EVERY SPOKEN WORD
80 min read · 16,391 words- 0:00 – 1:31
Intro
- CBCardi B
My marriage, I felt the love dying. I was crying every day. I felt in the deepest depression that I had ever had.
- JSJay Shetty
The number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty. The one, the only Jay Shetty. [laughs] Cardi B, welcome to On Purpose.
- CBCardi B
Hi.
- JSJay Shetty
Oh, my gosh. I, I have to tell you something, and I mean this. You can go back six years when I launched the podcast, people would always ask me, they'd say, "Who do you want on the show?"
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
Like, "Who, who'd be your dream guest?" And I'd always say, "Cardi B", and I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. Because no one would ever put us in the same room together. We're just so different-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... externally, but I believe there's a, there's a spiritual connection that we'll find out today.
- CBCardi B
You know what's so funny? I saw a video of you, and I definitely w- I was like, "Ugh, I wanna send it to my boyfriend, but..." It's about, like, asking, uh, difficult questions, and it's like, when you, when you ask difficult questions, and you get through, you get over the difficult question, and you discuss the difficult questions, it really do make you stronger. It really do make the relationship stronger, and it's like, oh, my gosh, he really-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
It's like, is he a psychic?
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
[laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
Did you send it to him?
- CBCardi B
Huh?
- JSJay Shetty
Did you send it-
- CBCardi B
Yes
- JSJay Shetty
... to your boyfriend?
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
What did he say?
- CBCardi B
He was like, "Yeah, exactly." And it's like, yeah, exactly.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs] Did it, did it change any behavior? Did it-
- CBCardi B
We'll see-
- JSJay Shetty
Okay, okay [laughs]
- CBCardi B
... on the next question.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs] I love it. I love
- 1:31 – 2:41
An Early Passion for Reading
- JSJay Shetty
it. I wanted to ask you, first of all, I heard that you have a hidden talent, that you can name the 46 presidents in order. Is that real?
- CBCardi B
I can't... It, it go, it comes and go.
- JSJay Shetty
Okay.
- CBCardi B
It comes and go. I just know a lot of weird, different facts about presidents.
- JSJay Shetty
Okay.
- CBCardi B
And people will be like, "But why? That is so random." Like, when I was younger, I didn't really have, like, Nintendos, and I didn't... Sometimes I had cable, and sometimes I didn't. So I just really ain't had no choice but to read, and, like, I like to read, like, factual stuff. So I would just read, like, a whole bunch of history things. Like, me, I will literally, when I'm bored, like, you know how they give you the history books in your school?
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
I will literally read the whole history book in a week-
- JSJay Shetty
Wow
- CBCardi B
... from front to back, just, just 'cause I'm bored.
- JSJay Shetty
Wow, that's impressive, though. Do you still get bored now? Do you even have time to be bored, or...?
- CBCardi B
I don't be bored, but that's, like, what I really just like to watch and everything. So, like, I watch it, like, I watch YouTubes on, like, factual things. Like, I just get into certain, certain topics, and I always go down a rabbit hole, and then I be obsessed with it for a week, and then it's just, like, whatever.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. I feel like you can't go
- 2:41 – 3:43
What Would You Do With One Day of Anonymity?
- JSJay Shetty
anywhere without being recognized. I mean, you have such an iconic look. Even today, I was admiring you when you walked in. I was like, "What inspires this?" But-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... if you could be anonymous for 24 hours-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... what would you do? If, if no one could recognize you, no one could see you, what would you do?
- CBCardi B
Well, you know what's so funny? Like, I really do... Like, I don't always look like this.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
So I usually go outside, probably with glasses or probably not, but I always go outside with, like, a oversized hoodie. And then, I'm not even gonna lie, due to COVID for, like, a long time, it really did help using the mask, but I, I do a lot of things by myself with no security, just... 'Cause I'm a person that, if I wanna, if I wanna go and buy, uh, a steak to cook-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... I will go downstairs to Whole Foods and buy it, and I don't care.
- JSJay Shetty
Yourself.
- CBCardi B
Yes.
- JSJay Shetty
And no one will know.
- CBCardi B
No one will-
- JSJay Shetty
And no one will see you.
- CBCardi B
They might or they might not, but I feel like I already maneuver how to, like, "Oh, it's Cardi B", and I just walk fast and maneuver my way around.
- JSJay Shetty
That's impressive.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
You know, this
- 3:43 – 7:14
Dreaming, Planning, and Envisioning
- JSJay Shetty
show is all about getting to know the person behind the music, behind the stardom-
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm
- JSJay Shetty
... behind the fame, getting to know the human behind it.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
And I feel like your journey, even though you've talked about it, I'd love to dive into some parts that I find fascinating.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
And I wanted to ask you, what's a childhood memory that you have that you think defines who you are today?
- CBCardi B
Oh, it's, it's a lot. Well, [laughs] it's not really, like, a childhood memory, but me and my sister, we used to go to the same school, right? Even though, like, she's three years younger than me. And she always be telling me this thing, right? She always be telling me this. She used to s- she s- always tells me, like, "Oh, I used to see you in the cafeteria in the morning by yourself with your head down, and I used to feel so bad for you." And it's like, "Why?" And she's like, "I don't know, 'cause you just looked so lonely." And I used to tell her, like, 'cause, like, I was not lonely. I just always need time to think and be by myself.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
Like, I'm a person that I have friends, but I don't really like to be around people that much sometimes. I just, I'm always in my thoughts. Like, there's, like, 100 people, and I feel like it's been like that since I was five years old, that talk in my head and plan things out, plan my future, plan my life. It's like I'm playing dollhouse in my head.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
You know, like, when you play with your dolls-
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I get it
- CBCardi B
... and you make a scenario. Not a scenario, or, like, you, you build your home and this and your that.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah, like a little universe or world.
- CBCardi B
Like a little universe. I'm always planning a universe in my head, and it's just... Sometimes people say that I have, like, a interesting look. Like, like, if I'm spaced out, I'm not spaced out. I'm, I'm deep in my universe and planning five years ahead.
- JSJay Shetty
Wow. So you're dreaming, planning, visioning.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
Do you do these different workers, different yous in your head have different names or personalities? Or no, it's just...
- CBCardi B
No, it's not really no different personalities. It's just straight planning tomorrow, straight planning for five years, straight, straight imagining what I, what I want.
- JSJay Shetty
Wow.
- CBCardi B
And it's crazy, because it's like, everything that I planned for since I was five and dreamed ofI really got in it.
- JSJay Shetty
Wow.
- CBCardi B
Even when I was, like, younger, even when I was, like, younger, I used to look at my mom, and I used to be like, "I wanna be so pretty and beautiful like her." And I grew up to be the pretty, beautiful woman that she is, but I also wanted, like, to be very successful, very... I'm not gonna say rich, but, like, very successful. I really hated being poor.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
And I used to say, like, is that I refuse to have kids and raise them in the hood. I had to find a way to never do that, but I always wanted kids, and I figured it out, and I- not only did I figure it out, but it's like I always have plan Bs, Cs, and Ds.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
But I don't h- I didn't have to settle for plan B, C, and D. I had, I settled for my dream. Like, this is my dream job, and I have it. It's a little bit more difficult than what I saw in my dreams.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
But I'm living it.
- 7:14 – 9:33
Discovering Your True Calling
- JSJay Shetty
as that little girl who was sitting alone that your sister said-
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm
- JSJay Shetty
... she would see you, and she'd feel sorry for you, but inside your head you were dreaming.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
Was it dreaming about music? Was it dreaming about getting out the hood? W- what were those dreams? What did they look like to that little girl back then?
