his music, he also gave the audience a taste of his wrestling skills by taking out The Miz from the ring’s top rope. Apparently, The Miz still hasn’t forgiven Bad Bunny as the wrestler has now challenged the rapper to an official fight at WrestleMania 2021.

The Miz explained his challenge to Bad Bunny in a recent segment on WWE. The Miz pointed out that although Bad Bunny is a celebrated musician, he’s nowhere close to being as successful of a wrestler:

“Before we discuss WrestleMania, I have to get something off of my chest. I have had a grueling and strenuous couple of weeks full of great highs and terrible lows and the last thing I needed during this trying time was to be laughed at and ridiculed by Damian Priest and more importantly, Bad Bunny. Bad frickin’ Bunny? Now to his credit, Bad Bunny is one of the biggest stars in music and entertainment. He’s a Grammy Award winner, he’s had multi-Platinum hits. With Bad Bunny, you think about it, and you go, ‘Who do you think you are?’ Let you remind me who I am. I am a two-time Grand Slam champion. […] I am the only two-time Grand Slam champion in the history of this company. I’ve been the backbone of WWE for 15-plus years.”

While The Miz knocks Bad Bunny’s wrestling skills, the musician clearly has a few tricks up his sleeve. After pinning The Miz following his performance on Raw, Bad Bunny was able to officially secure the WWE 24/7 Championship belt.

Watch The Miz challenged Bad Bunny to a fight above.

Night one of WrestleMania kicks off 4/1 at 8 pm EST. Watch it here.

In her new Cosmopolitan cover story, Saweetie comes clean about one of the formative incidents of her career. Addressing the infamous February 2018 Hot 97 interview in which host Ebro bullied her over her freestyle, calling it “basic” among other things, Saweetie says that the host’s insensitive comments left a lasting negative impression on her.

“It was a really dark point in my life,” she admits. ” went from being so loved so quickly because of ‘Icy Grl’ to, on my first promo run, well, you saw the interview. The script flipped really quick, like night and day. I was like, ‘Wait…’ I had PTSD from that.” She also notes that due to a lack of experience and artist development, which labels basically gave up on during the blog era ten years before “Icy Grl” blew up on Instagram, fans saw her as a bad performer, which further hurt her sense of self esteem.

“Because ‘Icy Grl’ was so popular, I was being booked at huge festivals,” she notes. “I was literally thrown into it.” However, she credits the experience with toughening her up and prepare her for success. “I’m really grateful for my start. Because the mistakes, the struggle, the grind—it allows me to appreciate the rewards that come now because I know what it feels like to sleep in motels, to drive and do promo, to be stressed out.”

You can read the full profile here.

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Bob Odenkirk’s new film, Nobody, isn’t quite what you think it might be based solely on the marketing. From the trailer, we are kind of led to believe Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell is your average, everyday working stiff. And he certainly appears that way to the outside world, but he’s actually a former assassin who, when pushed too far by a home break-in, returns to a life of fighting crime: and in this case that means taking on the entire Russian mob himself. Nobody is much more Atomic Blonde than it is Falling Down. Think, maybe, Atomic Bob.

“Action star” is maybe the last genre for Odenkirk to conquer. Between Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Fargo, and his, at this point, pretty legendary comedy bona fides – between Mr. Show and SNL – he has pretty much all the other bases covered. So Odenkirk started working with a trainer to get into fighting shape (literally) and now he’s presenting himself to you as an action star. Well, at least an action star who there’s still the possibility he might lose.

Ahead, Odenkirk explains why Nobody is a strangely therapeutic movie to watch right now (and it’s hard to explain, but he’s right) and he talks about the origins of some of the most famous SNL sketches of all time. We know them as Chris Farley’s Matt Foley/motivational speaker sketches. but Odenkirk wrote that character for Farley and performed the role of the father at Second City, a role we’d eventually see Phil Hartman play on SNL. Odenkirk has called it the thing he’s most proud of in his career and, ahead, he explains just how it all came together.

This movie is strangely therapeutic. I don’t know if that makes sense.

No, Mike! You’re not the first person to say that!

Okay, I thought I was the weird one.

No. A lot of people. Here’s what people are saying. Somebody said, “This was a movie I needed, and I didn’t even know I needed it.” And I’m going to tell you, we’re cooped up for a year, there’s no one to strike back at.

