2xLP BABY BLUE VINYL - SIGNED!

After seven years, an absolute lifetime in the rap world, Cardi B delivered Am I the Drama?, the highly anticipated follow-up to her breakthrough debut. In the time between releases, she remained firmly planted in the spotlight with a combination of savvy social media presence and tabloid headline gold. Playing catch-up for a moment: She had three children during her on-again, off-again marriage with fellow rapper Offset, maintaining her family and career while fending off her competition and the critics. She was also sued by a former security guard, with the free press from the ensuing courtroom drama fortuitously falling right as this album was being rolled out. Infidelity, rap beefs, and even pregnancy complications -- this might be the first and only rap album to drop preeclampsia into a verse -- it's a lot to get off her chest, but she pulls it off with a rabid snarl and a great sense of humor. If anyone thought starting a family would somehow soften Cardi, she spills a torrent of shocking and utterly hilarious quotables from start to finish. With teeth gnashing, she boasts, "I'm collecting body bags like they purses/I don't even rap no more, I drive hearses." The bars come fast and hard, with some of the best bon mots too explicit to print here ("Magnet," "ErrTime," and the breathtakingly raunchy "On My Back" are wig-snatching highlights). On the menacing "Outside," she declares open season on single life ("I've been cuffed up too long!"), talking trash and going for the jugular. Her aggression on these tracks is best reflected in the production: head-nodding, stank-faced assaults, the kind of concrete-shattering, monstrous bass jams that make a listener shout, "Damn!" While most of Am I the Drama? is a straightforward, hardcore rapping master class, it's punctuated by a few outliers to add some variety. The frantic, salsa-fied "Bodega Baddie" is primed to be a viral hit, while the Janet Jackson-sampling "Principal" features one of the more radio-ready choruses here. Elsewhere, "What's Goin On" features Lizzo interpolating the 4 Non Blondes hit, and the old-school "Imaginary Playerz" throws it back to the golden era, right down to Cardi's calm and steady cadence and flow. When she's not on the attack, she digs deep on the vulnerable, soul-baring "Man of Your Word," while the tracks featuring the smooth vocals of guest R&B singers Summer Walker and Kehlani ("Safe," "Shower Tears") soften the hardened edges of the more confrontational moments. Even if she's a seemingly untouchable rap icon, Cardi B's refreshing honesty and ability to stay relatable to the masses with her messy personal life is a huge part of her accessibility and appeal. So while this sophomore set is not as immediate as her star-making Invasion of Privacy, it delivers on high expectations with fine production, bars for days, and Cardi's persona itself.

A1    Cardi B, Summer Walker–    Dead
A2    Cardi B–    Hello
A3    Cardi B–    Magnet
A4    Cardi B, Selena Gomez–    Pick It Up
A5    Cardi B–    Imaginary Playerz
B1    Cardi B–    Bodega Baddie
B2    Cardi B–    Salute
B3    Cardi B, Kehlani–    Safe
B4    Cardi B, Summer Walker–    Shower Tears
B5    Cardi B–    Outside
C1    Cardi B–    Pretty & Petty
C2    Cardi B, Cash Cobain–    Better Than You
C3    Cardi B–    ErrTime
C4    Cardi B–    Check Please
C5    Cardi B, Janet Jackson–    Principal
D1    Cardi B–    Trophies
D2    Cardi B, Tyla (6)–    Nice Guy
D3    Cardi B–    Killin You Hoes
D4    Cardi B–    Up
D5    Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion–    WAP