- CBCardi B
I always felt like I was gonna be a superstar, and it's so weird because my grandma, she has, like, a lot of grandkids, but she always used to tell me that, and it's like, why you always used to tell... Like, I don't understand why she used to tell me that all the time. Like, I used to be, like, a little black sheep. I used to, like, nag a lot. I have, like, cousins that they're very pretty. They have beautiful, beautiful eyes. They just stand out so much, and I, it's not that I don't stand out. It's just, like, out of everybody, my grandma used to be like, "You gonna be a superstar. You need to practice how to sing because you gonna be a superstar." And I just knew I was meant to be something. Like, for some reason, me and my sister, we have, like, really strong personalities, and I feel like, like, the things that they used to tell me, they would tell her the same thing too. Like, all my teachers, all my friends, they gonna be like, "You gonna be somebody. You gonna be somebody someday." But I always used to wonder, like, 'cause, like, what is my calling? 'Cause I used to like s- acting in school, but I'm not a good actress. I used to like singing, but I'm not a good si- I'm not the greatest singer. Like, from the pack from the school, I'm not the greatest singer. Like, if I would audition for a play, they would pick somebody else because they sing better than me, or they would pick somebody else because they act better than me. So, and then it's like, oh, people used to say, like, I'm so funny, but it's like I not a comedian-
- JSJay Shetty
You are a com- [laughs]
- CBCardi B
... stand-out show. Like, it's like I am, I'm naturally funny, but I, I can't see it as my job. This just, just, just my mouth. This is just me being me. So it's like what is my calling? And I always wonder, what is my calling that everybody say that it's like I'm gonna be somebody, but what am I gonna be? I don't know. And, and God gave it to me.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
God show it to me, and, and God really did gave it to me, and here I am.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
And I just can't believe that millions of people know me.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. Congratulations. When I hear you say
- 9:33 – 10:38
Where Do You Get Your Personality From?
- JSJay Shetty
that, and you always exude this confidence, you're outspoken, you're bold, was it always like that since you were a young girl, or did that develop over time? What did... Where did that come from?
- CBCardi B
I was, like, born like this. I was alway- I, I always been like this. Like, it's, I got my real quiet side, and I always got, like, into myself side 'cause like I said, I be in my own universe-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm
- CBCardi B
... quiet, planning and planning. But I feel like when I open my mouth or when I am who I am, it's just this is just how I am. But if I kinda think about it, I mean, like, my family are very, like, funny. They're very loud. I, my parents are a little different from each other, but they're very loud. They have very strong personalities, both of them. So I feel like it just all comes in-
- JSJay Shetty
Came into you
- CBCardi B
... came into me.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
So it's like, you know how people... I don't know. Maybe-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... you know how people, uh, parents give pe- uh, their kids they looks?
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
I think my parents gave me a mix of they both personality. I'm a little bit of both
- 10:38 – 12:21
Embracing Your Quiet Side
- CBCardi B
of them.
- JSJay Shetty
Cardi B even still today finds time for her quiet side?
- CBCardi B
I'm naturally quiet, though.
- JSJay Shetty
I j- I mean, like, tell me about that.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
I wanna know about that.
- CBCardi B
Like, like, um-
- JSJay Shetty
I'm like, I don't think people know that.
- CBCardi B
Yeah, like, I'm naturally in my room, just deep in my thoughts, and just deep, deep, deep. I might just talk to you the whole day as a friend on the phone, but I don't really wanna see you, which is so weird. Like, I could talk to my friends all day long, but I like to be by myself all the time. I don't really-
- JSJay Shetty
Are people surprised when they figure that out with you, like?
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and my friends don't feel a certain type of way about that because they know me. They know I-
- JSJay Shetty
They know you. Yeah.
- CBCardi B
Yeah. They know I'm not the, the friend that wanna go out to dinner. They know that I'm not that. They know I'm not the friend that, "Oh, I'm just gonna go to your house and chill," and blah, blah, blah, but we will be on the phone, like, forever.
- JSJay Shetty
So what about, like, parties, events, all of that kind of stuff? That's, like, is it work? Is it networking or?
- CBCardi B
I do like to party, but some- sometimes I ha- I haven't even really had the time for it-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm
- CBCardi B
... lately. I haven't really had the time for it, and to be honest with you, even before I was, like, famous and everything, I wasn't really a club girl. I was already a dancer.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
So I worked in the club, so it's like I didn't really care to, like, oh, I'm going to the club today. For what? [laughs] I work in it. Like, it's just, like, I always been, like, a person to just work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, focus on the bigger picture.Just focus on the biggest thing.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
I always wanted kids, so the goal is to be comfortable before the kids c- get here.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. Yeah.
- CBCardi B
That was always my goal. I, my goal was always to be a mother, but having your own. I had my own before I became a
- 12:21 – 19:44
How Environment Shapes Growth
- CBCardi B
mother.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah, I mean, you said just a few moments ago that you didn't wanna raise kids in the hood.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
Talk to me about what we don't know about that. Like, how hard was it? What, what was it that was so bad that you were like, "I could never raise my kids in the place I grew up in"?
- CBCardi B
Ugh. It's, it's just, it's just a lot of things. Like, sometimes when kids are, like, bad or they get into trouble, people automatically blame the parents. And you could have the best parents, like my parents, they are not criminals. They have never even committed a crime. My grandma used to tell my mom a lot, like, it's like, "You're pretty for no reason." And I feel like they used to tell her that because it's like she's so pretty, so it's like, you know, Caribbean folks, it's like when you're pretty and you're this and that, it's like they always expect you to be with a man that got a lot of money. And my mom, she was never even that, that type of person. She was a very modest and honest, hardworking woman. So, and my dad, he's, he's a good man. He's, he, he's a party animal, but he's a good m- man. He's a good person, he's a good dad. However, you will end up going in the wrong path or going in the wrong direction because the influence around you, because certain peer pressure or because you almost have no choice, especially if you're a boy. You never know if you're gonna have a boy or girl, especially if you're a boy. And when you are a girl, it is a little bit difficult. It is a little bit tougher. I feel like people just grow a little bit faster in the hood.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
Like, when I was 11 years old, there was girls in my class in the sixth grade, 11 years old. I have nieces that are 11 years old. They, all they wanna do is play Roblox nowadays.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
But when I was 11 years old-
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah
- CBCardi B
... there was girls that were already ... At 11 in sixth grade. So it's like you go certain paths, uh, path or your environments. Like, boys too in the hood, they're a little faster. So you know, you will be walking down the block, and the typical little bad boy, he will slap your ass out of nowhere. He will slap your ass out of nowhere. You start arguing with him, he will smack the shit out your face. They're, that's how boys, a lot of boys in the Bronx are. They're very, like, aggressive. They're aggressive with girls. They're aggressive. They grouped out. They, they grope you. Y- you just never know. Like, one of the, one of the reasons also why I'm so witty with my mouth... People are like, "Why are you so witty? Why are you so thin?" Like, going to school, it was like [laughs] it's almost like, like... I think that's why I'm always so tough. Like, boys or girls, mostly boys, they used to, like, kinda, like, make fun of certain things, but not only just me, to everybody. Like, they're, like, "Look at your shoes. They're leaning. Look at your hair. Your hair is never not done." So I used to go home, and I used to go in the mirror and practice my jokes, and the next day, I would be like, "All right. I can't wait till he flame me. I got a joke or two for him"
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
That's why I'm so witty too as well. So it's like I don't wanna raise my kids in that type of environment.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
I don't want to. And then on top of that, it's like it is fun. I had a lot of fun in the hood, but it's like, it's not fun, like, for me, right? It's not fun living in an apartment, right? And contrary to what I say, I don't cook, I don't clean-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... I grew up with a mom that would make me brush the corners, the corners of the apartment, like brush it by hand. That's how clean my, my home had to be, my crib had to be. Every day I was doing dishes. Every day I was mopping floors. Every day I was making sure that I go outside to the parking lot and take out the garbage. And even though no matter how clean your apartment is, there will still be roaches, there will still be mices because your neighbor probably a hoarder. The person downstairs is dirty. Y'all all live in the same building. You cannot avoid certain, certain rodents and stuff. And it's like I don't wanna put my, my kids through that.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
And it's like I have to find another way. And then, and then another thing that always, like, gets me in my head is, like, this one time, my mom, she was working very hard, but we still needed help. So she went to welfare to get, like, benefit, like, a benefit card and stuff like that, and the lady... Like, my mom, she's the type of person, like, it's like if you rude to her, she gonna be like, "Oh, I don't gotta take this," and she would just storm out. Like, "I don't gotta take... Nobody gotta talk, gonna talk to me like that." She got a very strong character. And this lady was talking so rude and so nasty to my mom, and she was taking it because we needed the help.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