There’s not.

There’s nothing to hit. There’s nothing to yell at. There’s nothing to push out of the way. Every day, you wake up, you can’t get the vaccine yet. You have to just be cool. You just have to suck it up. You just have to maintain. And it wears you down. And this movie is a guy who has been worn down. He’s been sucking it up. He’s been holding his breath. And I would argue it’s his own fault. Everybody’s got to find their outlets, but he didn’t. And he has this notion of being undercover, which maybe he’s taken that too far, and he explodes. And this is purely happenstance. We made this movie, there was no pandemic yet, but I do think it’s relatable. It’s like, yeah. That’s how I feel. I want a Russian gang to walk on a bus, so I can beat the living out of them.

Oh yeah, that scene got put on the internet today. I re-watched it.

Oh, really?

As an exclusive clip, not illegally.

The whole scene?

At least part of it.

You’ve seen the movie?

Yes, I have.

They don’t show me falling out of the bus, do they?

I don’t think it’s the whole thing. That scene goes on a long time.

Good. Please, don’t put the whole thing. I want the audience to come to the theater and see it.

You know what movie I kept thinking of during this? I kept thinking of True Lies…

Oh?

Because you play this guy, and it makes some sense that no one realizes his past. In True Lies, Jamie Lee Curtis is like, “Harry? He’s just a computer salesman. What do you mean he’s a spy?” And it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger. And it’s like, well, yes, of course, he’s a spy. I can believe both sides of this with you.

Listen, when I was thinking about why I wanted to do and what I want to do, there were so many things that drove me to ask if I could do an action movie. And then search for a writer and try to find somebody who wants to do it. And I got some positive appreciation or interest almost from the get-go, which really surprised me. But I thought, I can really be that guy. I can be the guy you genuinely don’t think he’s going to be okay. You don’t think he’s going to beat these guys up! You think he really is just a regular dad. And I can play him with reticence and uncertainty and, hopefully, make that authentic. And that’s a fresh thing that you haven’t seen. Because most of the action stars of the last 10 or 15 years literally behave like robots that kill. And they sort of switch into this mode of “kill mode,” and they dispense with everyone. And that’s fun to watch. But I thought one thing I could do that would be different, a contribution, something unique, would be: you really don’t think this guy’s going to make it through the fight. When I say that line, “I’m going to fuck you up.” I really try to say it with doubt in my eyes.

And then he has some problems. Oh, so I looked up the clip. It’s 1 minute and 12 seconds, that’s it.

So it’s not the whole bus scene?

It’s not the whole bus.

The bus fight was so important. Because it was like the planting a flag of what I think I want to show you and what I want to try to do and how far this character can go further than you think. And also to do it with no irony and no safety valve of comedy, just pure, blazing rage.

Speaking of the pure, blazing rage. When you were deciding to do this, was this the thing missing from your resume? Because you’ve got almost everything else covered. You said, “You know what? I need to play a fighting machine.”

No, I don’t need to do it. But yes, I was fully aware of the outlandish distance that it inhabits from everything else I’ve done and where I started my career. On the other hand, I would argue that it really is just an extension of the character I play on Saul. It is an extension of the earnest, fighting guy, who’s trying to achieve something and never quits. I know it’s crazy. And I think really the craziest thing about it is not the fighting, it’s the lack of irony in the character. For a person who comes from comedy, where all we did was make fun of heightened emotion – earnest emotion, earnest drama – to go to a place of action genre? Where it’s utterly earnest and kind of big feelings played simply, that is a real journey. And that, to me, is the joy of being an actor. To do things that are far, far away from everything you’ve done so far.

You mentioned Better Call Saul. Were you filming this around the same time as that past season?

I shot this movie in October, of 2019, three weeks after we finished season five.

Because I noticed while watching last season that you were, not that you’re not always an in-shape human being, but you were very in-shape for that last season, and especially when you were wearing short sleeve shirts.

I’m not bulked up like a Marvel superhero

You had some guns though. I saw them.

Yeah. But I think I have the guns that he did, could get if he lifted those goddamn weights he has that are sitting in the corner of his room. I still wanted to look like a regular guy, maybe one who works out regularly, but otherwise not Superman, and I think I do. I started training in 2017. In February of 2017.

