One of the many songs that’s trending in India is Maroon 5’s Girl Like You, a song that makes you dizzy, not only for its melodic tone and video, but its rotating motion that features over a dozen women including our very own Lilly Singh and above all Cardi B, our feature artist this month. The song ends with Adam Levine, his wife and daughter together in a lovely family setting.

Although we know her as Cardi B, true fans know that the musician has a much longer moniker: Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar. Both names are Spanish translations of Arabic words. Belcalis is thought to be a reference to the Queen of Sheba, while Almanzar from the Arabic “al mandhar” – apparently translates to “lookout point” or “watchtower.”

She took on a better name for herself by keeping it short and sweet with Cardi B which is short for Bacardi (adapted from Bacardi, a famous rum brand). When a talk show host asked where her professional name derived from, Cardi B responded with the distilled beverage Bacardi. But that was not the only reason, her sister is named Hennessy Carolina, referencing the cognac (French brandy). The name Bacardi stuck for her and it was finally shortened to Cardi B.

The rapper's mother and father come from Trinidad and the Dominican Republic, respectively. Being raised by two working parents in Highbridge, South Bronx, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, Cardi B grew up surrounded by multicultural influences. Cardi B is Catholic and in TV interviews claims to have a strong relationship with God, often saying that she directly communicates with God, in times of trouble and when she needs guidance.

She was born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar on 11^th October, 1992. She spent a lot of her time with her grandmother who looked after her. As a youth, she went on to attend Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school. During her teenage years she was employed as a cashier at Amish Market, a supermarket in Lower Manhattan, on a salary of $250/week. It was the last job she held before she went off course and took on a job of a bar girl at the age of 19.

She took the job more due to her poor financial state and being in an abusive relationship. Her job gave her a satisfaction that she could fend for herself. But with that, her college life suffered. Her idea to join college was to achieve something bigger and better in life. But a change in plan was in order and she dropped out of college in search of fame.

In a magazine report Cardi B said the first albums she ever purchased were by American singers Missy Elliott and Tweet and also singers like Madonna, Lady Gaga as two of her favorites.

In November 2015, Cardi B made her musical debut on Jamaican reggae fusion singer Shaggy’s remix to his single Boom Boom. alongside fellow Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan. In 2015, she participated as a model at NYFW (New York Fashion Week) in September. She also appeared in Farruko’s music video ChapiChapi featuring her and Messiah. This opened up new opportunities for the future. Soon, she was invited to co-host ‘Uncommon Sense’, a MTV2 production with famous radio jockey Charlamagne the God. She landed a special appearance on Revolt TV, wherein the audience got a glimpse of her personal life. She was also applauded for her DVD ‘I Am: Cardi B.’ Since then, Cardi headed in just one direction, which led her towards fame and fortune.

When she was around 21 years of age, she began to gain a lot of publicity due to her two mix tapes ‘Gangsta Bitch Music’ Vol 1 (2015) and Vol 2 (2017), which went viral on social media. Since then she has collaborated with a host of artist on her tracks as well as with collaborators who approached her. While the entire world was going gaga over her satirical, comic videos, their beloved social media star got her first television break in a reality TV show titled ‘Love and Hip Hop: New York’. Soon, the hot video vixen established herself as an actress, host, and comedian as well.

In May 2017, the nominees for the 2017 BET Awards were announced, revealing that Cardi B had been nominated for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip Hop Artist and though she failed to win any awards, losing to Chance the Rapper and Remy Ma, she nevertheless performed at the event after party show and garnered huge support.

On 11^th June 2017, during Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam music festival, Remy Ma who had earlier won at the BET awards, took her on with The Lady Of Raage, MC Lyte, Young M.A, Monie Love, Lil’l Kim and Queen Latifah to celebrate female rappers and perform Latifah's 1993 hit single U.N.I.T.Y that spoke about female empowerment.

Since signing with Atlantic Records in 2017, she has earned two number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 with the songs Bodak Yellow (Money Moves) and I like it. Bodak Yellow proved to be a super hit. Loved by the crazy fans, the song steadily climbed up the Billboard Hot 100 chart to peak at the No.1 position. This success made Cardi B the first female rapper to take the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 chart since Lauryn Hill in 1998. With this song, the young singer emerged ahead of even some really popular names like Taylor Swift and Charlie Puth.

Invites to big events beckoned and with no arm on her side, Cardi B's younger sister, Hennessy Carolina who has a strong following on social media, accompanied her to the 2017 Grammy Awards.

With so much going for her, it was time to release a debut album. ‘Invasion of Privacy (2018) brought recognition mainly for her tracks Bodak Yellow and I like It. The album is pure hip hop with a bit of Latino in it. You can hear her nasal voice clearly, loud at time and straight forward music. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 charts and TIME magazine named the rapper one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list in 2018. The awards came in soon after and she took home a Billboard Music Award and three MV Video Music Awards.

Cardi B's 'Invasion of Privacy' album mentions Beyoncé every twelve minutes. Like most of us, Cardi B is clearly a huge Beyoncé admirer. And though she gives many female artists shout-outs in the album (Tina Turner, TLC, Rihanna), Beyoncé received four references throughout the 13-track album.

The 'Invasion of Privacy' album title was born out of the rapper's, quite literal, lack of privacy, and her claim of people invading her privacy, people harassing her, stalking her and not only talking about her, but also her husband.

Cardi B’s latest show of restrained positivity was when she reached out to her fans while announcing her latest single Money which was leaked out before it could be released.

Cardi B has also collaborated with Bruno Mars to record Finesse. The rapper's recent killer collaboration on the Finesse remix actually was not at all planned in advance. The two musicians met after one of the "24k Magic" singer's shows, when they decided to work together and began recording. Mars even shared a photo of the pair on his Instagram with the caption: "I met Cardi B at 3 am after my show in LA backstage, where we recorded her verse for Finesse. She walked in the room and she was everything I’d hope she’d be. Never change Cardi!"

On the personal side and going back a few months, as early as 2017, Cardi B began publicly dating fellow American rapper Offset of the southern hip hop group Migos. In an interview to a magazine she is quoted as saying, "It’s been a blessing, me meeting him and meeting his friends. I see how hard they work. And that motivated me to work even harder. And I see how good things are going for them and how popping it is to be number one. And I’m like, I want that. A lot of people just see they jewelry and they money, but I don’t think a lot of people see how hard they work every single day."

The duo got engaged the same year in October 2017 and later got married in secret. A few months later Cardi B revealed that she was pregnant with Offset's child.  She gave birth to her first child, Kulture Kiari Cephus in July 2018.

By Verus Ferreira