I don't want nobody to feel like they have to talk to me a certain type of way because I need the help, and it's like this could never, ever be me. I would never wanna, like, be in a situation where I have to go get welfare and the, and the social worker is talking to me like I'm a dog.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
Like I need you. And I just felt so bad for my mom because she just felt so... I could tell in her face that she, she was just, like, looking for the papers that she needed, like... It, it just, that vision is always in my head, and it's like it be getting me mad. I hope that lady, I wanna punch in her face to this day. And I don't want that. I ain't wanted that.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
And as a woman, even if you get with a man with money, you should have your own, 'cause one thing you learn from young, one thing I learned from having aunts, you could have a man with money, you could have a kid with money-If you stop doing what that man ask you to do, or if that man decides to leave, or if you deal with a man from the streets and he go to jail, that's your child. That's you. That's your responsibility. That's your hustle. Y- you gotta grind for that child. It's always two parents, but sometime it not really two parents, and the dad could be alive right there and then. That's why you always gotta have your own. It's not even about, "Oh, I don't need a man, I don't need the father, I don't need the thing," but sometimes it get to the point that it's like they're gonna make you feel that way. That's why you need it. I had cousins, and I had aunts, and I have it, that it's like they, they may have a little bit of money, have a little bit of land, have a little bit of this. And when those mens are done and through with you and put you off the ringer, it's like, "Yeah, I'm not dealing with that kid no more." Or like, "You g- you get these $200 every three, four months when I want you to. I'm not dealing with that shit."
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
That's why I was like... But I always wanted to have kids, so it's like I have to have my own shit-
- JSJay Shetty
Amen
- CBCardi B
... before I become a mom.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- 19:44 – 22:40
Defining Success On Your Own Terms
- JSJay Shetty
I mean, hearing, hearing you say that, I mean, as I was listening to you, I could tell there's like a... There's almost like a, you can almost vision what that life was like.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
And there's a part of you that's, like, so happy you got out. At the same time, there's, there's such a part of it that's there inside of you that you've been fighting against, you've been breaking out of, right?
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
Like, for, for all of these years.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
When was the moment you felt like, "Ah, I'm out. Like, I broke out"? Like, when was that moment where you really felt like, "I did it. I'm out. I, I made it," you know? "I'm safe now"?
- CBCardi B
It's crazy because every single time I feel like, I felt like I was safe, I really wasn't.
- JSJay Shetty
Oh, interesting.
- CBCardi B
Yeah. When I got on TV, when I first got on TV, I was like, "Did I make it?" I didn't feel like I made it. Because I used to see girls go on reality TV shows, and then they would end up right back in the strip club where I was at. So, I never felt like it's like, oh, on TV, I made it. It's like I'm almost there, but I didn't made it. Then when I got signed to a label, it's like I'm almost near making it because I'm signed, but I'm not where I want to be. Where I really felt like I made it was when Bodak Yellow came out.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
The million that I made, the first r- real million that I made, I ain't had to share with nobody. I didn't have to share with managers because they signed me to something. It's mine. It's mine. But I never felt comfortable. I still to this day don't feel comfortable, especially with how everybody just trying to take it from you all the time. It's like, it's like a fight every day to keep this level of success because people want to take it from you so bad. And people just feel like they could, they could tell you when you deserve to, to have this success. Because it just looks so easy, but it's not. It really is not. It's, it's a ch- it's a challenge to stay here. It's a challenge to stay relevant. It's a s- it's a challenge to, to, to keep your mental health right. It's a challenge to getting up. It's a... E- every day, every day is a challenge. It's, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a job. Everybody has a job. You can't complain about getting up and doing a job. The only thing I could complain about is millions of people that love you, and then millions of people getting in your head and telling you that you don't deserve your job that you work hard for. That's what it is. We all have jobs. That's what it is about being a, a, a, oh, don't, don't complain so... Everybody wanna complain, "I work so hard, I work so hard, I work so hard." You have to work hard to pay your bills. But when you work hard and people tell you that you don't deserve the success that you have, and you don't deserve to do what you do after you put in so much work, that's what with you, for real.
- 22:40 – 29:55
Protecting Your Peace from Negativity
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. What makes you feel like that every day? What are the things that make you feel like there's people constantly coming at you? What does that look like in your life?
- CBCardi B
I tell you something that, like, been going on for, like, a hot minute, right? Like, a lot of people think that I put out music, that I put out a album, that I, I'm gonna be putting out this and that because, [laughs] I don't know, they always say that, like I'm always getting pregnant all the time. But I don't think people follow timelines. When it comes to having kids, I'm very seasoned by now. [laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
I'm very seasoned right now. When I had my child, at the beginning, I canceled going on a tour with Bruno Mars because it was my first time having a kid.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
I did not know anything. I didn't have no nanny, no night nurse. I was figuring it out all by myself. I was figuring out, um, postpartum. I was figuring out everything, right? But even when I had a child, it didn't stop me. Three months after I gave birth, I was go- I was doing shows, four, five shows a week until COVID. Then COVID happened, and I put out this big record, WAP, and I put up Up.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
Then I got pregnant, and people thought that I didn't put out a album because I got pregnant. But the reason why I didn't put out a album is because I didn't have the body of work.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
I just didn't have the body of work, so I couldn't put out no music 'cause I didn't have the body of work. Then-Last year, I was planning to have a album. I was planning to put out a album, but I couldn't focus. I fell in the deepest depression that I had ever had, and with that depression, I couldn't function. I couldn't function or nothing. And when I talk about function, it's not even like, oh, just working. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't do nothing. So that just halted everything that I had. So it's not really because of having a baby. Sometimes, too, I don't be wanting to put music because I love being in the studio and I love creating music and I love perfecting my craft, and that's like baking a cake. You bake a cake, you practice baking a cake, you practice baking a cake, and then when you put out the songs, sometimes they be good and sometimes, like, for ex- people would just be like, "We hate it," and, "She shouldn't be doing this." And that's like you baking a cake. You bake a cake, you bake a cake, and people eat the cake, and then people be like, "This is the worst cake ever"
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... and they splat it. Have you ever seen The Simpson-
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah
- CBCardi B
... movie, the s- shit when they, they splat the cake? That's how I be feeling, and it's like, that is the worst feeling ever.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
That's like a guy you, and you think you have the best pussy in the world, and they tell you your pussy's trash. You should never nobody no more. That's just how I feel. Like, you work, you work, you work, you try to do your best to perform, perfect your craft, and somebody just tell you, like, "You shouldn't be doing this. You should never do this ever in your life," it brings you down so much and it with your mental so much that it's like, this is why I kinda avoid it, just for a peace of mind.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
Just for a peace of mind. I have been okay for almost a year. Like, after I gave birth to my daughter, I was a little happy. I was going outside. I started dating. I started feeling really good. Sometimes I have bad days. Sometimes I have good days because I feel like I'm s- I'm resetting in life. Last week when I put out a song, and it's not really the criticism in the song, the way that people ate me up, tore me up, chewed me up just because of one song, I feel like I didn't deserve that, especially for a song that I put so much work in, that I just was like, this is, I, this is why I don't really put music out like this because I remember how this used to feel.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
This is a very terrible feeling to have. This is a very terrible feeling to have, and you tell yourself, like, it's like, a lot of these people that are telling you these type of things don't have no jobs, don't have no titles, don't have no this. But when it's millions and millions and hundreds of thousands of people, like, it's like, not only are they criticizing the song, they're criticizing you as a whole. It just be like, this is why I don't really put things up too much because it's just, like, the mental health, the peace of mind is, is so much... It's, s- you just gotta ask yourself sometimes is, is it even worth it.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
Is it even worth it? 'Cause I haven't felt down like last week for a very long time, for-
- JSJay Shetty
Wow
- CBCardi B
... almost, like, almost like a year. Almost like a year.