Oh, wow. Okay.

I started training with Daniel Bernhardt, who’s maybe the greatest stunt actor on planet Earth right now. And he’s one of the guys I beat the shit out of in the bus. And you’ve seen him in Atomic Blonde and Barry. He was amazing in Barry. I mean, Daniel, he’s really the fucking best. And the fact that he took the time to train me for two-and-a-half years is a tribute to his patience and his kindness and generosity. So I trained, and then when I would shoot Saul. I would train here, at a gym, and Daniel would send me videos of things to do. But, basically, I just was steady at it for two-and-a-half-years before we shot.

A couple of months ago I was reading how you said the “Motivational Speaker” sketch from SNL with Chris Farley is your favorite thing you’ve ever gotten to do, writing it by yourself in a small Chicago apartment. I’ve always wondered, was that ever based on something you saw? Like a local commercial in Chicago or something?

Well, I mean, it was based a little bit on Chris Farley’s improv from the night that I wrote it. We had done the improv set at Second City and he had played a coach of a high school team. It was some scene where people were doing anti-drug speeches, and he played a version of Matt Foley. Which he’d done in his life before that, but had none of the backstory, the “van down by the river.” It had none of that. It was not a motivational speaker. He was the high school coach, but he did some of the moves. “You can’t, because you don’t get it.”

And he was berating the kids in that way. I just gave it a story, but it was a pretty unique story. And I think it landed really well. There’s a lot I’ve written, thousands of comedy sketches, and I can list the five or seven that came out exactly the way they’re done and that worked so well. So it’s really special. A special piece to me. And, additionally, playing it on stage for seven performances a week with Second City for the summer that I was there, was probably just pure … it was pure joy.

‘Nobody’ opens Friday, March 26th in theaters. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

The past few months of Halsey’s life have been home to some major changes for her. The pop star announced at the top of 2021 that she is pregnant, and earlier this month, she declared that her preferred pronouns are now “she” and “they.” Halsey made the latter announcement without much explanation, simply updating her Instagram bio to reflect the change. Now, though, she has offered more insight about her pronoun shift.

In a recent Instagram story, Halsey wrote, “for those asking RE: my updated IG bio, I am happy with either pronouns 🙂 the inclusion of ‘they’, in addition to ‘she’, feels most authentic to me. If you know me at all you know what it means to me to express this outwardly. thanks for being the best [star emoji].”

Towards the end of 2020, Halsey teased a busy 2021. On Twitter, she said this year will be “the most ridiculous year” of her career so far and a “nonstop explosion.” The projects she has on the way are apparently also “all very different” and some of them have been “years in the making.” One of Halsey’s biggest 2021 development was a less exciting one, though, as she announced in January that she had officially canceled her Manic world tour.

Despite its massive four-hour-and-two-minute runtime, Stephen Colbert isn’t ashamed to admit that he still wanted more of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Turns out, The Late Show host is a big fan of the original post-credits scene from the 2017 theatrical version of Justice League that featured Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke meeting up with Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor to form the Legion of Doom. But when that scene didn’t get the expanded screentime that Colbert was hoping for in the Snyder Cut, he made his own post-credits scene by combining the existing footage of Deathstroke with Colbert himself playing Lex Luthor. It did not go well for Deathstroke.

In the expanded “The Colbert Cut” scene, Colbert’s Luthor ruthlessly dunks on Deathstroke over everything from his name to the fact that his comic book origins involve him mostly battling Robin and the Teen Titans. “Where do you fight?” Colbert’s Luthor ask. “At the mall.” He also gets Deathstroke confused with Will Smith’s Deadshot, which prompts Colbert’s Luthor to hold up pictures of Deadpool and Deadshot and quip that all three of these guys basically have the same name. “How does anyone tell you apart?” Colbert asks Deathstroke before going in for the kill. “Oh wait, these two don’t fight teens.”

It’s a pretty funny scene that makes great use of the Deathstroke footage to deliver joke after joke about how he’s basically “Pirate Deadpool,” which is a burn on a whole other level considering Deadpool was literally created as a spoof of Deathstroke, and yet, look who has his own movie franchise. That’s gotta sting.

