Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar was born on October 11, 1992, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Her father Carlos is Dominican and her mother Clara is a Trinidadian of multiethnic descent; Almánzar identifies as an Afro-Caribbean. Almánzar was raised in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx, and spent much time at her paternal grandmother's home in Washington Heights, which she credits with giving her "such a thick accent." Almánzar developed the stage name "Cardi B" as a derivation of Bacardi, a rum brand that was formerly her nickname. She has a younger sister, Hennessy Carolina, who was born in 1995. She has said she was a gang member with the Bloods in her youth, since age 16, but stated she would not encourage joining a gang. She attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school on the Herbert H. Lehman High School campus. Belcalis speaks Dominican Spanish, English, and a small amount of Russian and French.

During her teens, Cardi B was employed at a grocery store in Tribeca. She was fired and became a dancer at a strip club across the street. Cardi B has said that becoming a stripper was positive for her life in many ways: "It really saved me from a lot of things. When I started stripping I went back to school." She stated that she became a stripper to escape poverty and domestic violence, having been in an abusive relationship at the time after being kicked out of her mother's house, and that stripping was her only way to earn enough money to escape the situation and get an education. She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College before eventually dropping out. While stripping, Cardi B lied to her mother by telling her she was making money by babysitting.

In 2013, she began to gain publicity due to several of her videos spreading on social media, on Vine and her Instagram page.

In 2015, Cardi B joined the cast of the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, debuting in season six. Jezebel considered her the breakout star of the show's sixth season. The New York Times wrote that she garnered popularity with "her ability to rattle off one-liners". The sixth and seventh seasons chronicle her rise to stardom and her turbulent relationship with her incarcerated fiancé. On December 30, 2016, after two seasons, she announced that she would be leaving the show to further pursue a career in music.

In November 2015, Cardi B made her musical debut on Jamaican reggae fusion singer Shaggy's remix to his single "Boom Boom", alongside fellow Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan. She made her music video debut on December 15, 2015, with the song "Cheap Ass Weave", her rendition of British rapper Lady Leshurr's "Queen's Speech 4". On March 7, 2016, Cardi B released her first full-length project, a mixtape titled Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1. In November 2016, she was featured on the digital cover of Vibe magazine's "Viva" issue.

On September 12, 2016, KSR Group released the compilation Underestimated: The Album, a collaboration between Cardi B and other KSR Group artists HoodCelebrityy, SwiftOnDemand, Cashflow Harlem, and Josh X. It was previously released only to attendees of their U.S. tour. As the label's flagship artist, Cardi B said: "I wanted to make a song that would make girls dance, twerk and at the same time encourage them to go get that Shmoney," in regard to the compilation's single "What a Girl Likes".

She appeared on the December 9, 2015, episode of Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne. On April 6, 2016, she was on the twelfth episode of Khloé Kardashian's Kocktails with Khloé: in this episode, she revealed how she told her mother that she was a stripper. In November 2016, it was announced that she would be joining the cast of the BET series Being Mary Jane. TVLine describes her character, Mercedes, as a "round-the-way beauty with a big weave, big boobs and a big booty to match her oversize, ratchet personality."

In 2016, Cardi B was featured in her first endorsement deal with Romantic Depot, a large New York chain of lingerie stores that sell sexual health and wellness products. The ad campaign was featured on radio and cable TV.

On January 20, 2017, Cardi B released her second mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 2. In February 2017, Cardi B partnered with MAC Cosmetics and Rio Uribe's Gypsy Sport for an event for New York Fashion Week. In late February, Cardi B signed her first major record label recording contract with Atlantic Records. On February 25, 2017, Cardi B was the opening act for East Coast hip hop group The Lox's Filthy America... It's Beautiful Tour, alongside fellow New York City-based rappers Lil' Kim and Remy Ma. In April 2017, she was featured in i-D's "A-Z of Music" video sponsored by Marc Jacobs. Cardi guest-starred on the celebrity panel show Hip Hop Squares, appearing on the March 13 and April 3, 2017, episodes. She also released the freestyle "Red Barz".

In May 2017, the nominees for the 2017 BET Awards were announced, revealing that Cardi B had been nominated for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip-Hop Artist. Although Chance the Rapper and Remy Ma won those categories, respectively, Cardi B performed at the BET Awards Afterparty show. On June 11, 2017, during Hot 97's annual Summer Jam music festival, Remy Ma brought out Cardi B, along with The Lady of Rage, MC Lyte, Young M.A, Monie Love, Lil' Kim, and Queen Latifah, to celebrate female rappers and perform Latifah's 1993 hit single "U.N.I.T.Y." about female empowerment. In June 2017, it was revealed that Cardi B would be on the cover of The Fader's Summer Music issue for July/August 2017. She performed at MoMA PS1 on August 19 to a crowd of 4,000.

On June 16, 2017, Atlantic Records released Cardi B's commercial debut single, "Bodak Yellow", via digital distribution. She performed the single on The Wendy Williams Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! The song climbed the charts for several months, and, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 25, 2017, "Bodak Yellow" reached the number one spot, making Cardi B the first female rapper to do so with a solo single since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted atop the chart in 1998. The song stayed atop the charts for three consecutive weeks, tying with American pop singer Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" as the longest running female at the number one spot in 2017.

Cardi B became the first person of Dominican descent to reach number one in the history of the Hot 100 since it was launched in 1958. An editor of The New York Times called it "the rap anthem of the summer". Selected by The Washington Post and Pitchfork music critics as the best song of 2017, "Bodak Yellow" was eventually certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song received nominations for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 60th Grammy Awards. It won Single of the Year at the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards. With her collaborations "No Limit" and "MotorSport", she became the first female rapper to land her first three entries in the top 10 of the Hot 100, and the first female artist to achieve the same on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In October 2017, Cardi B headlined Power 105.1's annual Powerhouse music celebration, alongside the Weeknd, Migos, and Lil Uzi Vert, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. In December, she released two songs: a collaboration with Puerto Rican singer Ozuna titled "La Modelo", and "Bartier Cardi", the second single from her debut album.

On January 3, 2018, Cardi B was featured on the remix of Bruno Mars' single "Finesse", and appeared in the 90s inspired video. It reached the top three on the Hot 100, Canada and New Zealand. On January 18, 2018, Cardi B became the first female rapper to have five top 10 singles simultaneously on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. She released another single, "Be Careful", on March 30, 2018, a week before her album's release.

Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, was released on April 6, 2018, to universal acclaim from music critics. Editors from Variety and The New York Times called it "one of the most powerful debuts of this millennium" and "a hip-hop album that doesn't sound like any of its temporal peers," respectively. The album entered at number one in the United States, while she became the first female artist to chart 13 entries simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, on the chart issue dated April 21. It became the most streamed album by a female artist in a single week in Apple Music, and the largest on-demand audio streaming week ever for an album by a woman. Cardi held the latter record until 2019. The album's title reflects Cardi B's feeling that as she gained popularity her privacy was being invaded in a variety of ways. Following the album's release, during a performance on Saturday Night Live, Cardi B officially announced her pregnancy, after much media speculation. She also co-hosted an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

After the release of "Girls" in May 2018, a collaboration where she had a featured verse, Cardi B responded to accusations of the song trivializing LGBT relationships; she tweeted, "We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song." She went on to add, "I personally myself had experiences with other women." Several months later, in July 2018, Invasion's fourth single, "I Like It", which features vocals from Bad Bunny and J Balvin, reached number one on the Hot 100; this marked her second number one on the chart and made her the first female rapper to achieve multiple chart-toppers. It received critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone naming it "the best summer song of all time" in 2020. Her collaboration with Maroon 5, "Girls Like You", also reached number one on the Hot 100 chart, extending her record among female rappers and also making her the sixth female artist to achieve three number-one singles on the chart during the 2010s. The song's music video has received more than 3.8 billion views on YouTube and was the fifth-best selling song of the year globally.

With "Girls Like You" following "I Like It" at the top of the Billboard Radio Songs chart, Cardi B became the first female rapper to replace herself at number one on the chart. The single spent seven weeks atop the Hot 100, making Cardi the female rapper with the most cumulative weeks atop the chart, with eleven weeks. It spent 33 weeks in the top 10, tying both Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" for the longest top 10 run in the chart's archives at the time. In September 2025, Invasion of Privacy was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA. With the thirteen tracks, it became the first album in history to have all of its songs certified platinum or higher in the US.

Cardi B received the most nominations for the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards with 12 mentions—including for Video of the Year, winning three awards. She tied with Drake for the most nominations at the 2018 American Music Awards. She won three AMAs and performed at the ceremony. Her single "Money" earned her a fourth Video Music Award, with visuals that feature Cardi playing characters in different locations, including in an art museum, a bank and a strip club. Her collaboration with DJ Snake "Taki Taki" topped the charts in a number of Hispanic countries, made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the Spotify Global 50 chart, and has garnered more than 2 billion views. Both singles were certified multiple-platinum by the RIAA. People en Español named her Star of the Year, and Entertainment Weekly deemed her "a pop culture phenomenon", as she was named one of "2018 Entertainers of the Year".

On November 30, 2018, Cardi B was honored at Ebony's annual Power 100 Gala. Cardi ranked fifth on the 2018 Billboard Year-End Top Artists chart, while Invasion of Privacy ranked sixth. She achieved the most-streamed album of the year by a female artist globally in Apple Music, and ranked as the most streamed female artist of the year in the United States in Spotify. Editorial staff from Apple Music and Billboard named "I Like It" the best song of 2018, while Time magazine and Rolling Stone named Invasion of Privacy the best album of the year. Also in 2018, Time included her on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In its decade-end review article, NME stated that the era secured "her crown as the new Queen of Rap."

Cardi B received five nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including for Album of the Year, Best Rap Album and Record of the Year ("I Like It"). She became the third female rapper to be nominated for Album of the Year, following Lauryn Hill (1999) and Missy Elliott (2004). On February 10, 2019, she then performed at the award ceremony, where she wore three vintage Thierry Mugler couture looks during the telecast and became the first female rapper to win Best Rap Album as a solo artist. Cardi B led the 2019 Billboard Music Awards nominations, with 21, earning the most nominations in a single year by a female artist and the third most nominations in a year (behind Drake and The Chainsmokers, who both had 22 in a year). She ended up winning six awards, including for Top Hot 100 Song, bringing her career total wins to seven—the most of any female rapper in history. An article by Omaha World-Herald called her "the biggest rapper in the world."

On February 15, 2019, Cardi B released "Please Me", a collaboration with Bruno Mars, which became her seventh top-ten song on the Hot 100, reaching number three. The song marked Cardi and Bruno's second collaboration, following "Finesse" in 2018. The official music video was released two weeks later. On March 1, Cardi set a new attendance record at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, with 75,580 fans in the audience. With "Backin' It Up", "Twerk" and "Money", Cardi became the first female artist to occupy the top three on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay chart.

Her following single titled "Press" was released on May 31, 2019. The parental-advisory labeled music video marked her directorial debut—being credited as co-director, and was released on June 26, 2019. It had its debut performance at the 2019 BET Awards, where she received the most nominations with seven, and won Album of the Year. During the summer of 2019, she embarked on an arena tour. In September, she led the BET Hip Hop Awards nominations with ten.

Cardi B made her film debut in Hustlers directed by Lorene Scafaria, opposite Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, and Lili Reinhart. The film was released on September 13, 2019. Cardi B, along with Chance the Rapper and T.I., were confirmed as judges for the Netflix series Rhythm + Flow, a ten-part hip-hop talent search that premiered on October 9, 2019, which she also executive produced. In December 2019, Cardi B embarked on her first tour of Africa, performing in Nigeria and Ghana. Her collaboration "Clout" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. She was the most streamed female rapper of 2019 in the US, according to Spotify. Consequence of Sound deemed her "one of the most formidable hip-hop artists of the decade." In March 2020, Cardi B created a reaction video about the coronavirus pandemic. DJ iMarkkeyz, a Brooklyn DJ known for turning memes and online moments into full-length songs, created a track, based on her reaction titled "Coronavirus", which became an internet meme and was released to music platforms. Netflix announced the return of Rhythm + Flow for 2021.

Cardi B released the single "WAP" featuring American rapper Megan Thee Stallion on August 7, 2020, as the lead single off her forthcoming second studio album. The song received critical acclaim and was praised for its sex positive messages. The Colin Tilley-directed music video accompanied the song itself, and broke the record for the biggest 24-hour debut for an all-female collaboration on YouTube. She became the only female rap artist to top the Global Spotify chart multiple times. "WAP" debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, garnering Cardi B her fourth chart-topper in the US, extending her record as the female rapper with the most number-one singles, and also making her the first female rapper to achieve Hot 100 number one singles in two different decades (2010s and 2020s).

With 93 million streaming units, it became the largest first-week streams for a song, breaking the all-time record held by Ariana Grande's "7 Rings". It has spent four weeks atop the Hot 100. The single has also spent multiple weeks at number one in seven other countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom. Neil Shah of The Wall Street Journal deemed it "a big moment for female rappers" and "a historic sign that women artists are making their mark on hip-hop like never before". "WAP" became the first number one single on the inaugural Billboard Global 200 chart.

