Is Cardi B the drama? Even she isn’t sure — including when it comes to her tensions with other female rappers in the music industry.
While speaking to Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1 in an interview posted Monday (Aug. 25), the Bronx native opened up about why she thinks people are always pulling her into feuds online and in person, a phenomenon that inspired the title of her upcoming sophomore album, Am I the Drama? After years of reflection, Cardi has concluded that she simply has a natural quality that elicits strong reactions from other people.
“It’s like, ‘Damn, does drama chase me? Or am I the drama?’” she told Lowe. “I just really think I was born with an anointed light. Sometimes the light is great, but it also disturbs people’s peace. It draws people to me, and it’s not always going to be good. That light might bother people … maybe it’s too bright, it’s too loud. It’s always been like this to me.”
That gravitational relationship between herself and drama has carried over from her high-school days into her professional life, the Grammy winner says. “Even in the industry, there is a lot of different female rappers, but for some reason, it’s something about me that these b—hes can’t stand,” she explained on Apple Music 1. “They can’t f–k with me. Some b—hes, I feel like they’re on this class right now, they’re sophomores, and I’m a senior. And it’s like, you want to f–k with the senior so bad. You think you’re here with the senior. You’re not even a junior. You need to worry about them other sophomores before you start worrying about the f–king senior.”
“It’s something about [me] that it’s like, they can’t even focus on them,” Cardi added. “They got to focus on me. And they always got to focus on throwing me shots and throwing me slings … and I’m sick of it. It’s like, f–k you, f–k everybody.”
Though the hip-hop titan didn’t name names, it’s no secret that she’s found herself in the middle of numerous public spats over the years. In addition to her widely publicized conflict with fellow rap queen Nicki Minaj, Cardi has also traded barbs on social media with artists such as JT of City Girls, Akbar V and Bia.
But while fans will have to wait a few more weeks to hear whether Cardi addresses any of her feuds on Am I the Drama?, which drops Sept. 19, she did recently release a single from the LP titled “Imaginary Playerz.” The track samples Jay-Z’s 1997 song “Imaginary Players,” and on Apple Music 1, Cardi spoke about having the mogul approve her use of his work on her album.
“When it was time to submit it to get approved, I was a little scared,” she revealed. “I was a little shaky. ‘Wait a minute, Jay-Z got to approve it.’ I mean, I always knew that he got to approve it, but it was like, how about if he don’t approve it? How about if he f–king likes it? And he did like it. And it’s so crazy, the text message of him approving it, it was at 4:44 p.m.”
Watch Cardi’s full interview with Lowe above.