Revenge, divorce and public trials — Grammy Award-winning rapper, Cardi B, released her very personal, second studio album on Friday, Sept. 19.
“Am I The Drama?” is Cardi B’s first album produced since her debut “Invasion of Privacy” in 2018. The album is a thrilling successor, playing for a total of 70 minutes and consisting of 23 songs.
Features from popular artists like Selena Gomez, Summer Walker, Janet Jackson and Lizzo (just to name a few) are common throughout the record. The album also ends with two pre-released singles and fan favorites, “Up” and “WAP,” featuring Megan Thee Stallion. The remainder of the work is new material, however.
“Dead,” featuring Summer Walker, opens the album, setting the tone with anger and vengeance, as Cardi sets her story straight to fans. “Dead” is energetic and hypes up listeners to prepare for the rest of the album.
The next two songs, “Hello” and “Magnet,” follow similar themes and hold a similar sound. In my opinion, these first three songs are some of the best on the album. Both “Hello” and “Magnet” are self-confidence boosting songs that give off “it-girl” energy.
Some of the following songs begin to explore different sounds. “Pick it Up,” featuring Selena Gomez, is more of a pop rap blend, similar to many Doja Cat songs. “Imaginary Players” veers more into classic hip-hop and “Bodega Baddie” encompasses a Latin sound, tapping into Cardi’s roots.
“Salute,” another top-ranking song on my list, taps back into the original flow of the album, picking up the pace from the previous songs.
In the middle of the album are collabs with Kehlani, Lizzo, another song with Summer Walker — this time more rhythm and blues-esque — and a heartfelt confessional about Cardi’s divorce, “Man Of Your Word.”
“Man Of Your Word” is a stab at the rapper Offset, who Cardi B filed for divorce against in 2024. The song references Offset’s cheating scandals, as well as lies he allegedly told her.
The next few songs sort of blend into each other and almost get lost in the whole of the album. Regardless, the songs are not bad, but the album very well could have stood alone without the majority of them. “Check Please” wakes audiences back up, however, and is followed by a collaboration with the icon Janet Jackson, “Principal.” Jackson’s 1986 song “The Pleasure Principle” is sampled in this song. This is not the first reference to an old hit on the album, as the earlier, “What’s Goin’ On,” featuring Lizzo is a take on the 1994 hit, “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes.
“Trophies,” an attitude-filled self-appreciation song, is another amazing hit. It’s the kind of song that will rile you up and get you jumping around no matter where you are.
Following is a collab with artist Tyla, “Nice Guy.” It is rather relaxed compared to the rest of the songs on the album, but is a nice break from the heaviness of the surrounding songs.
We then are hit with “Killin You Hoes” which plays into the news recording that opens the album, which accuses Cardi of multiple crimes, including murder. She plays into the murder plot line by drawing on the fact that she is ending or killing careers with her music.
Finally, the album concludes with the popular hits of Cardi’s past which never officially appeared on an album. “Up” was initially released as a single in 2021 and is clearly a fan favorite, being Cardi’s fifth most popular song on Spotify.
“WAP,” is the other previous single that ends the album, which was first released in 2020. Many probably recall the viral TikTok dance to this song that took over social media during quarantine and caused quite a controversy. I found it very fitting that Cardi concluded “Am I The Drama” with a song that received backlash, but nonetheless charted number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Despite having a somewhat controversial career filled with drama and scandals, Cardi B has proven yet again to be a very successful and talented artist with her second studio album.
Rating: 4/5