- JSJay Shetty
Wow.
- CBCardi B
I'm very compassionate and I'm very understanding, and I'm a Libra so I see always two sides of the scale. I have sympathy for-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... bitches that my man and they have taken a family loss. I'm like, damn, I feel bad for her. Some people have the look, the intelligent, the talent. Some people really have that, but they don't go nowhere because they're lazy. Don't be lazy.
- JSJay Shetty
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- 29:55 – 34:04
When Your Heart Isn’t Ready to Let Go
- JSJay Shetty
to me about that depression. For, for you, as confident as you are, as bold as you are, to be so vulnerable, and I'm so sorry you went through that, but to be so honest and open about the fact that a year ago you were in this dark depression. And it seems like the worst it had ever been.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
What, what got you there? Why were, why were you feeling so low?
- CBCardi B
It was just a lot of pressure from my careerAnd I also felt like my marriage, like I felt the love dying. From my end, from, from, from my end, from his end. I was very lonely because I chose to be lonely, chose to be lonely. I was saying like, "You know what? I can't go through this anymore. I have to put a stop to it." But when I said I was gonna put a stop to it, 'cause you could say you gonna put a, put a stop to it, and you could. You could go a month without being around somebody. It's not, it's not until you s- it's not un- when you say so, it's when your heart say so.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
I kept telling myself, "I will not contact this person for a month. I will not give in. I will not forgive this easy. I will not go back. I will not go to the pattern. I will not go through it." But I was crying every day. I was hurt every day. I was out here in LA in a mansion by myself. I was thinking about it every single day. And when your heart is not done, your heart is not done. Then I told myself, "I'm pregnant. I'm going to accept the... I'm gonna accept my flaws, the flaws that I bring in this marriage. I'm gonna apologize for it, and I'm gonna work on it." And when I take accountability, and you take advantage of me taking accountability, and you take that as a, "See? I know she be back," instead of me taking accountability, and you taking advantage of that, it really just killed everything. And while it was dying, I had a human growing in me, and I just ha- and I just kept thinking like, it's like, "What's life going to be without this person? What life going to be without raising my last child without this person? What's life going to be with that person not being my friend anymore, without nothing?" When you have those type of thoughts, it will t- make you sad, it will get you depressed, it will have you lost. But I overcame that, and I am the, the strongest that like I have ever been. Like, I almost feel like... When was I ever my strongest? My m- the... I felt my strongest when I was 22, 23, 24. That's when I felt like my strongest, and I was like living in a power, and that's how I feel right now. Like I feel like I live in a power. And it took months for the heart to say, "You're done" instead of my mouth and my brain. My heart had to be like, "You're done." 'Cause you could say it, and you could take actions, but even if you take actions, if you're not done, you're not done. Like, I kept asking, like, around that time I was working with Shakira, and I was like, "How the did you over- overcame this?" Like-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm
- CBCardi B
... "How did you overcame this?" And it's like, "It's going to happen," and it's like, it would never happen, and it happened. It took some crying. It took some thoughts, scary thoughts. It... But I'm here, honey.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
I'm, I'm here, and I'm the strongest I've been, and I'm just...
- JSJay Shetty
I love hearing that.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
Well-
- CBCardi B
But it was
- 34:04 – 36:52
Overcoming Heartbreak and Loss
- CBCardi B
hard
- JSJay Shetty
... I can tell. I, I could tell. I could see it as I'm speaking to you. It's, it's not easy, and I think those moments in all of our lives are, are the most difficult moments. What did you do for your mental health at that time? What did, what did you do? What actions did you take? What did you have to do to keep yourself together and come back the strongest you are right now? I think there are so many people who are listening who have probably been through similar things, who feel broken, feel hurt, feel lost and confused. What worked for you that helped you come back the strongest you've ever been?
- CBCardi B
I don't know if it was just time, because I kinda did a little bit of everything. Like, I, I did do therapy. I did saw, I did saw a therapist. She's really good, by the way. It was like on Zoom, and it was like... I, I was telling myself like, it's like, I can't believe [laughs] I'm telling a whole stranger my feelings, my thoughts, my personal business for three hours straight.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
I was just like, "What the am I doing?"
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. [laughs]
- CBCardi B
"That just feels so weird."
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
I was in ther- I did therapy for, I did a couple of sessions. They ain't gave me no nothing. [laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Um, I was all spring, all summer recording. It just wasn't, like, enough. I just felt like I just had to let it die-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm
- CBCardi B
... on its own. Let things die on its own. And the bad thing about it is that it's like not only am I dealing with that, that's, that's my personal life. I was also dealing with fans putting pressure on me 'cause they want, you know, they want a album, they want products from me. I had people that don't like me talking down on me, and then I had peers trying to start problems with me, and all of that while I was going through a mental breakdown at home. So it was just a lot. It was like, I'm trying to work it. I'm trying to sleep it. After I gave birth to my daughter, my la- m- my baby girl, I was just like, " [censored] it. Take a break from work." And I was just going out and-Every weekend with my friends. It was scary talking to somebody else and giving them a little piece of me. Not just m- out my heart, just a little piece of me. And, but I overcame that, and I just... That's why I feel like I just became a little bit more better, like just resetting.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. Yeah, it's a good, it's a good reminder that
- 36:52 – 39:09
Time Heals All Wounds
- JSJay Shetty
time is the ultimate reset.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
And time does have a healing power that-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... we, you know, the cliche of time heals all wounds. It-
- CBCardi B
But it's the truth.
- JSJay Shetty
But it's true. Yeah, it's a cliche because there's truth in it.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
There's some reality in it that time and distance and, and being patient enough. I was, I was working with a client recently who was going through a breakup, and when we would speak in the first month, she would tell me every single day that she couldn't stop thinking about the guy she was breaking up with, that broke up with her. And then the second month, she'd tell me every other day. And then the third month, she'd tell me once a week.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
And then the fourth month, she was just telling me once a month, and I was like, "You don't see it, but I see-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... that it's affecting you less and less and less as time goes on." But when it's you-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... you feel like you're just still stuck there. And so it's such a great reminder that time is the ultimate reset, and time does heal.
