In the years since Cardi B emerged, women have had a bigger presence in hip-hop than in any other era prior. However, these same women have also faced their fair share of criticism as Cardi B has. The Invasion of Privacy star, for instance, was propelled to stardom off the strength of “Bodak Yellow,” leading many to believe that she’s an “industry plant.” It’s an easy allegation to throw around without necessarily looking past the years leading up to the success of her break-out hit.
The “Up” rapper detailed the industry politics when it comes to signing female rappers and it’s not so different than their male counterparts. “The record labels are putting money behind the girls that people listening to,” she explained. As a result, different artists are coming up faster than others. “The labels only go with who’s getting the most listens, who are getting the most plays, who are people watching more,” she added. “You can not blame nobody for that, you can’t blame no machine for that. You can’t blame nothing for that. Labels are only going to put money behind artists that people are listening to.”
Cardi B Explains Industry Politics
Cardi went on to explain that the labels base their budget on analytics. Artists who aren’t bringing in significant streams will receive less attention and funds than those that are trending on DSPs. “Labels are only going to put money behind artists that people are listening to. And you can’t hate on that,” she added. “You can’t hate on nobody else’s come up. ‘Cause everybody going to be like, ‘Huh, the label’s putting more money behind this…’ They do analytics. Whoever the people are listening to, they’re going to put money behind it,” she said.
Although it seems unfair, given the disparities between marketability vs. talent these days, Cardi thinks that people’s fanbases need to do the groundwork. In short, she believes that people need to support their favorite artists, whether that’s streaming their music heavily or introducing them to bigger audiences. “Promote their shit, make a fanbase for them. Once the labels start seeing that – they have a hard following – they gonna follow up. You can’t hate on the game. That’s the game,” she added. Check Cardi’s comments above.
