‘Drama’ Queen: How Cardi B Turned Her Hustler’s Spirit Into a Rollout Masterclass

On Sunday nighttime (Sept. 28), Cardi B landed her second No. 1 connected the Billboard 200 with Am I The Drama?, moving 200,000 equivalent medium units. After a seven-year spread — marred by delays and high-profile marital play — Cardi’s sophomore rollout became a masterclass successful execution, turning chaos into substance and proving however rewarding it tin beryllium for her to thin afloat into her ain drama.

Following June’s announcement of a September release, Cardi handled the contention with Jeter-like precision. She stood firm, brazenly defending her determination to slot 2020 smashes “WAP” and “Up” onto the task 5 years later, utilizing Spaces connected X arsenic her battleground and firing backmost astatine anyone questioning her motives. And portion her 2nd single, “Imaginary Playaz,” fizzled connected the Hot 100 with a No. 70 debut, Cardi stuck to her blueprint, stepping “Outside” this summertime to rally her basal and support the rollout momentum alive.

She hosted WWE SummerSlam astatine MetLife Stadium successful August, bridging her emotion for wrestling with a mainstream assemblage and brilliantly teasing “Hello” arsenic her entranceway theme. Then came her battle proceedings — a must-see spectacle wherever Cardi’s comedic wit and reactions stumped attorneys and flooded societal media timelines. Within days, her hairstyles and jaw-dropping one-liners became viral gold. That question became the spark her run needed: aft being recovered not guilty, she announced “The Courtroom Edition” of Drama, doubling down by hawking CDs connected the streets of L.A. and the subways of New York with her trademark charisma. Cardi turned memes into selling plans and became the taxable of speech this second fractional of the summertime with her epic rollout to merchandise week. 

Her propulsion carried implicit to the media circuit. Following her viral Billboard cover, Cardi deed radio, TV, and podcasts including The Breakfast Club, The Jennifer Hudson Show, and Call Her Daddy. She did in-store signings and meet-and-greets — portion large — a...