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Music

Cardi B's Weekend Was Definitely Better Than Yours

Cardi B released 'Invasion of Privacy,' performed on 'Saturday Night Live,' announced her pregnancy, and her debut album is already Gold. What did you do this weekend?
KC
Queens, US

No one had a better weekend than Cardi B. Since last summer, the former Love & Hip-Hop reality star had been prepping us for Cardi Season with the release of the now five-times platinum, "Bodak Yellow." After months of anticipation, Invasion of Privacy has finally arrived and in the last 72 hours since, everything's been turning up Cardi.

Just hours into the release of Invasion of Privacy, Forbes announced the album was already Gold largely due to RIAA's rules and the success of "Bodak Yellow." The very next day, Cardi hit the Saturday Night Live stage, where she performed a "Bodak Yellow" and "Bartier Cardi" medley, channeling her album cover with money green finger waves, checkerboard ensembles, and her now signature white frames. But we should have known that Cardi had something else up her sleeves—or more accurately, hiding under all that fur.

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For her closing performance, Cardi performed "Be Careful," her latest single from Invasion of Privacy. Most of the performance was shot in a tight frame, with a cropped spotlight on just her face. As the camera panned out, her silhouette was revealed in a form fitting dress, confirming the speculation of a pregnancy with her fiancé Offset. Backstage after the performance, a video surfaced on Instagram with Cardi waving her arms high above her head, like a weight had been lifted. "I'm finally free," she says.

The weekend may be over, but Cardi doesn't seem to be stepping out of the spotlight any time soon. In an interview with GQ, she overshares, like she tends to do, everything from illegal ass shots to her surprising obsession with American history. But, she also took time to talk about her recording process, meeting Beyoncé, and her relationship with Offset.

In the interview, the Afro-Latina reveals her pet peeve while recording: her accent. Although her ability to contort her words have become a large part of her public persona, it turns out she's not a fan of it in her music.

That's my biggest problem, that takes me a long time in the booth. I be trying to pronounce words properly and without an accent. Each and every song from my album, I most likely did it over five times, because I'm really insecure about my accent when it comes to music. In person, I don't care.

Cardi B met Beyoncé at Made In America last year, and this year they'll be performing on the same Coachella stage. Cardi reveals what went through her mind at that moment, and we just thank God her first instinct wasn't to bite her.

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When I met Beyoncé, people be like, 'How that felt? I bet you was mad happy.' It's like, 'Actually, I wanted to shit on myself.' It was a very scary thing. All she was doing was like, 'Hi. I love your music.' And I was like 'UHHHN!'

Of course, the rapper also talked about her relationship with Offset.

For a long time, we was in love with each other but we didn't really trust in each other. It was like a competition of who's gonna hit each other up first…It was just too much playing games. He would look for me; sometimes he would take a jet to me. And it was just like, 'Let's stop playing. We really love each other. I'm scared to lose you, and you scared to lose me.'

That's a hell of a lot to pack into one weekend, but we're not mad about it because it feels good to be in Cardi Season. The sun is shining a little brighter and women everywhere have their summer anthems locked in advance. It's been a groundbreaking few days for a relatively new artist who already broke a major record as the first artist to go Gold in a day and is smashing the patriarchy while doing it. We may have seen Beyoncé levitating on that Grammy stage with twins, but when's the last time you saw a woman in rap flaunting a baby bump? Cardi is here to stay, and as her fiancé would say, ain't no complaints.

Kristin Corry is a staff writer at Noisey. Follow her on Twitter.