Photo by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Moments like thisāwhen the collective rap community gets to see someoneās meteoric rise culminate into that world-stopping drop of a debut albumāare rare but they make being a fan worth all the trouble. Thereās nothing like being a part of something so big, even if your role is nothing more than perusing the Twitter timeline and going back and forth with followers about your individual opinions. A lot of people didnāt think Cardi B would make it to this moment. Maybe some even hoped that she wouldnāt. The Bronx native made the most seamless transition from social media star, to reality TV star, to rap star in history. But the key word in all of those phases of her career is star. Cardi has a quality and an essence that canāt be confined to any singular path. Sheās a natural entertainer and weāre all here to enjoy the ride. Thatās why the stakes for her debut album Invasion of Privacy are some of the highest in recent rap history.The question now is, is Invasion of Privacy actually good? Weād been witnesses to Cardiās growth with her Gangsta Bitch Music mixtape series, as she worked through the growing pains of finding her sound. Itās where she flexed her muscles on songs like āForevaā and āLick,ā slowly transforming into an artist who now dominates Billboard charts. Known for her transparency and her ability to be completely unhinged, we were privy to her personal life in ways that became even too much for her. Invasion of Privacy is an honest debut from a rapper who built a brand on being āregular,ā even if sheās not so regular anymore.Noisey staff writers Lawrence Burney and Kristin Corry break down Invasion of Privacy track-by-track upon first listen, and here were their first impressions.Lawrence: āWent from making tuna sandwiches to making the newsā is a rags-to-riches analogy that I can fully conceptualize. This is a textbook way to start a career-defining rap album. Cardi spends a quarter of the song reliving the days she had to get through to make it to this moment before making a Tee Grizzley by-way-of Meek Milly shift in gears. If youāre going to make a statement, you have to plant your flag firmly into the ground and stand on those words. Whether you live up to them or not is irrelevant for that brief initiation, but Cardi sends a convincing warning.Kristin: Iām totally here for the āDreams & Nightmaresā feel of it, I just worry that sheās going to end up sounding like everybody but Cardi. Itās a great way to start a debut, and weāve seen that these introspective intros work well. Cardi adapts well to whatever flow she wants to adopt for the moment. She owned Kodakās flow on āBodakā and is damn near a fourth Migo on āDrip.ā I want to hear Cardi sound like Cardi. Itās admirable that she wanted to tap into what made Meekās intro so good, but also feels like she sortāve does a disservice to herself by trying to emulate that sound so much. Iām completely a fan of when the beat switches it up toward the end though.Kristin: This isnāt a bad song, but I think I would have appreciated this more on Culture II.Lawrence: This may be one of my least favorite Cardi B songs. Iād actually like less songs of her with Migos on it. The album would have been just fine without this.Kristin: Well Lawrence, you were right about the Project Pat sample. At a glance, I was hoping this was the track YG would be on. Iām sold on her flip of the song though. The best part about Cardi is her ability to redefine the labels society forces on her and make them her own. Now everybodyās Instagram caption is going to be ābickenhead,ā which is dope because in 2001 that wasnāt the greatest thing for a woman to be called. The true test of a bop for me is if I spend more time singing it than I spend doing my makeup. This is going to pass with flying colors.Lawrence: LONG LIVE TRIPLE 6 MAFIA. Thereās really no way that Cardi could lose here by sampling Project Patās āChickenheadā because whatās continuing to become abundantly clear is that anything produced by DJ Paul and Juicy J will defy generational barriers. I mean, Crunchy Black used to seem like a problem from time to time. But anyway, what Cardi is doing here is perfect because while she didnāt snag La Chat for this song like I wished, her list of ways to āpop the pussyā feels like an ode to another Chat classic in āSlob On My Cat.āKristin: We get it, Lawrence. Triple 6 til you die.Lawrence: We all obviously love this song. āBodak Yellowā dominated the summer. I remember seeing Cardi perform this at Moma PS1 and it was the most congested crowd Iāve ever been a part of. Like, if something would have popped off that day, a minimum of ten people would have gotten trampled. Hearing āBodak Yellowā in that setting, with that kind of collective excitement is one of my favorite hip-hop moments of all time. Within the context of the album, I like that it comes after āBickenheadā because it keeps the high energy going, then it immediately shifts gears with āBe Careful.