This week in the best new pop music saw the release of some anticipated LPs. Lana Del Rey dropped her long-awaited Chemtrails Over The Country Club, Justin Bieber debuted his album Justice, and J Balvin returned with a fiery new single.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Lana Del Rey — “White Dress”

Lana Del Rey has been teasing Chemtrails Over The Country Club for months, and it’s finally here along with her fan favorite song “White Dress.” About the track, co-writer/producer Jack Antonoff says it’s one of his favorites on the album. “What I like about that song is that for all of its weirdness, when you get to the end of it, you understand exactly what it’s about,” he said.

Justin Bieber — “Peaches” Feat. Daniel Caesar, Giveon

Other than getting hit with a cease and desist letter for his album’s logo, Justin Bieber’s Justice album rolled out this week without a hitch. The 16-track release dove deeper into his R&B sound, which can be heard on the song “Peaches,” featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon. The track displayed Bieber’s positive lyricism over a snappy beat while offering an opportunity for his collaborator to show off their moving vocals.

J Balvin — “Tu Venemo”

J Balvin may have released his acclaimed album Colores just last year, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down since. The Colombian musician returned this week to debut his dark pop track “Tu Venemo,” where he sings of the addictive nature of a toxic relationship.

Addison Rae — “Obsessed”

TikTok star Addison Rae was highest-paid person on the platform in 2020, and now she’s pivoting to her music career. Rae released her debut single “Obsessed” this week, which is a sparkling anthem about maintaining self worth.

Glaive — “I Wanna Slam My Head Against The Wall”

Though he’s only been making music for about eight months, 16-year-old North Carolina native Glaive has already made a name for himself with his art-pop sound. Now, “I Wanna Slam My Head Against The Wall” marks Glaive’s latest release. The song offers another view into his psyche, this time contrasting relationship woes with upbeat instrumentals.

Dasha — “None Of My Business”

Up-and-coming pop songwriter Dasha released her shimmering debut EP $hiny Things this week, showing off her knack for catchy yet relatable tunes. In a statement about the project, Dasha said: “The mood of the entire project swings from crying on your birthday, to being so innocently in love with someone, to getting cheated on, to finally being the confident bitch you’re supposed to be. This EP is the epitome of all the ups and downs I’ve felt over the past year.”

Daniyel — “It’s Ok”

19-year-old musician Daniyel released the bittersweet anthem “It’s Ok” this week as a reminder to stay positive about mental health. Speaking about the track in a statement, Daniyel said: “At first listen, the song sounds like a love song. But the true inspiration is a quote I always tell myself when I’m feeling out of place and down. In the end everything will be okay. Whether it’s my mom’s living situation, my mental health, or when I get to the end of a show I’ve been binging for weeks…it will be okay.”

PJ Harding, Noah Cyrus — “You Belong To Somebody Else”

Best New Artist Grammy nominee Noah Cyrus released the folksy collaboration “You Belong To Somebody Else” with PJ Harding this week. The track arrives as another preview of the two songwriter’s joint EP People Don’t Change, which is slated for a release later this spring. “At heart, this is really a raw, homemade record,” Harding stated about the song. “There’s a strong folk tradition in Australia, which you can possibly feel. There’s certainly a lot of Nashville in there too. I feel like Noah is really the guiding force here. She’s the soul of this record.”

Babygirl — “Nevermind”

Toronto alt pop songwriting duo Babygirl returned this week to share the single “Nevermind” and announce the upcoming EP Losers Weepers. About the new song, Babygirl told Nylon that they are drawn to the word in particular: “I like the word ‘never mind. It’s often said after you’ve said something you immediately want to take back or undermine, and we like pointing to that nervous tick in the context of a romantic relationship.”

Madeline The Person — “As A Child”

Rising singer Madeline The Person offered a glimpse into her colorful world of pop with the euphoric single “As A Child.” “With my music, I’m trying to normalize the sad and hard and really gross stuff and make it more acceptable and less scary, because to me, as a person, I am all of those things combined. I’m super sad and also really happy and joyful and grateful. I have a lot of emotions and I don’t like to boil it down to just a few.”

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Selena Gomez’s recent Revelación EP was an important release for the singer, as she has long expressed a desire to release a Spanish-language project. The effort has worked out for Gomez, as it has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart dated March 27, and Gomez is pretty stoked about it.