- CBCardi B
Yeah. And, and just because time heal, like, in the meantime, don't, don't think that, like, you shouldn't, like, try to get help because it's like therapy didn't really h- help me like that.
- JSJay Shetty
Oh, it didn't work for you?
- CBCardi B
Not as much. Well, maybe because, maybe 'cause I didn't get to the part of where you get the help.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
I mean, I did do it like six sessions. I don't know if-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... I don't know how [censored] long. Um-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Like, sometimes when I give advice to girls, I be like, "Bitch, boss up. Boss up. Go to work. Get pretty." But even when I was doing that, I had like a pain in my heart. And sometimes when I was going out with my friends and I was having a good time, it would always be, like, around 4:30 AM when it's time to go home, and I'm drunk, and I'm thinking to myself, "I am alone. I don't have nobody to talk to." And it feels really weird, and it feels very lonely, especially when you're used to that. However, don't, don't avoid that. Don't, like, don't avoid that, but it will be time that will heal it. It will be time. Time just heals everything.
- 39:09 – 44:27
Proving Your Hard Work Is Worth It
- JSJay Shetty
When you said again last week, you were saying when you put new music out, it was kind of the lowest you'd felt in another year.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
What's the hardest part for you to take that criticism? Because, like you said, you're quick with it. You've got responses. You've lived in a place where you had people coming at you. Why is it so hard to put out something you love? It seems like you really put your heart into your work.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
And so when you put that out, is, is that why the criticism hurts the most, because you put so much heart and soul into your work?
- CBCardi B
Yes, because I put, like, a lot. I always... I don't know what... Like, I'm not a lazy person.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
And I do understand my flaws. Well, it's not really my flaws because a lot of people will say something about my accent, right? But it's funny because my accent to some people might be my flaw, but it's also my superpower and what makes me unique. Some people say that I have a Spanish, a Spanish accent, but I really don't really have a Spanish accent. I have a very unique accent. I talk very unique. When you try your best to, like, perfect your accent, perfect your flows, perfect everything. I always try to perfect e- everything that I'm doing at the time, I'm always trying to perfect it. Like, even when I was a stripper, like, it's like, "Okay, I'm a stripper, but I'ma be the best pole dancer in here, and I'ma [censored] bust my ass, bust my knees, g- practice every day, and to, like, uh, be the best at it." That's the same with music. I'm gonna perfect it. That's the same with my, um, marketing. I'm gonna perfect it. That's the same with my business. I'm gonna perfect it. I like to perfect things. There, and, and if it's not the best things, if I, if I'm not the best at it, I could say that I tried to be.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
And I worked my ass off to be, and I didn't make it easy for myself. So when people just throw it in your face and then make other narratives on top of it with that, it's like, that is so mean. And, and it's also, like, different narratives of you. Like, it's like, wow, you, you don't even know me. You don't even know me, and you making all these stories, scenarios, all this this over one song. Like, for example, when I did this song and people didn't like this song, so many people was like, they just, "Cardi was n- Cardi never deserved to be a rapper. They just made it so easy for her." And it's funny because it's like this shit was not given to me. I worked my ass off for me, and I planned it. Just like you see when I was a little girl, I used to plan everything. I plan every step, every single step. And I might even be inspirational to other artists coming up because for a long time, since I have such a big personality, people just felt like, "She's funny. She's funny. She's funny." So it was really hard for labels to take me serious, and some labels were trying to [censored] give me scraps to do a, a slavering record deal. And even when I was on TV and I thought it was gonna be my big break for, like, people to recognize me as a artist, it wasn't. I was doing good numbers on my mixtape.It wasn't enough. So the money that I was getting for partying and hostings, I took that money, I made my own concerts, and the best thing about it is that everything is documented. I did my own concerts. Four, 500 to 400 people. In New York, 800 people came out singing my songs. And I went to the, a label, and I was like, "This is why you need to sign me. It's not just Instagram. It is real life" And the $15,000 that I used to get for hosting parties, I used it to rent cars, rent buses, rent venues to perform my songs, to show these labels, like, it's like, I'm the one. This shit ain't fake. This shit ain't a personality thing. This ain't a Love & Hip Hop thing. This is, this is what my music is doing. This is the people singing it. And doing all of that, and now being this far, after you plan everything, and people will tell you that you don't deserve it and you got it because of this, this, and that, that pisses me the [censored] off.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
'Cause everything, everything that I did is documented. This shit wasn't given to me.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
I didn't open my legs for it neither. So that's the type of shit that be getting me angry. Like, it's like, don't tell me that I didn't put the [censored] work in when I put the work in. There's days that I, I miss, I miss birthdays, I miss, I miss birthdays, I miss family events. I... This shit has gotten in the way of, like, my, my, my personal relationships, marriage and everything. Just for somebody to tell me, somebody that never [censored] did shit in their mother [censored] life tell me that I don't deserve it. Get the [censored] outta here.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs] Absolutely. I mean, you know
- 44:27 – 48:00
Keep Believing in Yourself
- JSJay Shetty
what, though, I also find that Instagram and TikTok or whatever platform it is, the comments that are negative are just loud.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
Because you can literally go to someone's comments section and see negativity or whatever, but then, like you said, you go to an arena and everyone in the arena is screaming their name and-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... singing their songs.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
And so it is this really weird thing that happen, that happens for the mind where you're watching your page or you're watching yourself on someone else's page and there's criticism, but then actually there's all these other people that love you. The negativity and the hate is just so loud.
- CBCardi B
It is loud.
- JSJay Shetty
And people say stuff.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
Whereas the people that love you, they just press the heart, right? So it's always, like, that weird thing where I'm like, the mind just overvalues negative feedback and undervalues the positive feedback because the negative feedback is just so critical and loud and heavy. When you reflect on it and after you think about it for a week, do you think, "I wanna prove them wrong", or do you go, "Actually, who cares about them?" Where do, where do you end up after a week of reflecting on it?
- CBCardi B
Like, last week, right, I was in tears, and I was telling myself, I was telling myself, like, it's like, not only myself, I told this to my friend, actually. I told this to my friend. I was like, "Sometimes people say don't let the devil win."
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
"But what happens if you let the devil win?"
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
"Maybe I need to let the devil win so I can have a peace of mind." And then I'm, like, thinking to myself, like, why the [censored] would I ever say let the devil win? Imagine praying to God on your [censored] knees every single night, asking God, "God, please bless me with this. God, please give me that. God, please give me this, give, please give me that. Please bless me with this. Please bless me with that" Just so you could, like, everything that God gave you, tell the devil, "Here, you can have it."
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
Because he's sending... Sometimes the devil sends evil in human forms and in human mouths, and hu- and human's tongue just so you can tell the devil to have it. Like, imagine how God feels. Imagine God be like, "All right, baby. All right, girl. Here, you, here, here, here have this. You wanted this, here, here's what you get" And then, like, imag- like, it's like, it's like he's giving you something, and then you go to school and they be like, "That's ugly" And that's something that you've been asking Him for a long time, and now you don't like it because somebody told you that it's ugly.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah, well said.
