Life isn’t often the stuff of Disney movies, but you can bet that doesn’t stop Cardi B. Before taking the stage at a Drake and Migos show in L.A. this week, Cardi made time to zhuzh her thigh-length wig. Without a brush on hand, she grabbed the next best thing: A plastic fork. And just like that, dreams of a Cardi-as-Ariel crossover took the internet by storm. If you’ve seen the Little Mermaid, you know the iconic scene (Ariel grabs a fork and combs it through her long, red hair). So this was a dinglehopper moment for the ages, a case of fantasy inspiring reality in the weirdest beauty sitch to hit in a minute. Then again, it’s Cardi B, so expect the unexpected.
Cardi’s no stranger to the long, long wig look, so she must know that tangles are no laughing matter. Rather than risk it, she expertly pulled the fork through her hair. On Instagram, she captioned the shot, “When you don’t have a brush so you use a fork.” Her wig master, Tokyo Styles, regrammed the video and called out the Little Mermaid comparison: “When all fails use the fork aka dinglehopper …… still laid.”
He’s not wrong—the fork left Cardi’s hair looking smooth and sleek.
It might be unconventional, but waist-length hair, and Cardi, don’t live by anyone’s rules. More importantly, the clip demonstrates how much the world needs to see Cardi as Ariel. Rumor has it that Lady Gaga is in the running for Ursula’s role in the live action Little Mermaid reboot, and the only thing that could be better is if Cardi joins the ensemble. Drake could even play Flounder. A girl can dream.
To be honest, it really shouldn’t surprise us that rap royal Cardi B did the most on her 26th birthday, but wow, Cardi B made sure to turn the dial up to “extra” on her 26th birthday—and it’s all thanks to her husband Offset.
According to People, Offset surprised Cardi by telling her they were going out for a romantic dinner—and then led her straight into a luxurious, lavish, vodka-themed surprise blowout with a ton of her friends.
And yep, it was all about Cardi: The party was sponsored by CÎROC Black Raspberry (hence the vodka theme) and included a 12-foot LED wall that projected different images of the birthday girl throughout the entire night.
There also was a dress code for the guests, so they could properly honor their rightful queen: They were instructed to wear black so that Cardi B would truly be the star of the night, which, of course, she was—especially in an electric-pink Moschino dress.
Cardi was touched and naturally responded to the whole thing with her usual strain of hilariousness: “Hubbs told me that he was gonna take me out to dinner and I appreciate the surprise birthday party and all that but I’m fucking hungry right now,” she said in one her Instagram stories. “I’m hungry but I’m so happy.”
She also posted the moment that she walked into the party and got the epic surprise from her guests on Instagram, writing, “The fact that i avoided eating dinner last night cause babe said we was going to a romantic dinner then BOOM!! ???Thank you everybody that showed up to my surprise bday party !It was Soo beautiful Thank you babe for the surprise and everybody who was involved!”
There was a birthday serenade, too:
And to top things off, it seems Offset later presented Cardi with a dozen red roses and, according to her IG, some serious bling. He iced her out with a gigantic diamond necklace and bracelet, both of which were adorned with an equally gigantic charm that spell out “Kulture,” the name of their daughter.
Time, as they say, is the only healer, as Cardi made her triumphant and very visible return to the FROW at Dolce & Gabbana’s Spring 2019 runway show in Milan Sunday, wearing an outfit that consisted of a leopard-print trench, tall leopard boots, and oversized furry glasses, also in leopard. The look, according to an Instagram caption, was a nod to Fran Drescher, aka The Nanny, aka The Flashy Girl From Flushing.
PHOTO: Daniele Venturelli/Getty
“Bitch, get into these motherfucking glasses bitch!” Cardi says in another Insta she posted on her way to the D&G show, adding that the fur keeps her face so warm it’s like she has “a North Face,” calling the accessory “winter certified.”