Gomez told Billboard:

“I never go into anything expecting a No. 1 so I do not take it for granted. It’s always a bit nerve-racking before releasing any music because as artists we put so much of ourselves out there. For this EP specifically, I was the most nervous I have been in a long time because my heritage means so much to me and I have been talking about doing this for over 10 years. I wanted it to be perfect. I am thrilled to see the response from my fans and also from people who might not have listened to my other music.”

This comes weeks after Gomez said she has considered retiring from music, saying, “It’s hard to keep doing music when people don’t necessarily take you seriously. I’ve had moments where I’ve been like, ‘What’s the point? Why do I keep doing this?’ ‘Lose You to Love Me’ I felt was the best song I’ve ever released, and for some people it still wasn’t enough. I think there are a lot of people who enjoy my music, and for that I’m so thankful, for that I keep going, but I think the next time I do an album it’ll be different. I want to give it one last try before I maybe retire music.”

It seems like every day brings another “BeatBox” freestyle, but Lil Yachty has arrived to shut it all down with his offering to the trend, “No More Beatboxing Freestyle.” As you may have guessed from the title, the first half of the song utilizes the beat from Coi Leray’s viral hit “No More Parties,” while the second half sees Boat taking a swing at SpotemGottem’s “BeatBox” instrumental.

In the accompanying visual, a solo Yachty roams his playhouse-like home, showing off his art collection. I use “art” here loosely, because the setup mostly consists of pop culture ephemera like life-size Batman and Ninja Turtle statues (shout out Leonardo), a clear-top piano, and a truly jaw-dropping collection of sneakers. In his rhymes, the former self-declared “king of the teens” recalls his explosive entry into the rap game and touches on his recent forays into Michigan’s underground rap scene with tracks like “Not Regular” and “Royal Rumble.”

Yachty, who is fresh off the dual releases of his tracks “Asshole” and “In My Stussy’s,” is the latest rapper to tackle the viral hit since DaBaby turned in a scene-stealing “Beat Box” freestyle of his own. Since then, Deante’ Hitchcock, Mulatto, and Polo G have all tried their hands, with Polo adding the twist of connecting the “No More Parties” beat, along with CJ’s “Whoopty.”

You should know better than to underestimate Cardi B. From her initial rise as a social media personality, to her status today as the reigning Queen of Rap, Cardi has shown herself to be an immensely durable and versatile figure within the popular imagination: a true renaissance (wo)man, capable of flitting between several different spheres while remaining completely and authentically herself.

This is no mean feat. Historically, the general public has reserved a great deal of suspicion for celebrities who have worn several hats. We’ve all sniggered at Gwyneth Paltrow’s transition from Hollywood actress to wellness guru under the banner of her tiresome lifestyle brand GOOP. We’ve all rolled our eyes at another Hollywood star flogging a vanity album of themselves crooning their way through an uninspiring selection of jazz or folk standards. Reality TV stars who have transitioned into music have an even more dubious track record. Who can forget Kim Kardashian’s first and last single, “Jam (Turn It Up)” (apart from almost everyone?)

Cardi B was born Belcalis Almanzar in 1992 in The Bronx, to a Trinidadian mother and a Dominican father. After being fired from several jobs (including working at a deli counter and as a cashier), in 2013 Cardi began to work as a stripper – a decision which she credits with “saving her,” giving her the ability to leave an abusive relationship and go back to school. It is during this period that Cardi first appeared in the public consciousness, when she began posting videos on Instagram and dearly-departed microblogging site, Vine.

Despite being several years away from starting her rap career, the star of these Vines is instantaneously recognizable as Cardi B. All the ingredients are there: the distinctive accent (part abrasive New Yawker, part melodious Spanish), the outrageous cackle, the outsized personality (part silly, part sexy, part campy), the filthy sense of humor and carnal preoccupation that, several years later, would result in endless criticism from conservative Americans. By 2013, the full range of Card B-isms were already in place: the trills and exclamations, the tongue-pop she uses like punctuation.

