Fuelled by hostility and subtweets, Cardi B is back to reclaim her throne

2 weeks ago 6

By Tom W. Clarke

September 22, 2025 — 4.30pm

Am I the Drama? by Cardi B: pugilistic and razor sharp, almost to the point of overkill.

Cardi B, Am I the Drama?

Cardi B is back, here to snatch back her throne by any means necessary. It’s been seven years since her world-dominating debut record Invasion of Privacy. And on her second album, she makes no secret of her intention to restore her position as the biggest and baddest rapper in the world.

The opening track, Dead, establishes the tone: news reports detailing a trail of devastation left by Cardi, including the killing of several female rappers. What follows is a hysterically violent opening track, and a ferocious statement of intent. Cardi means to murder the competition, to the extent that overkill becomes the operative word.

This is a long album: 21 new songs, plus re-releases of former hits Up (2021) and WAP (2020). Thankfully, Cardi B remains one of the most compelling rappers in the game: technically exceptional, lyrically scathing, a hit-maker of the highest order.

Like Dead, early tracks Hello and Magnet are Cardi at her most blistering; she’s pugilistic and razor sharp, a flamethrower with no off-switch. It’s a hellfire of punchlines, landing hard and fast (the most brutal is probably “You been trash since birth/mama didn’t want you” from Magnet).

Cardi B is at her best with her back to the wall, fuelled by hostility and sub-tweets. Pretty & Petty, in particular, is a no-holds-barred diss track that doesn’t even try to hide its target: BIA, with whom she has been feuding for a year. Merciless and often hilarious, insults of varying creativity fly at hyper speed.

Almost eight years after her Grammy-winning debut, Cardi B is finally back.

And while rap has a long tradition of waging war, after seven straight tracks hurling insults and death threats at other female rappers, it starts to feel like a horror movie franchise churning out sequels of diminishing quality; the relentlessness becomes numbing, even the odd creative kill failing to register (there’s a reason Jason Takes Manhattan is no one’s favourite Friday the 13th).

Am I the Drama? is mostly Cardi doing what she does best: scorching bars, athletic vocals, twisted rhymes and all out verbal assaults, set to bouncy trap beats. But there are also moments of experimentation and versatility that will surprise and delight.

Pick It Up featuring Selena Gomez, and the all-too-short Bodega Baddie (one of the album’s most enjoyable moments, bound for many a TikTok), play with vibrant Latin rhythms. Safe, conversely, is an unexpected love song featuring a gorgeous vocal by the soulful Kehlani.

And the album takes a turn on Man of Your Word, an Usher-esque R&B jam where Cardi reflects on the breakdown of her long-term relationship with Offset, introspective and heartbreaking. It’s followed by a more cathartic expression of grief on What’s Goin On, featuring a surprising interpolation by Lizzo of What’s Up? by 4 Non Blondes.

Lead single Outside is bouncy and energetic with a killer hook, while other single Imaginary Playerz has an Eve vibe to it, its slower, deliberate flow showing the confidence to take time and let each barb hit.

And while tracks like ErrTime, Check Please and Killin You Hoes could have been cut, there are some highlights towards the end of the record. On My Back is a sultry, hyper-explicit slow jam; Principal is exciting and breathless (though it strangely wastes a Janet Jackson feature); and Nice Guy perfectly utilises Tyla’s pristine hook and even has her drop some bars herself.

Am I the Drama?, ultimately, is the quintessential Cardi B experience: a hyperkinetic attack by one of rap’s most successful and controversial women. She’s aggressive, funny, sexy, excessive and unapologetic, grabbing her crown back and mowing down anyone in her way.

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