ā That shows Cardiās range.Kristin: Every time the beat drops, I ask myself āAm I over this song?ā Like clockwork, it still catches me the same way as it did the first time I heard it. I was worried that it may not fit well with the rest of the album, but I think itās the opposite. āBodakā was really able to set the tone for what we shouldāve expected for her debut album, and I think itās safe to say sheās delivered.Lawrence: When this track first dropped, there was a lot of chatter about how different it is than āBodak Yellowā but Iām not sure where people developed the notion that Cardi B is only capable of one kind of song. While everyoneās been screaming about their bloody shoes sheās been rapping over New Jack Swing beats and singing in Spanish on dancehall tracks. Whatās also good about the song is that it feels like it could have worked during any rap era of the past 25 years. Cardiās shedding layers of herself to share details of her relationship but also warning that she might not stick around for repeated trauma. Those kinds of songs have been staples for some time.Kristin: I honestly really love this song. People are saying she shouldnāt be singing on the hook and that sheās offbeat, but honestly thatās apart of what I love about Cardi. Her delivery has always been a little clumsy, which makes it all feel a lot more real for me personally. The same people talking shit are the same people who would praise it if her male counterparts put this song out. If weāre being honest, āBe Carefulā is better than A Boogieās āGet to Youā which both borrow from Lauryn Hillās āEx-Factor.ā She had me at the Belly reference, but most importantly, it feels like New York in the summer. Real New York, not transplant New York.My concern here though, is the talk about the reference track that was posted shortly after the single dropped. Itās no secret people have ghostwriters but I couldnāt help listen to the rest of the album wondering what she actually wrote. Itās probably also naive of me to think everyone writes everything, but itās something to consider. Accusations of ghostwriters havenāt hurt Drake and shouldnāt hurt her either. The way her personal life has played out in front of us makes this song feel incredibly intimate, so if itās true, hearing Pardison Fontaine on the reference track was a little disappointing. I want to believe Offset got her mad enough to the point where these are her words.Kristin: Iām stoked she got a Chance feature, but it sounds like he didn't give his all on this hook. Have that same energy you had on Life of Pablo or any other project your attach your name to. The hook feels a little lazy coming from him, especially if we're comparing it to his verse, which is as chipper as you get with Chance. When he says, "I work magic, I work magic, I work magic in my life," I feel Pastor Chance coming back out, putting an anointing on me. If we're talking about living our best life, let's have higher energy.Lawrence: I agree on Chanceās contribution on the hook. Thatās especially apparent after the energy Cardi comes in with on her first verse. But, I do enjoy Chance's verse a lot. Cardi's tuna-to-TV analogy for "making it" was great but Chance came in with "'Member my hands had ash like Pompeii," and changed the game. This songās value lies in Cardiās openness about how being in the public eye has affected her. From the self-consciousness about her teeth before getting them fixed, to how meeting Beyonce is a marker of really arriving. Rappers open up about these struggles often but what makes it resonate more here is that weāve been able to see Cardi take many of the steps that sheās mentioning.Kristin: I agree. Listening to her say, āI never had a problem showing yāall the real me/Hair when itās fucked up, crib when itās filthy.ā I can literally pinpoint the moments she looked like she rolled out of bed chatting to her fans, with no fucks given. Itās that transparency that make people really root for her. Sheās the antithesis to the perfectly packaged persona people post on socials. We literally watched her grow from a local sensation to BARDI. I love this āBinderellaā reference and sortāve wish that was her album title.Kristin: Haha, Cardi really does search her name on Twitter. She definitely ran that āYup, they call me Cardi B, I run this shit like cardioā tweet on here. And this is exactly what I meant on the Chance song, J Balvin and Bad Bunny came with energy! Treat it like itās your song, donāt just give some leftover melodies.Lawrence: This will be blasted at every party in New York City this summer and I cannot wait.Kristin: Practicing my bachata as we speak.Kristin: I just find it funny that people criticized her for singing her own hook on āBe Careful,ā suggesting that Kehlani or SZA shouldāve did the honor insteadā¦ Kehlani is on the hook of this and itās not nearly as strong of a song. Now what?Lawrence: This one is fine and Iāve accepted that I will probably be hearing it on the radio all the time.Kristin: Iām not into it. If weāre going with the ghostwriter theory, I think this is the official āOffset songā but āBe Carefulā was the smarter and catchier choice to capitalize on the drama. This is all speculation though.Kristin: This is definitely the closest sheās gotten to something thatās felt similar to āBodak.