By Solé Scott
Editor-in-Chief
After seven long, agonizing years, Cardi B has finally released her second studio album.
On Friday, Sept. 19, Cardi B released “AM I THE DRAMA?,” which consists of 23 songs and has a surprising duration of 1 hour and 11 minutes.
The album starts off strong with “Dead,” featuring Summer Walker. That is until the next songs, “Hello” and “Magnet,” weigh it down by sounding way too similar and weak.
The songs continue to be unlistenable until “Imaginary Playerz,” which is a Jay- Z sample from his album, “In My Lifetime, Vol.1.” From this song on, the album starts to become more enjoyable and personal.
“Man Of Your Word” dives into her relationship with ex-husband Offset, a member of Migos.
“See what special treatment do? Huh, I could’ve cheated too,” Cardi B said.
Cardi B has alleged infidelity is the reason for the divorce. She also admitted her faults in the marriage and that she was not perfect either.
“There’s skeletons in my closet too, it wasn’t all bags,” Cardi B said.
“What’s Goin On” is a continuation of the deep dive into their personal relationship and what was missing down the line.
“Anniversary gifts started lackin’,” Cardi B said.
When I got to track “Shower Tears” and saw that Summer Walker was featured again, I got excited because Walker never misses any song. This track was better than the first song on the album and concluded her chapter with Offset.
She took revenge with the next songs, “Outside” and “Pretty & Petty,” with the latter trending all over social media due to her lyrical disses of rapper BIA.
“Name five BIA songs, gun pointin’ to your head. Bow, I’m dead,” Cardi B said.
The beat sounds like a bay area song produced by YG or DJ Mustard and was a perfect response to BIA, who has been dissing Cardi B because they sampled the same Missy Elliott song.
This was a nostalgic song that paid homage to the old Cardi B who used to have diss songs uploaded on YouTube and SoundCloud before she became a mainstream artist.
In the song she sent a warning to rapper BIA for mentioning her children and spreading false rumors. She also mentioned BIA’s close connection to Diddy.
“Why you always at Diddy house?” Cardi B said.
I was excited when I heard Janet Jackson’s “Funny How Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun)” sample on Cardi B’s “On My Back.” The sample was a teaser for “Principal,” which featured Jackson herself.
Again, I was left bummed out when I listened and realized it was just another sample of Jackson’s “The Pleasure Principal” from her 1986 album, “Control.”
I do not know why Jackson could not cut new vocals for these tracks when she is literally not doing anything else.
My only controversial take about this album is that “Up” and “WAP” should not have been included when they were released five years ago.
This album is a new era, and I feel that it was a cheat code to add existing streams from those singles to her album.
On the same day as her release, she broke Rihanna’s record for fastest female album ever to be certified platinum in 15 hours. The album has been streamed over two billion times thanks to the older tracks.
She even broke a Guiness World Record for most drone deliveries in an hour.
This album surprised me because after seven years, I lost interest a long time ago, but thanks to her old-school press tour and her evolved craft, I must give her a ten out of ten.