Cardi also shared thoughts about her experience in Italy in general (“We out here in Milan drinking sparkling water and eating some spaghettis!” and “Man, these Italians got me fucked up giving me champagne in the afternoon. They must not know that I’m light!”) and her designer outfit (“Dolce & Gabbana want all my shmoney!”)
At the Dolce show—which featured a parade of icons including models Eva Herzigova, Carla Bruni, and Isabella Rossellini, as well as Italian actress Monica Bellucci—Cardi looked right at home nestled between One Direction’s Liam Payne and Stevie Wonder. From the look of it, she’s back to her normal self and having the most fun, despite the fact Minaj is also in Milan for Fashion Week. Will they cross paths in Paris, whose Fashion Week starts tomorrow? Will Cardi swap her sparkling water and spaghettis for red wine and baguettes? Will her Dolce look be upstaged by custom Chanel? The next 24 hours are critical.
Cardi B certainly knows how to make a statement, especially when it comes to her style. From her jewel-encrusted Moschino gown at the 2018 Met Gala to the three outfit changes she wore to the 2018 VMAs to the bargain-friendly finds she seems to track down on the regular (degular, shmegular), the rapper is constantly making fashion headlines.
So of course when it came to the look she chose for her wedding day to Offset, she didn’t disappoint. Cardi eschewed the traditional big white wedding dress for something far more comfortable: A white tracksuit.
Cardi has managed to keep most details about her wedding to Offset very, very quiet. (In fact, no one even knew they were married for a full eight months.) But, in honor of their one-year anniversary on September 20, she shared a photo from their wedding—the first we’ve ever seen of the event. In it, she’s holding hands with Offset and wearing a white tracksuit with a gold stripe. “TBT …September 20th,” she captioned the shot.
Cardi and Offset welcomed their first child together, Kulture, in July. While their engagement and pregnancy were both well publicized—he proposed to her onstage at a concert, she revealed that she was expecting while hosting SNL—they managed to keep the fact that they were married a secret for the better part of their first year together.
“There are so many moments that I share with the world and then there are moments that I want to keep for myself!” she wrote on Twitter in June. “Getting married was one of those moments! Our relationship was so new breaking up and making up and we had a lot of growing up to do but we was so in love we didn’t want to lose each other.”
She continued, “I said I do, with no dress no make up and no ring! I appreciate and love my husband so much for still wanting for me to have that special moment that every girl dreams of when he got down on his knee and put a ring on my finger and he did that for me!!”
People still aren’t over the altercation between Nicki Minaj and Cardi B that went down at New York Fashion Week on September 7. For the uninitiated, here’s a quick backstory: According to several outlets, Cardi B reportedly became upset with Minaj after she heard the “Barbie Tingz” rapper was criticizing her skills as a mother. TMZ captured video of Cardi B shouting and lunging toward someone believed to be Minaj. Shoes were thrown. It was a heaping pile of drama that tabloids and social media users alike ate up the next day—and the days that followed. What started out as a media-fabricated feud between the two rapers quickly morphed into something real.
But there wasn’t always bad blood between Minaj and Cardi B. In fact, it was around this time last year that Minaj publicly congratulated Cardi B about “Bodak Yellow” reaching number one. The journey from then to now is intense, so let’s revisit it and hope these talented women reach a resolution soon. And by that, we mean a duet.
Below, here’s a complete timeline of Nicki Minaj and Cardi B’s relationship:
March 2017: Minaj reportedly “likes” a post on Instagram poking fun at Cardi B’s rapping style. However, many think this was the result of Photoshop trickery. Shortly after, a screen-shot popped up online of Minaj liking a tweet claiming the supposed Instagram diss was fake.
May 2017: Minaj seemingly takes a swipe at Cardi B in Katy Perry’s song “Swish Swish.” “Silly rap beefs just get me more checks / My life is a movie, I’m never off set / Me and my amigos (no, not Offset),” she says, which many took as a reference to Cardi B’s husband (Migos rapper Offset).