- CBCardi B
And it's like, how I almost let the devil win.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
And I was telling myself that, I was telling myself that.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
And like I said, I was telling it, but sometimes you gotta ha- believe it from the heart. 'Cause your mind could tell you it, your mouth could say it, but you gotta believe it from the heart. This week, though, I feel so much better and I feel so much confident, and I was like-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... I'm not gonna let the devil win.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
I'm not gonna be like, you know what? I was telling my team, like, I was like, "You know what? I just need some days off" And it's like, how the [censored] are you gonna take some days off when your team been planning all of these, all of these things that you had to do for your album rollout because of these people-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm
- CBCardi B
... that are spewing things that the devil wants you to f- to think of yourself. I almost let this mother [censored] win.
- 48:00 – 52:55
Feeling Misunderstood
- JSJay Shetty
Well, no, I think it's human. I mean, even as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking everyone will be relieved because, you know, when someone as confident and as bold as you are, and as outspoken as you are, which is-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... which are all amazing qualities, the truth is, though, that we all have these human moments.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
And it's not a weakness, it's natural for all of us to feel pain, to experience sadness-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... to experience, and it humanizes you in a good way.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
It makes me feel like, oh, wow, if Cardi feels that, then, hey, I f- I can feel that too, you know? Like-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... if, if she goes through those days and she gets out of them, and a week later she's feeling better, and a year ago she was in a real mess and she's feeling better, then-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... then maybe I can take something from that as well.
- CBCardi B
I'm not a perfect person.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
You know what I'm saying?
- JSJay Shetty
No.
- CBCardi B
I'm not a perfect person, and sometimes I'm a little bit misunderstood.
- JSJay Shetty
How do you think you're misunderstood?
- CBCardi B
I don't even wanna bring this up again, but it's like I could tell you how I'm misunderstood. I actually got dragged for weeks 'cause of this. So I made... [laughs] There's a, a, I think I'm just a little misunderstood. Sometimes I could be... I don't have a dark, I'm not a dark humor person. I'm not a dark humor person, but sometimes, like, my humor could be a little rough.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
And I feel like my humor could be a little rough because, like, you know, like I said, like, bo- boys in the Bronx-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm
- CBCardi B
... they will make really tough jokes on you. And then on top of that, like, it's like, like, a family like mine, we're always cracking jokes on each other. Like, it's like, like, being Caribbean, Caribbean people, like, if you too skinny, they'll be like, "Girl, you shaped like candle. Like, you shaped like a candle, just small like a candle, like a white candle." Or, like, Dominicans, like, when you shaped, like, big from the top and small on the bottom, they'll be like, " [speaking Spanish] " [laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
What does that mean? [laughs]
- CBCardi B
It's a certain type of yam.
- JSJay Shetty
Okay, okay.
- CBCardi B
And it's like, it's rude, but it's like, it's just something that it's, like, people just joke around that it's just so naturally. So sometimes my jokes might be a little bit not for everybody, and when I make certain jokes, like, like I made a joke the other day with my fans because they, they literally started the joke, and then I continue the joke. And because of the joke and I refuse to apologize for it, people was just saying that I'm just such a mean person, that I was trying to bully people, that I'm hurtful to people. But it's like I wasn't even trying to hurt nobody. My intent wasn't to hurt nobody. It's just like everybody naturally jokes with their friends. Everybody naturally jokes with they peers. Everybody just might say not, not the most nicest jokes or stuff like that. However, like, I'm not trying to hurt nobody. I don't wanna hurt nobody, and so many people criticize me 'cause of that or, like, judge my character 'cause of that. But it's like I'm not this evil, mean person that people think that, that I am. I'm very actually compassionate. I'm too compassionate. That's why I cry for... If there's something that might be going on in the other side of the world, I'm crying for it, and it's like, why am I crying for this? Like, this is crazy. I'm very compassionate, and I'm very understanding. And I'm a Libra, so I see always two sides of the scale. I always have sympathy, just a little. I even have sympathy for, for bitches.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
I have sympathy for bitches that my man and they have taken a family loss. I'm like, damn, I feel bad for her. That's how sympathetic I am.
- 52:55 – 55:01
Balancing Work and Motherhood
- JSJay Shetty
it's funny you say that. I was, I was talking to a parenting expert on the podcast a few weeks ago, and she was saying that parenting is the most inconvenient thing. She goes, "You love them, but they're inconvenient. Like, it's hard, like, if you're honest about it" and so-
- CBCardi B
Oh, yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... there's a, there's a real feeling about how, how tough being a mom is. How, how do you balance being a superstar and being a mom? Like, how do you ma- It, you, you said it yourself, you wanna be the best at everything. When you do something-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... you wanna be the best at it, so I assume that applies to being a mom too.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
And so it's like how do you do that? What, what is it to you? What makes you a great mom? What are the parts that you focus on, and how do you balance those two crazy worlds?
- CBCardi B
I think that what makes me, [laughs] I think that what makes me, like, a good mom, I don't give my kids... It's not that I give my kids everything, but they just think I'm so funny.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Like, even when I curse at them, they just think I'm so funny, and it's like I'm being serious with y'all. But they just love me. I don't know why they... I mean, of course I know why they love me, but it's like, why y'all love me so much?
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
I guess I'm a good mom because they love me so much. They just think I'm so entertaining. They think I'm so fun. Even when we just laying in bed, they just wanna lay in bed with me. "Ain't no Target. We ain't going to no goddamn Target. J- we ain't going to Target. Don't ask me for no mother [censored] goddamn Roblox"
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
"That's exactly how... Don't come in here asking me for no goddamn Roblox. You ask me one more time for a [censored] iPad for one of your cousins, we're gonna have a problem." This is how, this is exactly how I talk to my kids.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
And they still love me. They just love me. I don't know. They love me for who I am. They love me. I don't even know how to explain it. I do, I do give them everything though, but not al- Giving them everything doesn't always make you the greatest mom because it's like you seen, you seen cases where, like, the parents work so hard. They give, they pa-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm
- CBCardi B
... their kids everything and it's not enough. Like them two brothers. What's they, they called again?
- JSJay Shetty
Uh, oh, yeah, the, uh, Menendez Brothers.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
You could give them everything, but if they don't love you, they just don't love you.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
And I don't know. They just, they just love me. I just always remind them that I love them, but I will curse them out though.
- 55:01 – 59:36
Teaching Children Not to Be Lazy
- JSJay Shetty
What, what-
- CBCardi B
Yes, so-
- JSJay Shetty
What, what's a, what's a quality or a skill that you have that you really want them to learn and develop and grow as they get older? I know they're young right now, but...
