If you tuned into the iHeartRadio Awards on Sunday night, you were met by an embarrassment of Cardi B-themed riches. Not only did the young artist accept an award and perform, but Cardi B announced her debut album release date, and fans don't have long to wait. During her acceptance speech for Best New Artist at the Mar. 11 ceremony, the 25-year-old revealed that we can expect the much-anticipated debut as soon as April. And while the "Bodak Yellow" singer didn't give a specific date, an April release date means that, no matter what, the fateful day is only weeks away.
Casually announcing that her album will be out the next month is exactly the kind of money move that fans have come to expect from the reality-star-turned-rapper. While other artists tease their albums on Twitter or embark on costly promotional campaigns, Cardi B took a different, and very Cardi B, approach. Using your acceptance speech to thank the people who helped you get where you are is great. But using it to thank people and get some free promo by plugging your upcoming album? That's genius.
Displaying her trademark confidence at the mic, the Bronx native rambled conversationally through a speech punctuated with laughter and gyrations, in which she thanked her team, her family, and her man. (That would be the rapper Offset, whom Cardi B began dating in February 2017 and to whom she's been engaged since October 2017, despite rumors of infidelity that have dogged the couple.) And then, just seconds before the end of her minute-and-a-half speech, she casually dropped the information we were all waiting for, but that no one had been expecting. After thanking her haters for downloading her music just to criticize it — "it benefits me!" — the rapper added something even more exciting. "My album will be coming in April, okurrr? Yessir, April. Stay tuned, motherf*ckas, owwww."
The savvy timing and nontraditional delivery should hardly be a surprise from the Bronx native, who's more than proven her business sense at this point. Time and time again, Cardi B has forged her own path and made opportunities work for her, instead of the other way around. As Fader reports, instead of shopping around a demo to various labels and asking to be signed, Cardi B released three mixtapes on her own and at no cost to listeners. And as they rose through the charts, labels came to her, jockeying for position in what would become a bidding war. When she did choose one, Atlantic, it was because they made an offer she couldn't refuse.
"I had a lot of deals on the table but like they gave me the best offer, the one that I don't have to owe them much, and they just gave me a lot of money so I took it. They gave the right number, so I chose them. It was significantly more than other [deals]. I heard a lot of good things and they was really eager to work with me so I was just like, if they want to give this money then it's because they're really gonna work hard for me."
Cardi B makes it easy to work hard for her, because you can always see her out there working hard for herself. On a night when she'd already opened the iHeartMusic Awards with a performance of her own material, she didn't sit back and bask in the glory of Best New Artist. Nope, she used the screen time to plug her next project, because she's always on to the next, never sitting back on her laurels.
So keep your eyes peeled for any news of this album starting in April, because fans have been asking for it for months while Cardi B puts on the finishing touches. And with how hard this woman works and how much success she's already found without a debut album, if she says it's ready then it's ready, and you know it's not going to disappoint.