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May 2017: After “Swish Swish,” dropped, Cardi B rants on Instagram Live about “idols becoming rivals.” “I hate this shit, I really, really do,” Cardi said, according to People. “A bitch like me, I was happier when I was macking in the hood. This shit right here is so fake. When I used to be a regular bitch from the Bronx — a hood bitch — when somebody used to be fake to me it was cool because I could approach a bitch and punch her right in her closure… Now that I’m in the industry, you don’t work like that, just have to watch shit go, watch shit go.”
June 2017: Cardi B tweets a friendly reminder not to compare her to other artists.
July 2017: Minaj low-key shows her support for Cardi B by dancing to “Bodak Yellow” in a nightclub.
August 2017: Minaj lays down a verse on London on da Track’s song “No Flags” (featuring Offset and 21 Savage) that some viewed as shade toward Cardi B. “I heard these labels are trying to make another me / Everything you’re getting little hoe is because of me,” Minaj raps in the song. The timing was interesting, seeing as how Cardi B had just inked a deal with Atlantic Records. Minaj cleared the air, though, when she tweeted that she wrote the verse several months prior.
Soon after, Cardi B tweeted, “I don’t bother with these hoes, Don’t let these hoes BOTHER Me,” which fans viewed as a response to this drama. (These are, admittedly, just lyrics to “Bodak Yellow,” so maybe people read too much into the tweet.)
August 2017: Cardi B clears up any rumors she’s feuding with other women in the industry. “I mean, I don’t really want problems with anybody,” she told Billboard. “I don’t want to be, like, queen. I don’t wanna be no this. I don’t wanna be no that. I just wanna make music and make money. I really don’t have time to look at other women, what they doing. I’m myself, you know what I’m saying? Nobody got a problem with me. I don’t got a problem with them. If somebody got a problem I don’t really got to do that whole industry beef. Like, you know, I get it popping with these hands.”
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September 2017: Cardi B says a few pointed things in her verse for G. Eazy’s song “No Limit.” “My career takin’ off / These hoes jogging in place / Swear these hoes run they mouth / How these hoes out of shape? / Can you stop with all the subs? / Bitch I ain’t Jared,” she says. In an interview on The Breakfast Club, Cardi B said the song wasn’t about anyone in particular and denied any beef with Minaj. “She ain’t never f—ed my man,” she said.
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September 2017: Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” hits number one, making her the first female rapper to do so since Lauryn Hill in 1998. “Congratulations to a fellow NEW YAWKA on a RECORD BREAKING achievement. Bardi, this is the only thing that matters!!! Enjoy it??? @iamcardib,” Minaj tweeted at Cardi B, to which she responded, “Thank you!! This means sooo much coming from you!! ❤️.”
October 2017: Cardi B and Nicki Minaj are featured on the same song, “MotorSport,” alongside the band Migos. In a stream of since-deleted tweets, Minaj shut down any rumblings that she had an issue with Cardi’s appearance on the song.
Cardi later claimed in an interview that Minaj’s verse wasn’t finished when she jumped on “MotorSport.” Keep that in mind for what happens next.
April 2018: Cardi B and Minaj give separate interviews to Beats 1 addressing their relationship and supposed “feud.” “I just feel like it’s really internet-made-up,” Cardi B said. “I really feel like fans and people, they really want to see that happened, because it’s really entertaining to see people beef. It’s entertaining. Like, I ain’t gonna front, when Nicki and Remy [Ma] was beefing, everyone was tuning and asking, ‘What’s next? What’s next?’…But I don’t really have the time for that. If you not f—ing my man, or if you’re not taking my money from me, if you’re not stopping my money, then I don’t really give a f— about you.”
