How Cardi B Returned With a Vengeance on New Album ‘Am I The Drama?’

The satellite has changed importantly since 2018: the COVID pandemic upended regular life, TikTok took implicit societal media, and AI is the acronym everyone’s talking about, to sanction a fewer things. But 1 happening hasn’t changed: Cardi B is making immoderate of the champion rap euphony successful the game.

Cardi proved that again with the merchandise of her 2nd medium — and archetypal successful 7 years — Am I The Drama? and fans responded successful kind: this week, Cardi’s caller medium debuted astatine No. 1 connected the Billboard 200 with 200,000 equivalent medium units, the biggest week for an R&B/hip-hop medium by a pistillate this twelvemonth truthful far, making her two-for-two with chart-topping albums. And portion things whitethorn not person changed excessively overmuch for Cardi connected the charts, 7 years is an interminably agelong clip successful the euphony business, meaning she mostly had to reintroduce herself to fans successful a satellite that has changed truthful much. And helping her bash that has been Darrale Jones, the A&R and enforcement shaper for Am I the Drama? who primitively signed her to Atlantic Records successful 2016 — and present earns the rubric of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Jones discusses the process of crafting Cardi’s 2nd album, however they were capable to seizure fans’ imaginations and attraction aft truthful agelong betwixt afloat magnitude projects, the authorities of hip-hop successful 2025 and honesty successful storytelling. “The thought was: if she’s gone done it, idiosyncratic other retired determination has, too,” Jones says astir Cardi’s songwriting process here. “So we wanted to make thing honorable and relatable, thing that connects connected a quality level.”

This week, Cardi B’s Am I The Drama? debuted astatine No. 1 connected the Billboard 200 with 200,000 equivalent medium units. What cardinal determination did you marque to assistance marque that happen?

The extremity from the opening was to make unthinkable music. We weren’t focused connected illustration positions; our mindset was astir making a deed task and a classical album. That’s what drove each determination we made passim the process.

What was your attack to making a afloat medium this clip around, and what was your relation successful creating it?

I’m the A&R and enforcement shaper connected some Invasion of Privacy and Am I the Drama?. My relation is truly astir bringing blistery producers to the array that align with her vision. Cardi has lived, experienced, and gone done a lot, truthful determination was nary shortage of topics to explore.The attack this clip was to pat into each of that and marque definite the euphony reflected precisely wherever she is successful her beingness close now.

After specified a agelong clip since her archetypal medium — albeit with a fistful of large singles successful betwixt — however did you privation to reintroduce her, successful a way, to her audience?

Cardi wanted to attack this task from a real, quality perspective. It was important to her that the euphony bespeak her existent beingness — the highs, the lows, everything she experienced successful the clip since Invasion of Privacy. So the process started with sitting down and truly talking done what she wanted to say, what she’d been through, however she’d grown. The thought was: if she’s gone done it, idiosyncratic other retired determination has, too. So we wanted to make thing honorable and relatable, thing that connects connected a quality level.

What was down the determination to enactment some “Up” and “WAP” — 2 No. 1 singles, but from 4 and 5 years ago, respectively — connected the album, and however did that assistance its archetypal week?

I honestly wasn’t reasoning astir whether it would assistance the archetypal week oregon not. The determination came from a originative place. With this assemblage of work, some “Up” and “WAP” acceptable the wide messaging Cardi wanted to express. So it wasn’t astir immoderate benignant of monetary oregon illustration summation — it was astir making definite the medium told the afloat communicative she wanted to tell.

How has Cardi evolved arsenic an creator since you archetypal signed her to Atlantic?

Cardi has ever been capable to talk from the heart, but implicit clip she’s travel to truly recognize the worth of truth-telling successful her euphony and however almighty that tin be. She’s lived a batch of beingness since her archetypal album, and that maturation shows. When it comes to selling and promoting her music, it’s not astir strategy oregon idiosyncratic summation — it’s astir sharing her truth. That authenticity has ever been there, but present it’s m...