A 2017 cover story with The Fader describes the moment Cardi B’s manager encouraged her to “give rapping a try,” citing her distinctive accent as evidence that she’d do well as a rapper: “She had a natural ear for music. Her speaking style, in certain scenarios – like when she yelled at a dude on the phone – were proof of a unique voice.” While it’s true that Cardi raps how she speaks, she also raps what she speaks. Many of the snappy, vivid punchlines from Cardi’s Vines were recirculated, several years later, as rap verses. In one clip, Cardi B addresses the camera, faux-seriously: “People be asking me, like ‘what do you does? Are you a model? Are you like a comedian or something?” She smirks: “Nah, I ain’t none of that! I’m a hoe. I’m a stripper hoe. I’m about this shmoneyyyyy.” Two years later, Cardi would release “Stripper Hoe” and “What a Girl Likes” (the chorus of which goes, ‘gimme shmoney, gimme gimme shmoney’) – a crafty repurposing of comedic material which had been years in percolation.

Indeed, it is very easy to imagine a reality in which Cardi is a model or a comedian. A VP of a New York celebrity talent agency described her as “A TV personality – she was born to be famous.” Unsurprising then, that Cardi excelled when she was cast on VH1 reality show Love & Hip-Hop, quickly becoming the show’s break-out star. One standout moment from the show went viral: while discussing an ex-friend, Cardi declares “if a girl has beef with me, she gon have beef with me -” a loaded pause, a pirouette – “forevah.” Again, a year later the zinger would reappear, as the chorus of excoriating single, “Forever.”

This phenomenon has begun happening without Cardi B’s input. In the first few months of the pandemic, Cardi posted an impassioned monologue imploring her followers to take the virus seriously, which resulted in several, ahem, viral remixes.

If you are a martian who somehow hasn’t heard a single Cardi B song, you would be forgiven for thinking, from these accounts, that Cardi makes novelty music. That her music is an extended joke, an overplayed meme, the commercially-driven over-extension of a social media personality. This isn’t the case, at all – Cardi B’s rhymes may be superficially amusing, but her songs frequently have great soul and depth. In this instance, the things that make her great at social media – her charm, her scrutiny, her self-awareness – translate into being great at making music.

Something particularly notable about Cardi’s debut album, Invasion Of Privacy, is that it feels retro – oddly so, for a star who has built their career through social media. In an age where albums are frequently formatted to appease Spotify algorithms (see: Drake’s Scorpion, which stretched to a whopping 25 tracks, presumably to wring as many streams out of each user as possible), Cardi’s debut is a very reasonable 13 songs.

It would have been easy for Cardi to pack Invasion Of Privacy full of racy raps and crowd-pleasing braggadocio, but instead, the album is nuanced, an emotionally varied piece of work. One example of this is “Be Careful,” a bruised ode to a cheating lover. Here, Cardi is measured and beneficent, rather than vengeful: “Do you know what you’re doing? Whose feelings that you’re hurting and bruising? You gonna gain the whole world, but is it worth the girl that you’re losing?”

In a 2019 article for The Guardian, Jia Tolentino described social media as humans “reproducing the lessons of the marketplace.” In many ways, Cardi has done this throughout her entire career – she’s just been one step ahead of the marketplace the entire time. Rather than waiting for the internet to make memes out of her, Cardi memes herself, exhaustively mining her own back catalogue and reprocessing her best bits. Rather than working with a label A&R department to form her image and to grow her fanbase, like a rapping Venus, Cardi arrived fully-formed. Watching back over her old Vines, we see a fully-fledged star, a totally cohesive media personality with a distinct vocabulary and a ready-made fanbase of millions of followers. All Atlantic had to do was ink the contract and send over the songwriters.

As streaming and social media has complicated the business of being a pop star, a new term has emerged in A&R circles. The ‘artist-brand’ – a marketing construct which presents the idealized pop star as a global media personality, who can command several streams of revenue, and who are able to communicate and promote themselves effectively across cultural contexts, and within many different forms of media. Cardi has intuitively taken to the spheres of social media, television, and music – what comes next? Interestingly, Cardi has proven herself to be a skilled political commentator. She was a valuable asset to the Bernie Sanders campaign, hosting a charming interview with the senator. Her presence loomed large during the New York Women’s March, with her tweets and song lyrics appearing on several signs held by attendees.

While Americans may be finished with reality TV stars becoming president, it isn’t difficult to imagine Cardi establishing herself as a maverick political influencer. Personally, I can’t wait for the next installment of The Cardi B Show.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.