It became critics' best song of the year according to a compilation of rankings made by the BBC, with publications such as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone placing it at number one. Cardi B won the Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Female Artist for the third time at the 2020 ceremony. In December 2020, Cardi B became the first female rapper to be named Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women in Music Awards. With her win for "WAP" at the American Music Awards, she became the first artist to win the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Song multiple times, following her win for "Bodak Yellow" in 2018.

On February 5, 2021, Cardi B released "Up". The song was praised by NME magazine for its lyricism and fresh approach as a successor to "WAP". "Up" debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the highest debut for a solo female rap song since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" in 1998. It debuted at number one on the Rolling Stone Top 100, becoming both Cardi B's second number-one single and second number-one debut, as well as the first time a female rapper debuted atop the chart with a solo song. Cardi B became the first female artist and first lead artist with consecutive number-one debuts on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and second overall performer following Drake in 2016. "Up" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 after her Grammy Awards performance, making her the only female rapper to reach the summit multiple times with solo songs, following "Bodak Yellow", and extended her record as the female rapper with the most number-one songs on the Hot 100 as her fifth chart-topper. Cardi B received a second nomination for the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist.

Cardi B made a last-minute appearance in "Big Paper", from DJ Khaled's album Khaled Khaled released on April 30, 2021. She received two nominations for the BET Award for Video of the Year, for the music videos of "Up" and "WAP", winning for the latter and becoming the first female rapper to win Video of the Year as a lead artist. It marked the tenth time that an artist had two nominated videos in this category as a lead act, and the second time for her, following her nominations for "Money" and "Please Me" in 2019. Cardi played a brief role in F9, which was released on June 25, 2021, by Universal Pictures. On July 16, she was featured on the Normani single "Wild Side". Cardi collaborated with Lizzo on "Rumors", which debuted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her tenth top-ten single on the chart, and her seventh number-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. She received six nominations at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, including her second nomination for Video of the Year. Cardi also led the nominations for the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards along with Megan Thee Stallion, with nine each; both rappers won the most awards during the ceremony with three for "WAP", with Cardi becoming the first female artist to win Best Hip Hop Video twice (2019 and 2021). On November 21, Cardi B hosted the 2021 American Music Awards (AMAs). The award show was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, and marked the most social telecast of the year per interactions across social media. During the ceremony, "Up" won the award for Favorite Hip Hop Song, making Cardi the first artist to win the category three times. She featured on Summer Walker's second studio album Still Over It on the opening track "Bitter", released on November 5, 2021. Cardi co-executive produced Halle Berry's directorial debut, the sports drama Bruised, released via Netflix on November 17. She also performed an original song "Bet It" for the film's soundtrack, released by Warner Records two days after.

In March 2022, Cardi B appeared on the extended version of Summer Walker and SZA's collaboration, "No Love". The following month, she featured on rapper Kay Flock's song, "Shake It"; it samples Akon's 2005 song "Belly Dancer (Bananza)". Also in April, Cardi guest-voiced as Sharki B, her "aquatic alter ego", on "The Seaweed Sway" episode of the Nickelodeon animated series Baby Shark's Big Show!—and performed a song of the same name. She appeared alongside Offset and her daughter. On July 1, 2022, Cardi B released "Hot Shit", featuring rappers Kanye West and Lil Durk. The song was first announced during a BET Awards 2022 commercial break. On July 8 and 9, she headlined the 2022 Wireless Festival in London and Birmingham. Cardi B worked with cousin and fellow rapper GloRilla on the remix to her song "Tomorrow", titled "Tomorrow 2", which was released in September 2022. The remix peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cardi's eleventh top-ten single. HipHopDX listed it as the "Best Hip-Hop Collaboration" of 2022 while it was also the highest-listed song by a female rapper on Billboard's 100 Best Songs of 2022 list. On October 1, Cardi B made a surprise appearance at the Inglewood show of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny's concert tour, the World's Hottest Tour. In November, she signed with entertainment executive Irving Azoff's Full Stop Management. In December 2022, she gave a 35-minute private performance at the Miami Art Basel for which she was paid $1 million. Later that month, a remix of Spanish artist Rosalía's song "Despechá" featuring Cardi, was released.

Cardi B appeared as a surprise performer at the New York City shows of SZA and GloRilla's tours: the SOS Tour and Anyways, Life's Great Tour, in early 2023. In April, she served as one of three headliners of the inaugural Rolling Loud Thailand festival in Pattaya, along with Travis Scott and Chris Brown. In June, she featured on "Put It on da Floor Again", the remix to rapper Latto's "Put It on da Floor". It peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100, becoming Cardi's 20th top-twenty single. On June 4, Cardi B headlined the 2023 Summer Jam festival in Elmont, New York. ln July, she featured on "Point Me 2", the remix to drill rapper FendiDa Rappa's single "Point Me to the Slut's". Later that month, she collaborated with Offset on two tracks of his second solo album, Set It Off (2023): "Freaky" and "Jealousy". The latter was released as the lead single of the record; it samples Three 6 Mafia's "Jealous Ass Bitches". On September 8, 2023, Cardi released "Bongos" featuring Megan Thee Stallion, which marks the pair's second collaboration after "WAP" (2020). The music video, directed by Tanu Muino, cost over $2 million. "Bongos" reached number 14 in the US. Cardi led the 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards nominations with 21 Savage, with twelve each. She reprised her voice role as Sharki B for the children's animated film, Baby Shark's Big Movie!, in which ch she appeared alongside Offset and their two children. It premiered in December on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon. Cardi B co-headlined TikTok's inaugural In the Mix festival on December 10 in Mesa, Arizona, which was released as a concert special on Disney+ and Hulu on December 15. She performed at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, accompanied by DJ Gryffin, on December 31, 2023, which aired live for the 2024 edition of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

She released the promotional single "Like What (Freestyle)" on March 1, 2024, with an accompanying music video directed by Offset. Her first solo song since "Up" (2021), it is a freestyle of rapper Missy Elliott's "She's a Bitch" (1999). The track reached the top 40 in the US and became Cardi's 19th top-ten and 11th chart-topper on Hot Rap Songs and Hot Rap Digital Songs. It was followed by "Enough (Miami)" on March 15, which marked her 12th top-ten on the Hot 100 and seventh number-one on the Digital Songs chart. A remix of Flo Milli's "Never Lose Me" was released on the same day, featuring SZA and Cardi B. On March 11, Cardi joined Madonna onstage for a guest appearance at the Inglewood show of her Celebration Tour. She appeared on "Puntería" with Shakira, the opening track and eighth single of the latter's twelfth album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, released on March 22, 2024. "Puntería" reached number one on the Latin Airplay chart and topped the Latin Pop Airplay chart for nine weeks. On May 21, Cardi B appeared as a surprise performer at the Madison Square Garden show of Megan Thee Stallion's Hot Girl Summer Tour. She featured on the remix of Thee Stallion and GloRilla's "Wanna Be", released on May 31. In June, Cardi featured on "Put Em in the Fridge" from Peso Pluma's fourth album Éxodo. She co-headlined the BET Experience festival at the Crypto.com Arena on June 28. Her collaboration with Rob49, titled "On Dat Money", was released on July 19. "Enough (Miami)" was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.