- CBCardi B
Please don't be a bum. Please don't be a bum. Please don't be lazy. Some people are s- some people have the look, the intelligent, the talent. Some people really have that, but they don't go nowhere because they're lazy. Don't be lazy. Don't just be, "Oh, your parents are this and that." No, be your own person. Be your own human. Be something. Be something. Be something that you could be proud of. My mom, she was not... She's, she was, she was a lunch lady, practically, but I am very proud of my mom because she used to work her ass off. She could've went to my grandma like, "I, I'm going through a tough time right now. Can you raise my kids for a year or two?" She never did that. My, my grandmothers a- as well, one of them got 10 kids, the other one got 13 kids. They worked every day. My grandma from my dad's side, she gave birth of all her kids in her wooden house, and then couple of days later, she working back in the farm, and she brung all her kids to America one by one, different time. Same with my grandma. She had, my, from my mom's side, she had 13 kids. She used to cook, cook, cook, cook, sell food, sell food, sell food. She brung all her 13 kids over here. Like, it's, it's no excuse. Like, but I could say that because they did that, and you're gonna be able to say that about me. Like, it's like my mom worked every day. I seen my mom work every day. Be that. Be that. One day, you're gonna have kids one day, and you want your kids to say that about you, that you worked hard every day, that everything you got, you deserved it, that you made it. Nobody gave it to you. You don't wanna be like, "Oh, you just, you just successful because you're a whole man." Like, I have son. I have a son. You don't want nobody say that you, you fly and you fire because you somebody's son.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
No, I'm fly because I'm my own man. I made myself a man. I work my h- ass off. You gonna have a bitch one day. You don't want your bitch to be like, "Ugh, he a mama boy. He a daddy's..." No. I'm a hardworking man, baby girl. You can [censored] on. Same with my daughters. Ain't no nigga gonna roll you over 'cause you got your own shit. You're more than just a pretty face. Be a boss. Be something. Please, I don't give a [censored] what they do, whatever the [censored] . Just, just do not have that lazy bone on you. Like, the, the... Ain't no way that I'm busting my ass for you mother [censored] just so you could end up not being shit. I'm giving y'all everything, every... Even when, even when they 18 and stuff like that and it's time to leave, if you want an apartment, if you want a, if you want a, a car, I'll give it to you, but please, please become something. Don't be noth- please don't be nothing. That would be the worst disappointment they could ever do. Don't disappoint me like that. Whatever the [censored] y'all do, just don't be a nothing.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs] If, if you give it to them, though, don't you think they'll be lazy then? 'Cause if you give them an apartment and you give them a car, then they'll feel like, "Well, I don't need to work 'cause Mom's got me"?
- CBCardi B
No, because it's like, like... All right, for example, I, I, I went to col- I went to college, right? But I had to drop out of college because I had to work to just feed myself.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
If you got a crib and if you could maneuver to, to college or you probably wanna open up a business or something, if you can ma- maneuver, you don't gotta worry about a bill, then it, it becomes easier for you. But don't get... Don't make me give you an apartment-
- JSJay Shetty
No
- CBCardi B
... or a [censored] car and you just out here not doing shit. I better, every single time I FaceTime you, you better be mother [censored] doing something. If you in bed at [censored] 12:00 PM, yeah, ain't that car under my name?
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Oh, it's coming with me. You need, you need the real world.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
You need, you... I, I'ma have to... And no go to your daddy. You don't be going to your [censored] daddy. I will take the shit away. I don't play that. You ain't gonna be nothing.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah, you're clear about that.
- CBCardi B
You a millionaire yourself.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
You got two feet, you got two hands, you got a brain, you better do some shit.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah,
- 59:36 – 1:02:29
Raising Disciplined and Strong Adults
- JSJay Shetty
for sure. I, I fou- I found, like, I started working when I was 14. I used to deliver newspapers at the time, and then I started working at a grocery store. I used to work at the back and stack the shelves, pick up all the pallets, bring all the goods in, work back of house, and then I worked and sold jeans at some jean shop. It's like, I found working since I was 14-
- CBCardi B
Yeah
- JSJay Shetty
... is what made me realize the value of work, and I've been working hard ever since, and it's, if I didn't start working hard at 14, I feel like... And my parents didn't have anything to give me either.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
But I feel like that work ethic has to start early.
- CBCardi B
It do have to start early.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
And that's why, like, it's like, like sometimes when my pa- here come my parents sometimes. My parents, they be getting on my nerves sometimes. Like, they be getting on my [censored] nerves sometimes because, like, my kids, they have school till 3:00 PM, right? And after school, I don't care, and I don't want y'all at home talking about like I'm a little tough and shit. I don't give a [censored] . This is what I work hard for. After school, my kids, four times a week, they have tutoring, reading, math, whatever the [censored] they have tutoring, mandatory in my house. Then Kulture have piano or she got gym class. Wave, he got sports class, and he still gotta do the tutoring. And, "I'm all, but I'm sleepy" I don't, I don't wanna hear that shit. I don't wanna hear that shit. It's discipline. It gotta be in you, and you have to be better than me. I want you to be better than me. There's things that I cannot do that I want my kids to do. I don't know how to swim. I would love to swim.But [coughs] the one time I went to a pool in Highbridge, there was a crazy fight that broke out. People was getting cut left to right.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
So I couldn't go swimming because I ain't have no pool. If I have a pool, you gonna learn how to swim. You gonna take your swimming classes. I'm not really good with my feet, so you gonna take dance classes because if you wanna, if you ever wanna be a superstar, that shit gonna be in you that you a dancer.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
I want you to be smarter than me. Like, I could read down, but my grammar's not that great. I want you to be not perfect, 'cause you cannot make your kids perfect, and you don't want your, to put pressure on your kids perfect, but I want you to be a, a hundred time better version than me.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
And I'ma install that in you, and you gonna be mad, and you gonna be crying, but you gonna appreciate that one day. 'Cause I wish, I wish the things that, that I'll put on my kids, that I, that somebody put in me when I was younger.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
But they couldn't put that in me when I was younger because they couldn't afford it, and they couldn't really have time to be like, "Cart- Buckley's, Buckley's, Buckley's, Hennessy, Hennessy, Hennessy" because they had to work.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
I have to work, but I'm gonna give you classes for it.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
Grab me something, boy. Grab me something, girl.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
I ain't playing with y'all.
- JSJay Shetty
I love it. I love it.
- 1:02:29 – 1:04:41
The Little Things That Make You Happy
- JSJay Shetty
Y- success is so much of who you are. It's who you breathe. It's what you do.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
What makes Cardi B happy?
- CBCardi B
It's the, like, l- little, little elements. Like, my kids make me very happy. They're just so [censored] cute and funny. Like, it's just... [laughs] And they say stupid stuff. Like, it's like-
- JSJay Shetty
What do they say? [laughs]
- CBCardi B
Just things that it's like, "Wh- girl, what?" It's funny. It's... And it's funny seeing your kids grow and develop a little character in them. Like, when my baby, she be hitting her brother, her sister, it be so funny to me-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... 'cause it's, like, a baby, and she's... And they're, and they're just there taking it. So to me, the li- little things like that is funny and makes me happy. Romance, you know what I'm saying? When I'm, when I'm in love, and when we having a good... You know, when we having a good week, when you showing that you care, that makes me happy. You know, actually, when I did saw a piece of a interview with Selena Gomez-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm
- CBCardi B
... and you-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm
- CBCardi B
... when she said, "I might have a 14-hour day-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm
- CBCardi B
... and just one phone call, and knowing somebody's there for you is a good feeling," that's a good feeling as well.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
What else is a good feeling for me? When I'm with my cousins, when I'm with my family, and we just cracking jokes, and it just feels, it feels like, it feels like childhood.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
It makes me happy. Music make me very happy. I love music. When me and my team, we plan something, we put in so much work, and it goes good-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm
- CBCardi B
... that makes me happy. That makes me happy, the team happy, and it motivates me, and it motivate my team. And it mo- and it's just like, "We did it" So stuff like that, stuff like that makes me happy. Seeing all the work that you do and the time that you put, the process, the progress that you put, and it's like, it hits, it's successful, that makes me really happy. Like, it's like, "Oh, thank God. Thank you, Jesus" It makes me wanna keep going. Just like-
- JSJay Shetty
That's a good list.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
That's a good list. I like it.
- 1:04:41 – 1:08:43
Redefining Love
- CBCardi B
So-
- JSJay Shetty
It's all connection. It's all real. It's human. It's love. It's family.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
It's friends. It's intimacy. It's, it's, it's all the, it's all, it is all the most beautiful things that we're all looking for.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
How, how do you see love now? Like, how do you define love?
