After more than a year of essentially running “Bodak Yellow” into the ground and squeezing every last drop out of it, Cardi B’s long awaited debut, Invasion of Privacy, is finally upon us. Most people’s predictions have fallen into one of two camps: “her debut will be the greatest thing since sliced bread” or “her debut will be absolute trash.” Sorry to disappoint both, but Invasion of Privacy falls somewhere in the middle. It’s not great by any stretch of the imagination but it’s not that bad either. It’s a more listenable project than I expected and has more than a few noteworthy moments. The vast majority of which being the songs of the ‘harder’ variety. She only really has one delivery and hasn’t learned how to control her voice so outside of these types of songs with aggressive beats she can be tough to listen to. Not to mention that the lyrics and subject matter on her more retrospective songs seem to get recycled more than once. Her narrative from a stripper to a rapper is well known and well worn well before the midway part and she’ll need to dig a little deeper if she wants to make a real career of this.
I guess what really makes it a decent project is that all of her best songs sound like a more than serviceable approximation of whatever artist she’s feeling in that moment. A claim that’s been hanging around her since the more than obvious connection between Kodak Black and “Bodak Yellow.” They say the best artists steal, so in that sense she’s more than on her way.
“Bitches hated my guts, now they swear we was cool
Went from makin’ tuna sandwiches to makin’ the news
I started speakin’ my mind and tripled my views
Real bitch, only thing fake is the boobs
Get money, go hard, you’re mothafuckin’ right
Never been a fraud in my mothafuckin’ life”
Have you heard Invasion of Privacy? What’d you think of it? Was it as good or as bad as you thought it would be? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to leave your own ratings and reactions to the album.