On February 7, 2025, Cardi and Pardison Fontaine released "Toot It Up". She then featured alongside DJ Khaled, Natania, and Subhi on Desi Trill's "Higher Love", released on February 21 as the lead single of the Smurfs soundtrack. In June 2025, Cardi B headlined the 2025 LadyLand music festival along with FKA Twigs in Brooklyn. She hosted WWE's 2025 SummerSlam event on August 2 and 3 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Cardi's second studio album Am I the Drama?, was released on September 19, 2025, over seven years after her debut album. The project was delayed numerous times over multiple years after the release of Invasion of Privacy, citing perfectionism and pressure to live up to expectations. Recorded over a six-year period, the album features 23 tracks, including her previous singles "WAP" and "Up".

It was preceded by the singles "Outside" on June 20 and "Imaginary Playerz" on August 15. The former debuted at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Cardi the female rapper with the most top-ten debuts on the chart (3), while the latter samples Jay-Z's 1997 track "Imaginary Players". "Safe", featuring Kehlani, was released as the third single in tandem with the album; it became Cardi's tenth number-one on the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay chart. A remix of the track "ErrTime" featuring Jeezy was released in November 2025 as the fourth and final single off the album. Am I the Drama? was met with positive reviews from critics, with Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone describing it as a "massive comeback triumph". It debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 200,000 album-equivalent units, marking Cardi's second consecutive number-one album and achieving 2025's biggest sales week for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman. She became the only female rapper in history to have her first two albums debut atop the Billboard 200. The record earned the most entries for a female rap album in Hot 100 history (18 songs), and became the female rap album with the most weeks in the top-ten of the Billboard 200 in the 2020s decade (eight). It was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, becoming the highest-certified female rap album of the 2020s decade and the fastest female album in history to achieve the feat. It was also the fastest album to be certified double platinum in history.

On September 27, Cardi co-headlined the Global Citizen Festival in New York City. On December 13, she headlined the final night of the 2025 Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On January 31, 2026, Cardi appeared as the musical guest on the 1,000th episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Alexander Skarsgård. In February, she won three awards at the NAACP Image Awards: Outstanding Album for Am I The Drama?, Outstanding Hip-Hop/Rap Song for "ErrTime", and further became the first Hip-Hop artist to win Outstanding Female Artist since Lauryn Hill in 1999. Am I The Drama? is only the third hip-hop album to win Outstanding Album, following Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1999) and Kendrick Lamar's Damn (2017). She was also nominated as Best International Act at the MOBO Awards 2026. In support of Am I the Drama?, Cardi B headlined the Little Miss Drama Tour, spanning 35 arena shows across the US and Canada, from February to April 2026. The tour was met with acclaim from critics, who praised her performance, the production, wardrobe, and visual representation. Paula Mejía of The Guardian described it as an "ambitious spectacle" that successfully translated Cardi's "online-era charisma into a physical arena powerhouse". The Little Miss Drama Tour sold 453,000 tickets and grossed $70 million. Cardi featured on the track "Pocket" off Kehlani's eponymous album, released on April 24, 2026, marking their third collaboration. She won three awards at the 2026 American Music Awards; Best Hip-Hop Album for Am I The Drama?, Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, and Best Hip-Hop Song for "Errtime", expanding her all-time record as the artist with the most wins in the latter category (4). On June 28, Cardi performed four tracks off Am I The Drama? ("ErrTime", "Hello", "Check Please", and "Pretty & Petty") at the BET Awards 2026; she was the ceremony's most-nominated act with six nods, including Album of the Year, winning Best Female Hip Hop Artist, her third win in the category. Five days later, she headlined the first night of the 2026 Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans. She will feature on the track "Kiss" off Tyla's studio album A*Pop, which will release on July 24, 2026.

In Billboard's "You Should Know" series, Cardi B said the first albums she ever purchased were by American entertainers Missy Elliott and Tweet, respectively. She has credited Puerto Rican rapper Ivy Queen and Jamaican dancehall artist Spice as influences, as well as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lil' Kim, Madonna, and Selena. She has mentioned Chicago drill music as an important influence. When asked about the initial direction for her music, Cardi B said in an interview,

"When I first started rapping [...] I liked certain songs from Khia and Trina, and they [were] fighting songs. I haven't heard fighting songs for a very long time," crediting the two female rappers for her aggressive rap style. She continued, saying "a lot of girls they cannot afford red bottoms, a lot of girls they cannot afford foreign cars [...] but I know that every girl has beef with a girl [...] I know that every bitch don't like some bitch, and it's like 'that's what I wanna rap about.'"

She credits her experiences growing up in the South Bronx for her success, stating: "I wouldn't be able to rap about the things that I rap about now [if I hadn't grown up there]."

Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, is primarily a hip hop record, which comprises elements of trap, Latin music, and R&B. Her flow was described as "acrobatic and nimble" by Consequence of Sound, and "aggressive" by Newsweek and AllMusic. Stereogum called her vocals an "unabashedly loud and sexual fuck-you New York honk" and "a full-bodied New Yawk nasal bleat, the sort of thing that you've heard if someone has ever told you that you stupid for taking too long at swiping your MetroCard." Pitchfork wrote that her vocal performance in "WAP" is in "her classic throaty style", while Los Angeles Times characterized it as a "staccato bark".

NME described her album as "sexually free" and performed with "rapid" flow. Pitchfork and The Source highlighted the album's punchlines as clever and quotable, and The New York Times called them "classically comedic". In a 2017 Complex article, the editor wrote: "unapologetic does not begin to describe the totally unfiltered and sheer Cardi B-ness of Cardi B's personality. She's a hood chick who's not afraid to be hood no matter the setting ... this is why she resonates with people, and that same energy comes out in her music." She possesses a New York-Dominican accent.

Cardi B has defended her musical content featuring sexually charged lyrics—like most contemporary female rappers; she stated that the content "seems like that's what people want to hear", since she faced negative reactions after releasing her more emotional song, "Be Careful". She has declared, "[Drill music] is the type of artist I always wanted to be: I like to rap about the streets, and I like to rap about my pussy. I don't give a fuck about it." She has stated that writing and performing songs about her personal life and relationships initially caused her a "weird and uncomfortable" feeling and shyness.

Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar was born on October 11, 1992, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Her father Carlos is Dominican and her mother Clara is a Trinidadian of multiethnic descent; Almánzar identifies as an Afro-Caribbean. Almánzar was raised in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx, and spent much time at her paternal grandmother's home in Washington Heights, which she credits with giving her "such a thick accent." Almánzar developed the stage name "Cardi B" as a derivation of Bacardi, a rum brand that was formerly her nickname. She has a younger sister, Hennessy Carolina, who was born in 1995. She has said she was a gang member with the Bloods in her youth, since age 16, but stated she would not encourage joining a gang. She attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school on the Herbert H. Lehman High School campus. Belcalis speaks Dominican Spanish, English, and a small amount of Russian and French.

During her teens, Cardi B was employed at a grocery store in Tribeca. She was fired and became a dancer at a strip club across the street. Cardi B has said that becoming a stripper was positive for her life in many ways: "It really saved me from a lot of things. When I started stripping I went back to school." She stated that she became a stripper to escape poverty and domestic violence, having been in an abusive relationship at the time after being kicked out of her mother's house, and that stripping was her only way to earn enough money to escape the situation and get an education. She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College before eventually dropping out. While stripping, Cardi B lied to her mother by telling her she was making money by babysitting.

In 2013, she began to gain publicity due to several of her videos spreading on social media, on Vine and her Instagram page.

In 2015, Cardi B joined the cast of the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, debuting in season six. Jezebel considered her the breakout star of the show's sixth season. The New York Times wrote that she garnered popularity with "her ability to rattle off one-liners". The sixth and seventh seasons chronicle her rise to stardom and her turbulent relationship with her incarcerated fiancé. On December 30, 2016, after two seasons, she announced that she would be leaving the show to further pursue a career in music.

In November 2015, Cardi B made her musical debut on Jamaican reggae fusion singer Shaggy's remix to his single "Boom Boom", alongside fellow Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan. She made her music video debut on December 15, 2015, with the song "Cheap Ass Weave", her rendition of British rapper Lady Leshurr's "Queen's Speech 4". On March 7, 2016, Cardi B released her first full-length project, a mixtape titled Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1. In November 2016, she was featured on the digital cover of Vibe magazine's "Viva" issue.

On September 12, 2016, KSR Group released the compilation Underestimated: The Album, a collaboration between Cardi B and other KSR Group artists HoodCelebrityy, SwiftOnDemand, Cashflow Harlem, and Josh X. It was previously released only to attendees of their U.S. tour. As the label's flagship artist, Cardi B said: "I wanted to make a song that would make girls dance, twerk and at the same time encourage them to go get that Shmoney," in regard to the compilation's single "What a Girl Likes".

She appeared on the December 9, 2015, episode of Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne. On April 6, 2016, she was on the twelfth episode of Khloé Kardashian's Kocktails with Khloé: in this episode, she revealed how she told her mother that she was a stripper. In November 2016, it was announced that she would be joining the cast of the BET series Being Mary Jane. TVLine describes her character, Mercedes, as a "round-the-way beauty with a big weave, big boobs and a big booty to match her oversize, ratchet personality."

In 2016, Cardi B was featured in her first endorsement deal with Romantic Depot, a large New York chain of lingerie stores that sell sexual health and wellness products. The ad campaign was featured on radio and cable TV.

On January 20, 2017, Cardi B released her second mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 2. In February 2017, Cardi B partnered with MAC Cosmetics and Rio Uribe's Gypsy Sport for an event for New York Fashion Week. In late February, Cardi B signed her first major record label recording contract with Atlantic Records. On February 25, 2017, Cardi B was the opening act for East Coast hip hop group The Lox's Filthy America... It's Beautiful Tour, alongside fellow New York City-based rappers Lil' Kim and Remy Ma. In April 2017, she was featured in i-D's "A-Z of Music" video sponsored by Marc Jacobs. Cardi guest-starred on the celebrity panel show Hip Hop Squares, appearing on the March 13 and April 3, 2017, episodes. She also released the freestyle "Red Barz".

In May 2017, the nominees for the 2017 BET Awards were announced, revealing that Cardi B had been nominated for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip-Hop Artist. Although Chance the Rapper and Remy Ma won those categories, respectively, Cardi B performed at the BET Awards Afterparty show. On June 11, 2017, during Hot 97's annual Summer Jam music festival, Remy Ma brought out Cardi B, along with The Lady of Rage, MC Lyte, Young M.A, Monie Love, Lil' Kim, and Queen Latifah, to celebrate female rappers and perform Latifah's 1993 hit single "U.N.I.T.Y." about female empowerment. In June 2017, it was revealed that Cardi B would be on the cover of The Fader's Summer Music issue for July/August 2017. She performed at MoMA PS1 on August 19 to a crowd of 4,000.

On June 16, 2017, Atlantic Records released Cardi B's commercial debut single, "Bodak Yellow", via digital distribution. She performed the single on The Wendy Williams Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! The song climbed the charts for several months, and, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 25, 2017, "Bodak Yellow" reached the number one spot, making Cardi B the first female rapper to do so with a solo single since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted atop the chart in 1998. The song stayed atop the charts for three consecutive weeks, tying with American pop singer Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" as the longest running female at the number one spot in 2017.

Cardi B became the first person of Dominican descent to reach number one in the history of the Hot 100 since it was launched in 1958. An editor of The New York Times called it "the rap anthem of the summer". Selected by The Washington Post and Pitchfork music critics as the best song of 2017, "Bodak Yellow" was eventually certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song received nominations for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 60th Grammy Awards. It won Single of the Year at the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards. With her collaborations "No Limit" and "MotorSport", she became the first female rapper to land her first three entries in the top 10 of the Hot 100, and the first female artist to achieve the same on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In October 2017, Cardi B headlined Power 105.1's annual Powerhouse music celebration, alongside the Weeknd, Migos, and Lil Uzi Vert, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. In December, she released two songs: a collaboration with Puerto Rican singer Ozuna titled "La Modelo", and "Bartier Cardi", the second single from her debut album.

On January 3, 2018, Cardi B was featured on the remix of Bruno Mars' single "Finesse", and appeared in the 90s inspired video. It reached the top three on the Hot 100, Canada and New Zealand. On January 18, 2018, Cardi B became the first female rapper to have five top 10 singles simultaneously on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. She released another single, "Be Careful", on March 30, 2018, a week before her album's release.

Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, was released on April 6, 2018, to universal acclaim from music critics. Editors from Variety and The New York Times called it "one of the most powerful debuts of this millennium" and "a hip-hop album that doesn't sound like any of its temporal peers," respectively. The album entered at number one in the United States, while she became the first female artist to chart 13 entries simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, on the chart issue dated April 21. It became the most streamed album by a female artist in a single week in Apple Music, and the largest on-demand audio streaming week ever for an album by a woman. Cardi held the latter record until 2019. The album's title reflects Cardi B's feeling that as she gained popularity her privacy was being invaded in a variety of ways. Following the album's release, during a performance on Saturday Night Live, Cardi B officially announced her pregnancy, after much media speculation. She also co-hosted an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

After the release of "Girls" in May 2018, a collaboration where she had a featured verse, Cardi B responded to accusations of the song trivializing LGBT relationships; she tweeted, "We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song." She went on to add, "I personally myself had experiences with other women." Several months later, in July 2018, Invasion's fourth single, "I Like It", which features vocals from Bad Bunny and J Balvin, reached number one on the Hot 100; this marked her second number one on the chart and made her the first female rapper to achieve multiple chart-toppers. It received critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone naming it "the best summer song of all time" in 2020. Her collaboration with Maroon 5, "Girls Like You", also reached number one on the Hot 100 chart, extending her record among female rappers and also making her the sixth female artist to achieve three number-one singles on the chart during the 2010s. The song's music video has received more than 3.8 billion views on YouTube and was the fifth-best selling song of the year globally.

With "Girls Like You" following "I Like It" at the top of the Billboard Radio Songs chart, Cardi B became the first female rapper to replace herself at number one on the chart. The single spent seven weeks atop the Hot 100, making Cardi the female rapper with the most cumulative weeks atop the chart, with eleven weeks. It spent 33 weeks in the top 10, tying both Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" for the longest top 10 run in the chart's archives at the time. In September 2025, Invasion of Privacy was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA. With the thirteen tracks, it became the first album in history to have all of its songs certified platinum or higher in the US.

Cardi B received the most nominations for the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards with 12 mentions—including for Video of the Year, winning three awards. She tied with Drake for the most nominations at the 2018 American Music Awards. She won three AMAs and performed at the ceremony. Her single "Money" earned her a fourth Video Music Award, with visuals that feature Cardi playing characters in different locations, including in an art museum, a bank and a strip club. Her collaboration with DJ Snake "Taki Taki" topped the charts in a number of Hispanic countries, made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the Spotify Global 50 chart, and has garnered more than 2 billion views. Both singles were certified multiple-platinum by the RIAA. People en Español named her Star of the Year, and Entertainment Weekly deemed her "a pop culture phenomenon", as she was named one of "2018 Entertainers of the Year".

On November 30, 2018, Cardi B was honored at Ebony's annual Power 100 Gala. Cardi ranked fifth on the 2018 Billboard Year-End Top Artists chart, while Invasion of Privacy ranked sixth. She achieved the most-streamed album of the year by a female artist globally in Apple Music, and ranked as the most streamed female artist of the year in the United States in Spotify. Editorial staff from Apple Music and Billboard named "I Like It" the best song of 2018, while Time magazine and Rolling Stone named Invasion of Privacy the best album of the year. Also in 2018, Time included her on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In its decade-end review article, NME stated that the era secured "her crown as the new Queen of Rap."

Cardi B received five nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including for Album of the Year, Best Rap Album and Record of the Year ("I Like It"). She became the third female rapper to be nominated for Album of the Year, following Lauryn Hill (1999) and Missy Elliott (2004). On February 10, 2019, she then performed at the award ceremony, where she wore three vintage Thierry Mugler couture looks during the telecast and became the first female rapper to win Best Rap Album as a solo artist. Cardi B led the 2019 Billboard Music Awards nominations, with 21, earning the most nominations in a single year by a female artist and the third most nominations in a year (behind Drake and The Chainsmokers, who both had 22 in a year). She ended up winning six awards, including for Top Hot 100 Song, bringing her career total wins to seven—the most of any female rapper in history. An article by Omaha World-Herald called her "the biggest rapper in the world."

On February 15, 2019, Cardi B released "Please Me", a collaboration with Bruno Mars, which became her seventh top-ten song on the Hot 100, reaching number three. The song marked Cardi and Bruno's second collaboration, following "Finesse" in 2018. The official music video was released two weeks later. On March 1, Cardi set a new attendance record at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, with 75,580 fans in the audience. With "Backin' It Up", "Twerk" and "Money", Cardi became the first female artist to occupy the top three on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay chart.

Her following single titled "Press" was released on May 31, 2019. The parental-advisory labeled music video marked her directorial debut—being credited as co-director, and was released on June 26, 2019. It had its debut performance at the 2019 BET Awards, where she received the most nominations with seven, and won Album of the Year. During the summer of 2019, she embarked on an arena tour. In September, she led the BET Hip Hop Awards nominations with ten.

Cardi B made her film debut in Hustlers directed by Lorene Scafaria, opposite Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, and Lili Reinhart. The film was released on September 13, 2019. Cardi B, along with Chance the Rapper and T.I., were confirmed as judges for the Netflix series Rhythm + Flow, a ten-part hip-hop talent search that premiered on October 9, 2019, which she also executive produced. In December 2019, Cardi B embarked on her first tour of Africa, performing in Nigeria and Ghana. Her collaboration "Clout" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. She was the most streamed female rapper of 2019 in the US, according to Spotify. Consequence of Sound deemed her "one of the most formidable hip-hop artists of the decade." In March 2020, Cardi B created a reaction video about the coronavirus pandemic. DJ iMarkkeyz, a Brooklyn DJ known for turning memes and online moments into full-length songs, created a track, based on her reaction titled "Coronavirus", which became an internet meme and was released to music platforms. Netflix announced the return of Rhythm + Flow for 2021.

Cardi B released the single "WAP" featuring American rapper Megan Thee Stallion on August 7, 2020, as the lead single off her forthcoming second studio album. The song received critical acclaim and was praised for its sex positive messages. The Colin Tilley-directed music video accompanied the song itself, and broke the record for the biggest 24-hour debut for an all-female collaboration on YouTube. She became the only female rap artist to top the Global Spotify chart multiple times. "WAP" debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, garnering Cardi B her fourth chart-topper in the US, extending her record as the female rapper with the most number-one singles, and also making her the first female rapper to achieve Hot 100 number one singles in two different decades (2010s and 2020s).

With 93 million streaming units, it became the largest first-week streams for a song, breaking the all-time record held by Ariana Grande's "7 Rings". It has spent four weeks atop the Hot 100. The single has also spent multiple weeks at number one in seven other countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom. Neil Shah of The Wall Street Journal deemed it "a big moment for female rappers" and "a historic sign that women artists are making their mark on hip-hop like never before". "WAP" became the first number one single on the inaugural Billboard Global 200 chart.

