Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, professionally known as Cardi B, was born on October 11, 1992, in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and spent her formative years in The Bronx.
As a teenager, she gained widespread popularity on social media platforms such as Vine and Instagram, which ultimately led to her rise as an Internet celebrity.
From 2015 to 2017, Cardi B appeared as a regular cast member on VH1's reality television series, Love and Hip Hop: New York, which showcased her pursuit of a music career.
Prior to signing with Atlantic Records in early 2017, she released two mixtapes, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2.
Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, was released in 2018 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, breaking multiple streaming records and earning triple platinum certification from the RIAA.
The album was critically acclaimed, winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and making Cardi B the only woman to win the award as a solo artist.
She also became the first female rap artist in 15 years to be nominated for Album of the Year.
The album spawned two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Bodak Yellow and I Like It, with the latter making her the first female rapper to attain multiple number-one songs on the chart.
Her collaboration with Maroon 5, Girls Like You, made her the only female rapper to top the Hot 100 three times.
WAP, the lead single from her second album, further cemented her record as the female rapper with the most Hot 100 number-one singles, with her fourth leader, and made her the only female rap artist to achieve chart-topping singles in two decades.
Cardi B has been recognized by Forbes as one of the most influential female rappers of all time, known for her aggressive flow and candid lyrics, which have received widespread media coverage.
She is the highest-certified female rapper of all time on the RIAA's Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking and has appeared among the ten highest-certified female artists, with the top certified song by a female rap artist.
She is also the only female rapper with multiple billion-streamers on Spotify and has won numerous accolades, including a Grammy Award, 8 Billboard Music Awards, 5 Guinness World Records, 4 American Music Awards, 11 BET Hip Hop Awards, and 2 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year awards.
In 2018, Time included her on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