Minaj was a little more direct with her interview. “The only thing with Cardi that really, really, really hurt my feelings was the first interview she did after ‘MotorSport’ came out,” she said. “The first interview she did after ‘MotorSport’ came out, it just really hurt me. She looked so aggravated and angry and the only thing she said was, ‘Oh, I didn’t hear that. I didn’t hear that verse.’ I was like, what? … That really, really hurt me. I really, fully supported [Cardi] and up until this recent interview I did, I had never seen her show me genuine love in an interview and I can imagine how many girls wish they could’ve been on a song with Nicki Minaj.”
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May 2018: Minaj and Cardi B exchange pleasantries at the Met Gala.
PHOTO: Getty Images
August 2018: Minaj brings up her supposed feud with Cardi B again on her own show Queen Radio. “I didn’t know Cardi and I had an issue,” she said. “To me, she may have taken an issue with things that I’ve said, but I’m not going to bite my tongue…You gotta have thick skin.”
At the end of the month, Cardi B tweets cryptically, “Imagine subbing me but you blocked me from all social media.” And it seems, at least for a short period of time, that Minaj had blocked Cardi B on Twitter.
September 2018: The fight between Minaj and Cardi B goes down at the Harper’s Bazaar Icons Party during New York Fashion Week. Details are fuzzy, despite the fact there’s video footage of the altercation. In an Instagram post, Cardi B explains the straw that broke the camel’s back was hearing Minaj talking smack about her baby with Offset, Kulture. (For what it’s worth, Minaj denies saying anything at all.)
“I’ve let a lot of shit slide! I let you sneak diss me, I let you lie on me, I let you attempt to stop my bags, f–k up the way I eat! You’ve threaten other artists in the industry, told them if they work with me you’ll stop f–king with them!! I let you talk big shit about me,” Cardi B wrote.
“I just want people to know that Onika Tanya Maraj has never, will never… speak ill on anyone’s child. I am not a clown. That’s clown shit,” Minaj said about the altercation several days later on her radio show.
September 2018: In a final move of pettiness, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj choose to publicly endorse different Democratic governor candidates for New York.
When Cardi B walked onstage at last month’s VMAs with a tiny bundle in her arms, most of the world got excited: Was she about to give the audience their look at her newborn daughter Kultur? As it turns out, Cardi was just being Cardi—the whole thing was a gag to welcome audiences to the show, and she dashed our Kultur dreams by unwrapping the little pink blanket to reveal not a baby, but the show’s signature Moon Person statue.
Now, she’s teasing us yet again with a glimpse of Kultur—only this time it’s pretty adorable. Over the weekend, the rapper snapped a shot of her daughter’s tiny hands and posted the image with a caption that reads, “I needed a girl like you.” The tribute is a sweet gesture from the new mom who seems to be loving every minute of motherhood.
Since Kultur was born in July to Cardi B and her husband Offset, the rapper has already made it clear she’s planning to focus exclusively being a mom for a while. In July, she dropped out of her anticipated tour with Bruno Mars, patiently telling fans that she had “underestimated this whole mommy thing.” In addition to recovering from giving birth, Cardi explained on Instagram that she simply was “not ready to leave my baby behind since the doctors explained it’s not healthy for her to be on the road.” Since then, TMZ has reported that Cardi refuses to leave her daughter for less than $300,000 to perform—and even then, the location as to be just right to ensure she isn’t too far away from the baby.
Taking a little time off won’t hold Cardi back: At the VMAs, she hit back at critics who had told her that having a baby would ruin her career.
“A couple of months ago, a lot of people were saying, you know, ‘You are gambling your career. You about to have a baby, what are you doing?’” Cardi told the crowd. “You know, I had a baby, I carried a baby, and I am still winning awards!”
We may have to wait a little longer before we get to see a full picture of Kultur, but that’s fine with us if it means Cardi is living her best life with her daughter. After all, she has every right to keep her daughter’s privacy close—and we have no doubt Cardi is going to give the world some hilarious motherhood posts once Kultur gets a little older.
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