It became critics' best song of the year according to a compilation of rankings made by the BBC, with publications such as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone placing it at number one. Cardi B won the Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Female Artist for the third time at the 2020 ceremony. In December 2020, Cardi B became the first female rapper to be named Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women in Music Awards. With her win for "WAP" at the American Music Awards, she became the first artist to win the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Song multiple times, following her win for "Bodak Yellow" in 2018.

On February 5, 2021, Cardi B released "Up". The song was praised by NME magazine for its lyricism and fresh approach as a successor to "WAP". "Up" debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the highest debut for a solo female rap song since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" in 1998. It debuted at number one on the Rolling Stone Top 100, becoming both Cardi B's second number-one single and second number-one debut, as well as the first time a female rapper debuted atop the chart with a solo song. Cardi B became the first female artist and first lead artist with consecutive number-one debuts on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and second overall performer following Drake in 2016. "Up" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 after her Grammy Awards performance, making her the only female rapper to reach the summit multiple times with solo songs, following "Bodak Yellow", and extended her record as the female rapper with the most number-one songs on the Hot 100 as her fifth chart-topper. Cardi B received a second nomination for the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist.

Cardi B made a last-minute appearance in "Big Paper", from DJ Khaled's album Khaled Khaled released on April 30, 2021. She received two nominations for the BET Award for Video of the Year, for the music videos of "Up" and "WAP", winning for the latter and becoming the first female rapper to win Video of the Year as a lead artist. It marked the tenth time that an artist had two nominated videos in this category as a lead act, and the second time for her, following her nominations for "Money" and "Please Me" in 2019. Cardi played a brief role in F9, which was released on June 25, 2021, by Universal Pictures. On July 16, she was featured on the Normani single "Wild Side". Cardi collaborated with Lizzo on "Rumors", which debuted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her tenth top-ten single on the chart, and her seventh number-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. She received six nominations at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, including her second nomination for Video of the Year. Cardi also led the nominations for the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards along with Megan Thee Stallion, with nine each; both rappers won the most awards during the ceremony with three for "WAP", with Cardi becoming the first female artist to win Best Hip Hop Video twice (2019 and 2021). On November 21, Cardi B hosted the 2021 American Music Awards (AMAs). The award show was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, and marked the most social telecast of the year per interactions across social media. During the ceremony, "Up" won the award for Favorite Hip Hop Song, making Cardi the first artist to win the category three times. She featured on Summer Walker's second studio album Still Over It on the opening track "Bitter", released on November 5, 2021. Cardi co-executive produced Halle Berry's directorial debut, the sports drama Bruised, released via Netflix on November 17. She also performed an original song "Bet It" for the film's soundtrack, released by Warner Records two days after.

In March 2022, Cardi B appeared on the extended version of Summer Walker and SZA's collaboration, "No Love". The following month, she featured on rapper Kay Flock's song, "Shake It"; it samples Akon's 2005 song "Belly Dancer (Bananza)". Also in April, Cardi guest-voiced as Sharki B, her "aquatic alter ego", on "The Seaweed Sway" episode of the Nickelodeon animated series Baby Shark's Big Show!—and performed a song of the same name. She appeared alongside Offset and her daughter. On July 1, 2022, Cardi B released "Hot Shit", featuring rappers Kanye West and Lil Durk. The song was first announced during a BET Awards 2022 commercial break. On July 8 and 9, she headlined the 2022 Wireless Festival in London and Birmingham. Cardi B worked with cousin and fellow rapper GloRilla on the remix to her song "Tomorrow", titled "Tomorrow 2", which was released in September 2022. The remix peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cardi's eleventh top-ten single. HipHopDX listed it as the "Best Hip-Hop Collaboration" of 2022 while it was also the highest-listed song by a female rapper on Billboard's 100 Best Songs of 2022 list. On October 1, Cardi B made a surprise appearance at the Inglewood show of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny's concert tour, the World's Hottest Tour. In November, she signed with entertainment executive Irving Azoff's Full Stop Management. In December 2022, she gave a 35-minute private performance at the Miami Art Basel for which she was paid $1 million. Later that month, a remix of Spanish artist Rosalía's song "Despechá" featuring Cardi, was released.

Cardi B appeared as a surprise performer at the New York City shows of SZA and GloRilla's tours: the SOS Tour and Anyways, Life's Great Tour, in early 2023. In April, she served as one of three headliners of the inaugural Rolling Loud Thailand festival in Pattaya, along with Travis Scott and Chris Brown. In June, she featured on "Put It on da Floor Again", the remix to rapper Latto's "Put It on da Floor". It peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100, becoming Cardi's 20th top-twenty single. On June 4, Cardi B headlined the 2023 Summer Jam festival in Elmont, New York. ln July, she featured on "Point Me 2", the remix to drill rapper FendiDa Rappa's single "Point Me to the Slut's". Later that month, she collaborated with Offset on two tracks of his second solo album, Set It Off (2023): "Freaky" and "Jealousy". The latter was released as the lead single of the record; it samples Three 6 Mafia's "Jealous Ass Bitches". On September 8, 2023, Cardi released "Bongos" featuring Megan Thee Stallion, which marks the pair's second collaboration after "WAP" (2020). The music video, directed by Tanu Muino, cost over $2 million. "Bongos" reached number 14 in the US. Cardi led the 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards nominations with 21 Savage, with twelve each. She reprised her voice role as Sharki B for the children's animated film, Baby Shark's Big Movie!, in which ch she appeared alongside Offset and their two children. It premiered in December on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon. Cardi B co-headlined TikTok's inaugural In the Mix festival on December 10 in Mesa, Arizona, which was released as a concert special on Disney+ and Hulu on December 15. She performed at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, accompanied by DJ Gryffin, on December 31, 2023, which aired live for the 2024 edition of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

She released the promotional single "Like What (Freestyle)" on March 1, 2024, with an accompanying music video directed by Offset. Her first solo song since "Up" (2021), it is a freestyle of rapper Missy Elliott's "She's a Bitch" (1999). The track reached the top 40 in the US and became Cardi's 19th top-ten and 11th chart-topper on Hot Rap Songs and Hot Rap Digital Songs. It was followed by "Enough (Miami)" on March 15, which marked her 12th top-ten on the Hot 100 and seventh number-one on the Digital Songs chart. A remix of Flo Milli's "Never Lose Me" was released on the same day, featuring SZA and Cardi B. On March 11, Cardi joined Madonna onstage for a guest appearance at the Inglewood show of her Celebration Tour. She appeared on "Puntería" with Shakira, the opening track and eighth single of the latter's twelfth album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, released on March 22, 2024. "Puntería" reached number one on the Latin Airplay chart and topped the Latin Pop Airplay chart for nine weeks. On May 21, Cardi B appeared as a surprise performer at the Madison Square Garden show of Megan Thee Stallion's Hot Girl Summer Tour. She featured on the remix of Thee Stallion and GloRilla's "Wanna Be", released on May 31. In June, Cardi featured on "Put Em in the Fridge" from Peso Pluma's fourth album Éxodo. She co-headlined the BET Experience festival at the Crypto.com Arena on June 28. Her collaboration with Rob49, titled "On Dat Money", was released on July 19. "Enough (Miami)" was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.

