How Social Media allowed Cardi B to Go From Being a Regular, Degular, Schmegular Girl to the Top of Billboard
It is almost impossible to go onto any social media platforms and not be bombarded by any “okurrrr” or “eowww” sounds these days. What are those incredibly unique sounds you may ask? Just the signature catchphrases from the young rapstress and current holder of the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart, Cardi B. When thinking of the charismatic stripper turned rap princess, some seem to forget that before she was ‘bout that shmoney’ she was just a regular, degular, shmegular girl from the Bronx that used social media to grow her brand, and eventually her career. With this post, I’ve critically analyzed Cardi’s rise to fame and specifically how she used social media to grow her brand. In addition, I’ve also seen how she may have misused social media and addressed the areas where this may have hurt her.
There were a few moments that were pivotal in her social media growth. As a young stripper out of the Bronx, Cardi was simply trying to gain more exposure when she first created her social media accounts. In an attempt to garner a larger fan base of people to attend the strip clubs she was at, she began to notice that many were falling in love with her infectious personality instead. Her first major stride on social media was on vine in 2014. A seemingly young and innocent Cardi B posted a video telling the world that we were constantly being asked what her occupation was. She proceeded to clarify that she was neither a model nor a comedian but a hoe; a stripper hoe, as a matter of fact. “What do you does, are you a model, are you like a comedian or something…? Nah I ain’t none of that, I’m a hoe. I’m a stripper hoe, I’m bout this shmoney, washpoppin” And before we knew it, almost every girl and her mother were saying they were “bout that shmoney”.
Although this gave Cardi a bit of exposure, she was nowhere near famous yet. Her next video is really what established her as a social media star. Before heading to a strip club in Toronto, she decided to upload a video to her Instagram on November 25th, 2014. What started off and a simple club promotion single-handedly launched Cardi B to social media stardom. As Canada at the time was near freezing temperatures, Cardi started the video alerting fans that although it was cold outside, she was still going to be wearing the same skin revealing clothing that they are used to her wearing. “It’s cold outside, but I’m still looking like a thottie because a hoe never gets cold” The statement that a hoe never gets cold stuck and definitely added to her brand.
From here Cardi decided to take her new fame and begin venturing into music. This important decision is what brought her to the next milestone which made Cardi B a household name. With the fame she was getting from her videos and her venturing into music, she was selected to join the cast of season 6 of the hit reality TV series ‘Love and Hip Hop’. The show followed the drama of hip-hop stars trying to make it big in New York. With her unique personality and quirky one-liners, Cardi was an instant star, constantly stealing all the attention. It was here where Cardi made the great decision to constantly promote her music, one-liners and essentially preview parts of her brand on TV for the world to love each week. It was this strategy that allowed Cardi to eventually leave the show and pursue music fully, in which she has great success.
Speaking of her brand. The reason why I chose Cardi to analyze is that what makes her different from many others in the music industry is her use of social media to create and continuously market her brand. After analyzing Cardi, I found that there are three main parts to her brand that sets her apart from everyone else: honestly, comedy and hood culture.
First being honesty. Cardi used social media as a means of making honesty part of her brand is genius. Ask any Cardi fan why they love her and it is guaranteed that one of the reasons is because “she is so real”. In a world of photoshopped selfies, fake relationships online and cyber alter egos, Cardi B’s honesty to any topic was a breath of fresh air. She used social media to constantly add honesty to her brand by posting videos in which she would talk about topics, give her opinions and address rumors about herself. A large part of this was the way Cardi B addressed her plastic surgery rumors “Y’all b*tches need to stop telling me my ti*ties look fake because they are fake b*tch” A topic that many usually shy away from, Cardi was very open about. This gave her followers the feeling that she is open with them and can trust and support her. Being honest with her fans on social media was undeniably a factor in the rise of Cardi B.
The next part of Cardi’s brand is comedy. It is undeniable that Cardi B is hilarious. From her quirky noises to her roasting people for attacking her, she could without a doubt have an amazing career in comedy if she had not pursued music. Cardi was able to market her hilarious personality through social media with videos in which she would talk about things that affected her. For example, when people were making fun of her teeth, she made a video in which she said “Cardi got crooked teeth? Cardi still gets f***ed by the drug dealers and scammers haha”. She constantly takes any situation and turns it into a positive by adding humor. This lightheartedness makes her followers happy and wants to continue clicking on her profile, following and supporting her.
It was this infectious, funny personality that landed Cardi a sponsorship with fashion nova, another brand that utilizes social media to the fullest. Cardi constantly promotes fashion nova through her funny videos and songs. One of her most famous videos being one where Cardi walks around in a fashion nova outfit and says “this watch, a hundred thousand, but this outfit? Sixty dollars, learn to budget h*e” She was able to take a sponsored video and make it funny by adding her infectious personality. She also added fashion nova on one of her songs called ‘She bad’ in which she says “I could buy designer, but this Fashion Nova fit”
Finally, Cardi’s third part of her brand is the hood. Cardi is unapologetic about her upbringing and is proud of being from the Bronx. With her song lyrics and use of social media, she markets the hood and hood culture to her followers. As people who aren’t affiliated with Card’d background and culture, by posting videos explaining things such as guys from the hood, clothes from the hood and lingo from the hood, it makes Cardi’s followers feel as if they are being opened to a new culture that they can now partake in. Cardi acknowledges this when she says in an interview with Billboard “I can make a valley girl from California feel like she a gangsta b*tch from the Bronx” In essence, this hood culture that Cardi represents and markets on social media is new to many of her followers that most likely come from middle-class suburbs, making it interesting and wanting to follow.
Although social media has played a huge role in establishing Cardi’s career and launching her to superstardom, it has also taken a toll on her career as well. Cardi’s biggest asset is also her largest weakness in this sense. The fact that she gives her opinion on many things on social media is great until it comes to controversies. Cardi is known for clapping back at many with her rant style videos but there have been times where this has not worked in her favor. In early 2017, a video surfaced (that has since been deleted) in which Cardi said the best way to get revenge on a guy that cheated on you is to get him to have a threesome with you and a transgender woman in which she used the slur “tr**ny”. Having a large LGBT fanbase, people were reasonably upset. Having said this, Cardi being used to clapping back to haters on social media looked at the backlash simply as hate coming her way and issued a less than satisfying apology in which she asked people to stop coming for her. That being said, she is getting better at not using social media as a way to constantly defend herself and sometimes let the situations handle themselves or issue a proper apology.
With her recent album beating pop superstar Taylor Swift for most streams in a week on Apple Music, being currently number 1 on the Billboard 200 charts and tieing Beyonce for having 13 songs charting simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, it is clear that Cardi B is going nowhere anytime soon. Cardi was able to take using Instagram to another level. Allowing her to go from stripping in the clubs of the Bronx to topping the Billboard Charts. She was able to do this by creating and marketing a brand for herself through social media. That being her main brand identity including honesty, comedy and hood culture. As long as Cardi continues posting for her loyal fans, she will continue to take over the world.
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