This past week, reality television star and “rapper” Cardi B’s single “Bodak Yellow” rose to the number two position on the Billboard Hot 200. The hit single was most people’s favorite song of the late summer and is now more popular than ever. The song that speaks of her social
dominance and spending power was described by one New York Times author as “the rap anthem of the summer.”
The great success of this song has propelled the “Love & Hip Hop: New York” star to new levels of fame she has never before experienced. With the money made from the hit song, Cardi B (real name Belcalis Almanzar) paid in full for a bright orange Bentley reportedly worth $250,000. When asked about how she celebrated the success of her song, the artist replied very bluntly that she engages in certain activity NSFW.
All of this music and success is great for Cardi B, and she has every right to celebrate however she wants. I’m sure if I were half as famous as her, I’d be celebrating more than she would. But the fact of the matter is, Cardi B is an near-talentless fad, who will prove once again that everyone gets their fifteen minutes of fame. I, like many other people, are hoping and pleading that her fifteen minutes is up sooner rather than later.
The artist’s rise to fame is not unprecedented; many untalented people have become famous. It just takes a great combination of marketability, cultural taste, and timing. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily), Cardi B possessed all three. Being this famous for such little accomplishment reminds me of other celebrities, musicians, and reality television stars. When you see her, one artist most people point to is Iggy Azalea. The indecent lyrics, the hip hop style, the fake body parts: it’s all there. I know I’m dating myself with an old celebrity you’ve never heard of, but the celebrity that first came to mind for myself was Pauly Shore.
Pauly Shore, known for his role as Bobby in Disney’s A Goofy Movie series, was also one of the biggest celebrities to young people for a short time. He hosted his own show on MTV, travelled the country performing his own vulgar style of stand-up comedy, and went on to star in famously bad comedy films. That last endeavour is what eventually killed his fame, and career in entertainment. Nowadays, you can’t talk about Pauly Shore without talking about how irrelevant he is. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
It’s celebrities like him that lead me to believe Cardi B and her rap music are just another fad in the treadmill of popularity. Cardi B will continue to make music, and continue to date Offset of Migos (although she’s said she doesn’t really date). And she won’t cease to talk about how awesome she thinks she is, and she’ll even talk about how being a former stripper is part of who she is. But for how much longer?
Cardi B doesn’t appear to have the talent or the creativity that a Rihanna or a Nicki Minaj has to last long in the entertainment industry. Like I said before, she’ll epitomize the “15 minutes of fame” phenomenon. That, along with her personality, and my belief that her obnoxious antics make her flat-out unlikeable, are a solid recipe for becoming unimportant.
Believe me when I say her fame won’t hold, because it won’t hold up. Quite frankly, I can’t wait for her to be irrelevant again. I feel like a kid on December 24th just thinking about it. Surely, there will come a time when Cardi B is just a memory. For now however, enjoy Cardi B while her music is on the radio.
