Pick It Up featuring Selena Gomez, and the all-too-short Bodega Baddie (one of the album’s most enjoyable moments, bound for many a TikTok), play with vibrant Latin rhythms. Safe, conversely, is an unexpected love song featuring a gorgeous vocal by the soulful Kehlani.
And the album takes a turn on Man of Your Word, an Usher-esque R&B jam where Cardi reflects on the breakdown of her long-term relationship with Offset, introspective and heartbreaking. It’s followed by a more cathartic expression of grief on What’s Goin On, featuring a surprising interpolation by Lizzo of What’s Up? by 4 Non Blondes.
Lead single Outside is bouncy and energetic with a killer hook, while other single Imaginary Playerz has an Eve vibe to it, its slower, deliberate flow showing the confidence to take time and let each barb hit.
And while tracks like ErrTime, Check Please and Killin You Hoes could have been cut, there are some highlights towards the end of the record. On My Back is a sultry, hyper-explicit slow jam; Principal is exciting and breathless (though it strangely wastes a Janet Jackson feature); and Nice Guy perfectly utilises Tyla’s pristine hook and even has her drop some bars herself.
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Am I the Drama?, ultimately, is the quintessential Cardi B experience: a hyperkinetic attack by one of rap’s most successful and controversial women. She’s aggressive, funny, sexy, excessive and unapologetic, grabbing her crown back and mowing down anyone in her way.
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