ā If I had a dollar for every time Iāll see āI said babe, issa snack/He say itās an entreeā on Instagram this summer, my loans would be forgiven. Nodding to Plies and Beyonce in a hook is pretty much the perfect way to make sure the song is a hit on social media, and she knows that. All of her eccentric confessionals on Love & Hip Hop have been preparing us for this moment. She really stretches her voice for that itās worth here. Itās the perfect amount of extra. Also, money bags in general is always a big mood. OKURR!Lawrence: When the song first started, I thought Iād be skipping it within the first 30 seconds. But then Cardi hit a gear that took the song to a new level. Like you said, in flow, it does follow the footsteps of āBodak Yellowā at points. But the range that Cardi spans in energy here pushes it further.Lawrence: I enjoy how ferocious Cardi gets with the flow on this song. Itās always felt like with this one, she had a point to prove and it worked. 21ās tone of voice alone is why his verse isnāt a complete wash but he didnāt bring his best to this one at all.Kristin: I still enjoy this song and I think it does a good job of keeping the momentum of what could now be considered Cardiās sound. I actually like 21 on here, regardless of the questionable things he says he does with hot sauce.Kristin: YG you were supposed to be on āBickenhead!ā I personally wouldāve preferred Yo Gotti on this hook. Cardiās definitely in her bag here and throwing some subliminals. So I expect this one to be making its rounds with speculation on who theyāre aimed for. Of course they could be empty insults, but we know for women in hip-hop it doesnāt work like that. Iām crying at YGās āOnly Birkin, not Dooney & Burkeā line. A few people listening just pushed their Dooney collection all the way to the back of their closet.Lawrence: This is another one out of Three 6 Mafiaās book of flows. Like the majority of songs that came before it, āShe Badā has the potential to be a smash hitāif anything, it will be another mainstay at parties and clubs for the rest of this year. YG has an uncanny ability to make effective hooks while not saying very much. That gift, joined with the productionās tempo and Cardiās flow make this one worth revisiting.Kristin: This hook isā¦interesting. Lana Del Rey vibes? But damn, this song is petty as hell. Did she really just say, āIāma make a bowl of cereal with a teaspoon of bleach/Serve it to you like, here you go nigga bon appetit.ā Okay, Eminem. This is the song I want to see a visual for the most. Show me Cardi cutting the tongues out of sneakers and smashing televisions.Offset, watch your back bruh.Lawrence: The lesson here is very, extremely clear. Guys: do not cheat. Unless you want bleach cereal.Kristin: Two queens talking shit. I stan. Itās also cool as hell that we watched this collaboration materialize. The definition of āTwitter, do ya thing.ā I sortāve wish there was more to the album after this, considering āBodak Yellowā and āBardier Cartiā were played to death. Disclaimer: If your text goes unanswered itās because SZA and Cardi told me to do it.Lawrence: I love this song (SZA, sing over more trap please!), but its energy begs for it to be somewhere in the middle of the album. Invasion of Privacy ending on this note makes it feel incomplete. Iām so amped that Iām ready to come down a bit before I dip out. But, in consideration of the albumās title, Cardi delivered. Historically, sheās given us a lot of access into her life on social media. And by her sharing her experiences in the kind of detail that she does, Iām left to interpret it as: āYāall are already in my business, making speculations, so I might as well just be the one to bare it all. Here is my truth.ā Isnāt that what we want from all of our artists? At least, the ones we want to remember? We want an invitation into their innermost feelingsāno matter how that may eat away at themāin order for us to be able to feel connected to them.Lawrence Burney and Kristin Corry are staff writers at Noisey.
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āGet Up 10ā
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āDripā
āBickenheadā
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āBodak Yellowā
āBe Carefulā
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āBest Lifeā
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āI Like Itā
āRingā
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āMoney Bagā
āBartier Cardiā
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