There’s very little left for Cardi B to prove, but that won’t stop her from trying.
We knew as much from the cover of “Hot Shit,” her first solo single since “Up” topped the Billboard Hot 100 last year. The Grammy winner lounges in an ample beige car interior, a clear homage to a photo of fellow rapper Lil Kim snapped by David LaChapelle in 2000. (Of note: Cardi’s barely-there metallic ensemble looks a lot like Beyoncé’s get-up on the cover of the upcoming Renaissance: act i.)
Cardi is in full braggadocio mode as she glides over producer Tay Keith’s skittering hi-hats and trades tales of luxury and exclusivity with collaborators Lil Durk and Kanye West.
ADVERTISEMENT
“All this jewelry at the grocery store, I’m obnoxious / Bought a home and closing on another, I know I’m blessed,” she confesses. Cardi, whose come-up from Love & Hip Hop scene-stealer and club emcee to No. 1 hitmaker was documented daily on Instagram, remains one of the few rappers whose endless boasts still sound inspiring.
Her single verse is chock-full of references to wrestler Jimmy Snuka (see: J Balvin in “I Like It”), the Electric Slide and, once again, LaChapelle, this time in the form of his legendary 1996 shot of Tupac lying naked in a bathtub covered only in gold jewelry: “Might get in the tub with all my ice on some ‘Pac shit.”
Even Kanye, worn down by scandal and negative reviews, comes off like the equivalent of a wilting houseplant spritzed by a generous hand.
It’s a manly song, something Cardi admitted in a recent interview with Zane Lowe.
“So the song is a boy,” she laughed. “I think it’s a little bit older than ‘WAP.’ I think I recorded this song around 2019, way before COVID and everything.”
It’s a tincture drop of what her sophomore album might sound like. With all that’s happened in the past three years, it’ll be interesting to hear some fresher bars in the coming months.