On February 7, 2025, Cardi and Pardison Fontaine released "Toot It Up". She then featured alongside DJ Khaled, Natania, and Subhi on Desi Trill's "Higher Love", released on February 21 as the lead single of the Smurfs soundtrack. In June 2025, Cardi B headlined the 2025 LadyLand music festival along with FKA Twigs in Brooklyn. She hosted WWE's 2025 SummerSlam event on August 2 and 3 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Cardi's second studio album Am I the Drama?, was released on September 19, 2025, over seven years after her debut album. The project was delayed numerous times over multiple years after the release of Invasion of Privacy, citing perfectionism and pressure to live up to expectations. Recorded over a six-year period, the album features 23 tracks, including her previous singles "WAP" and "Up".

It was preceded by the singles "Outside" on June 20 and "Imaginary Playerz" on August 15. The former debuted at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Cardi the female rapper with the most top-ten debuts on the chart (3), while the latter samples Jay-Z's 1997 track "Imaginary Players". "Safe", featuring Kehlani, was released as the third single in tandem with the album; it became Cardi's tenth number-one on the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay chart. A remix of the track "ErrTime" featuring Jeezy was released in November 2025 as the fourth and final single off the album. Am I the Drama? was met with positive reviews from critics, with Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone describing it as a "massive comeback triumph". It debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 200,000 album-equivalent units, marking Cardi's second consecutive number-one album and achieving 2025's biggest sales week for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman. She became the only female rapper in history to have her first two albums debut atop the Billboard 200. The record earned the most entries for a female rap album in Hot 100 history (18 songs), and became the female rap album with the most weeks in the top-ten of the Billboard 200 in the 2020s decade (eight). It was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, becoming the highest-certified female rap album of the 2020s decade and the fastest female album in history to achieve the feat. It was also the fastest album to be certified double platinum in history.

On September 27, Cardi co-headlined the Global Citizen Festival in New York City. On December 13, she headlined the final night of the 2025 Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On January 31, 2026, Cardi appeared as the musical guest on the 1,000th episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Alexander Skarsgård. In February, she won three awards at the NAACP Image Awards: Outstanding Album for Am I The Drama?, Outstanding Hip-Hop/Rap Song for "ErrTime", and further became the first Hip-Hop artist to win Outstanding Female Artist since Lauryn Hill in 1999. Am I The Drama? is only the third hip-hop album to win Outstanding Album, following Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1999) and Kendrick Lamar's Damn (2017). She was also nominated as Best International Act at the MOBO Awards 2026. In support of Am I the Drama?, Cardi B headlined the Little Miss Drama Tour, spanning 35 arena shows across the US and Canada, from February to April 2026. The tour was met with acclaim from critics, who praised her performance, the production, wardrobe, and visual representation. Paula Mejía of The Guardian described it as an "ambitious spectacle" that successfully translated Cardi's "online-era charisma into a physical arena powerhouse". The Little Miss Drama Tour sold 453,000 tickets and grossed $70 million. Cardi featured on the track "Pocket" off Kehlani's eponymous album, released on April 24, 2026, marking their third collaboration. She won three awards at the 2026 American Music Awards; Best Hip-Hop Album for Am I The Drama?, Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, and Best Hip-Hop Song for "Errtime", expanding her all-time record as the artist with the most wins in the latter category (4). On June 28, Cardi performed four tracks off Am I The Drama? ("ErrTime", "Hello", "Check Please", and "Pretty & Petty") at the BET Awards 2026; she was the ceremony's most-nominated act with six nods, including Album of the Year, winning Best Female Hip Hop Artist, her third win in the category. Five days later, she headlined the first night of the 2026 Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans. She will feature on the track "Kiss" off Tyla's studio album A*Pop, which will release on July 24, 2026.

In Billboard's "You Should Know" series, Cardi B said the first albums she ever purchased were by American entertainers Missy Elliott and Tweet, respectively. She has credited Puerto Rican rapper Ivy Queen and Jamaican dancehall artist Spice as influences, as well as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lil' Kim, Madonna, and Selena. She has mentioned Chicago drill music as an important influence. When asked about the initial direction for her music, Cardi B said in an interview,

"When I first started rapping [...] I liked certain songs from Khia and Trina, and they [were] fighting songs. I haven't heard fighting songs for a very long time," crediting the two female rappers for her aggressive rap style. She continued, saying "a lot of girls they cannot afford red bottoms, a lot of girls they cannot afford foreign cars [...] but I know that every girl has beef with a girl [...] I know that every bitch don't like some bitch, and it's like 'that's what I wanna rap about.'"

She credits her experiences growing up in the South Bronx for her success, stating: "I wouldn't be able to rap about the things that I rap about now [if I hadn't grown up there]."

Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, is primarily a hip hop record, which comprises elements of trap, Latin music, and R&B. Her flow was described as "acrobatic and nimble" by Consequence of Sound, and "aggressive" by Newsweek and AllMusic. Stereogum called her vocals an "unabashedly loud and sexual fuck-you New York honk" and "a full-bodied New Yawk nasal bleat, the sort of thing that you've heard if someone has ever told you that you stupid for taking too long at swiping your MetroCard." Pitchfork wrote that her vocal performance in "WAP" is in "her classic throaty style", while Los Angeles Times characterized it as a "staccato bark".

NME described her album as "sexually free" and performed with "rapid" flow. Pitchfork and The Source highlighted the album's punchlines as clever and quotable, and The New York Times called them "classically comedic". In a 2017 Complex article, the editor wrote: "unapologetic does not begin to describe the totally unfiltered and sheer Cardi B-ness of Cardi B's personality. She's a hood chick who's not afraid to be hood no matter the setting ... this is why she resonates with people, and that same energy comes out in her music." She possesses a New York-Dominican accent.

Cardi B has defended her musical content featuring sexually charged lyrics—like most contemporary female rappers; she stated that the content "seems like that's what people want to hear", since she faced negative reactions after releasing her more emotional song, "Be Careful". She has declared, "[Drill music] is the type of artist I always wanted to be: I like to rap about the streets, and I like to rap about my pussy. I don't give a fuck about it." She has stated that writing and performing songs about her personal life and relationships initially caused her a "weird and uncomfortable" feeling and shyness.