Seven years of chaos, beefs, motherhood and viral moments have kept Cardi B in the public eye since she dropped her Grammy-winning, chart-topping debut album ‘Invasion of Privacy’. With Number One stonkers like ‘Bodak Yellow’ and ‘I Like It’, and deep cuts like ‘Be Careful’ and ‘Bickenhead’, Cardi’s unfiltered humour, shameless bars and Bronx grit rewrote the rules of pop-rap.
But a lot has happened since. Cardi became a mother three times (with one more on the way), survived relationship scandals with Offset and outlived feuds that swallowed half the internet. In the gap between albums, she kept her name hot with culture-shifting singles. 2020’s ‘WAP’ with Megan Thee Stallion wasn’t just her fourth Number One, but a history-making anthem that rewired the conversation around female sexuality in rap. ‘Up’ and ‘Hot Shit’ proved she could still bully the charts with ease.
Given all that, the expectations for album two, ‘Am I The Drama?’, are sky-high – and at times, Cardi almost delivers. On ‘Pretty & Petty’, dedicated to dissing Bia, her signature comedic wit is front and centre, clowning rivals with the kind of one-liners that made her a household name. Heavy, braggadocious drill also proves a natural home for her – the mafioso basslines of ‘Hello’, ‘Magnet’ and ‘ErrTime’ fit perfectly with her thick, raspy accent and barked hooks. On the tender side, ‘Man Of Your Word’ and ‘Shower Tears’ with Summer Walker explore the pain of betrayal during her estranged marriage, showing glimpses of maturity in her storytelling.
But these bright spots can’t save a record weighed down by bloat and bad decisions. Instead of adopting drill and trap’s brevity, she drags tracks out until they melt into sonic mulch. ‘Bodega Baddie’ – though erratic and fun at first – feels built purely to soundtrack TikToks with its 30-second loop of Cardi proclaiming she’s “La Bodega Baddie”. Add in the weird pacing and choppy transitions, and the song is unlistenable in full.
Cardi also showcases a new sluggish flow throughout, trying to channel the bravado of Lil’ Kim and Notorious B.I.G, but ends up sounding lethargic and monotonous. On ‘Imaginary Playerz’, she even reworks Jay-Z’s classic of the same name, seemingly banking on nostalgia, but ends up a flat imitation, drained of the sparkle that made the original untouchable. The problem peaks on ‘Better Than You’, where lazy lines like “Bitch, I’m better than you / That’s your friend? / Fuck that bitch, I’m better than her, too” drone on far too long, with the beat switch and Cash Cobain’s verse arriving too late to revive it.
And with most features, it feels like Cardi is reaching back to former hit collaborators in hopes of recreating past magic – only for the spark to fizzle. Her ‘Taki Taki’ teammate Selena Gomez’s buttery tones sound out of place next to Cardi’s pitchy croon on ‘Pick It Up’. ‘What’s Goin On’ aims for a sharp callback to ‘Be Careful’ – Cardi even ad-libs, “I told his ass to be careful with me / I guess he thought I wouldn’t practice what I preached” – but Lizzo’s chirpy cover of 4 Non Blondes’ ‘What’s Up’ bleeds out all the venom. ‘Safe’ tries to revive the heartfelt nature of ‘Invasion Of Privacy’’s ‘Ring’, but Cardi’s gruff and Kehlani’s angelic register clash like oil and water compared to their first 2018 ballad.
Ultimately, ‘Am I The Drama?’ is palatable enough for a one-time listen, but nothing here demands a replay. Where ‘Invasion of Privacy’ felt fun and feel-good, its follow-up is bloated, derivative and unsure of its own identity. Cardi doesn’t just recycle her past tricks, she half-asses other people’s legacies too, and the result is a bloated, soulless shell that never finds its own voice.