- CBCardi B
Effort.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
It's not gonna always be perfect. Effort is, is, like, a lot to me. It means a lot to me. Like, calling me, studying me, personality as well. I love me a joke.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
I love me a he, he, he. You know what I'm saying? Like-
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah
- CBCardi B
... if you, if, if I, if I come to you and I'm in tears... When was it? Last week, I saw, I saw my little boyfriend. I saw my boyfriend, and I was in tears. I was like, "It's so much pressure on me. Like, it's so much pressure on me" And just one little joke-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... it ma- I, like, I'm, like, tears.
- JSJay Shetty
What was the joke?
- CBCardi B
I f- I kind of forgot the joke, but it was so funny.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. That's good, though.
- CBCardi B
And, like, snot coming out of my nose, and it's like-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... it made me laugh. It just made me feel good. And it's just like, "You know what? Things are gonna be okay".
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
Stuff like that.
- JSJay Shetty
Someone you can, someone you can, someone who can make you laugh, cry, and someone who can be there for you when you're crying real hard tears.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
I like that, and I like effort. I like what you said, study you.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
That was really interesting. Now, I've never heard that before, but I like it, the idea that if someone loves you, they study you.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
What does, what does that mean to you? Tell me about that. I like that one a lot.
- 1:08:43 – 1:11:55
Am I the Drama?
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. Where, where did the name Am I the Drama, what inspired that? What i- what i- what's, what's the subtext? What's the hidden meanings behind it?
- CBCardi B
I don't wanna keep saying when I was a little girl.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
But it's funny, like, it's like-
- JSJay Shetty
Say it. I love, I love knowing that you manifested this. It's beautiful
- CBCardi B
... no, 'cause it's like ever since I was a little girl, I always get in trouble. [laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
And it don't really be me. Like, it's like if we having a sleepover, me and my cousins, I will be the one that the aunt is pulling their ears. 'Cause it's like, "Yeah, I know this was your idea." But even was, it wasn't even my idea. And sometimes when I used to go to school and I used to fight, my mom used to be like, "Didn't I tell you to avoid the fight?" And it's like, "Mom, I swear to God it's not me. It's these girls, they keep trying me. That's why I keep getting into fights."
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
And, and when I was in school too, like, it's like when I do get in trouble just because I'm being mischievous, it's like, like, my friend's moms used to be like, "It's 'cause of her."
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
"It's 'cause of h- it's 'cause of Belcalis. I know it's her." And it's like, it don't really be me.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
It really don't be me. And that's just how it is with my life. Like, it's like, yo, I'm always in a scandal, I'm always in some bullshit, I'm always in some beef. And it's like no matter how much I avoid it, it comes to me. Am I the [censored] drama?
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Is it me, Jesus? Is it me? No matter how much I avoid it, no matter how much I think I'm in a bubble, and it's like nope, that bubble's always gonna pop.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
Something's always gonna find you, girl. But that's why I like, am I the drama? Is-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Why am I always in some shit? Whether it's good or bad, why am I always in some shit?
- JSJay Shetty
What's the answer?
- CBCardi B
Am I?
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
That's the qu- that's, the, the answer is still the question. Am I? Am I? Only one person can answer that, and that's Jesus. 'Cause God, why the [censored] am I always in some shit?
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
When is the [censored] boat gonna start smooth sailing? Why are we always in the ocean, in the middle of the ocean, in the roughest, we in the f- we in the Pacific Ocean all the time.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs] I love that. It's a great question.
- CBCardi B
[laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
It's a great question. It lines up for a great album. It's, it's, it's such a great name. It's such a great, such a great energy. Even just hearing you talk about it is such a great vibe. What's the, uh... I mean, how does it feel when that drama gets televised and then it's all over TikTok? How does that feel?
- CBCardi B
Nope. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad.
- 1:11:55 – 1:14:28
Speaking Your Mind Without Fear
- JSJay Shetty
How does it feel when, when your drama is televised? Like, when that is televised, how does that feel?
- CBCardi B
It just feels, sometimes it feels okay, 'cause there's gonna be people that's gonna cheer for you.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
And sometimes gonna be very overwhelming, like, and very stressful, very annoying. And then it's like, unlike other celebrities, you know, a lot of people be wanting me to be like certain celebrities and stuff like that.
- JSJay Shetty
Oh, really? Like who?
- CBCardi B
Like, they just want me to be, like, the type of person that just don't respond.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
That don't tell my feelings. And they be thinking that some of these celebrities, like, they're perfect, which they are amazing, but don't think they're not going through what I'm going through. Don't think they don't feel like what the pressure they, that I go through. Don't think they're not saying, " [censored] y'all. I hate you mother [censored] . Who the [censored] you think you are to tell me that I'm this, this? And who the [censored] you think you this and that?" I'm just the person that tells it. So it's a blessing and a curse, because sometimes I feel like I s- I speak for them. And that's why when a lot of celebrities see me, they be like, "Yo, you be saying what I wanna say."
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs] That's cool.
- CBCardi B
But then sometimes it's like a curse, because sometimes people be like, it's like, "Oh, you're the only one that do that. You're the only one that do that." And it's like, well, you-I'll be the one that do that
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
I can't do it all the time, though, 'cause then people gonna think I'm just crazy, but I'll be the one to do that. Y'all need to leave [censored] people alone. Y'all think because us celebrity, we make a little money and we make a little this, like, it's like, bitch, I have feelings too, ho.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
I ain't no chopped liver. So, maybe that's why I'm sometimes like the punching bags. And sometimes people be like, "You need to stop doing that. You need to stop being this. You need, you need to be more like them." And it's like, they feel the same way I feel too. They wanna tell these people, " [censored] y'all. [censored] you and your mom-
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
... and your dad, and your whole bloodline. How the [censored] you talking on me? [censored] you." Trust me, they wanna say that to... They wanna say that.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah, I think everyone does. Yeah.
- CBCardi B
But I'll be the one to say it.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
But that's because sometimes it do feel good to say it.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
" [censored] you."
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
"Bitch, [censored] you." I'll be the one.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
Not all the time, but I'll be the one.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- 1:14:28 – 1:16:38
Age Brings Wisdom
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. I c- I could see that from all the clips that I've seen, like you're always yourself. Like, you're never not yourself wherever you are.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
The glam, the looks, the fashion, the wigs, the, everything that comes out of your mouth, it's like you're never, you're never filtering yourself, no matter the environment you're in.
- CBCardi B
Oh, trust me, I f- I filter myself a lot.
- JSJay Shetty
Oh, you do? [laughs]
- CBCardi B
I have, I f-
- JSJay Shetty
Really? [laughs]
- CBCardi B
Sometimes I feel like, damn, who the [censored] am I? Who the [censored] have I become? 'Cause I u- I used to have no filter. Now it's just like I be like, "All right. But still [censored] you, though."
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
[laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
Where do you filter yourself, if you ever do? Where do you filter yourself?
- CBCardi B
This mouth, I could be a piranha.
- JSJay Shetty
What are we today, a shark? No, today's-
- CBCardi B
No, today I'm a goldfish.
- JSJay Shetty
Okay, today you're a goldfish, yeah.
- CBCardi B
I ain't said nothing bad today. Today I'm a goldfish.
- JSJay Shetty
No, no. No, no, no. You haven't. Yeah.
- CBCardi B
I've been really nice today.
- JSJay Shetty
You have been wonderful.
- CBCardi B
But it's like sometimes I'll be seeing people, and I'll be like, I could get really nasty. This all facts, I could get really nasty.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm. But you hold back sometimes, I feel.
- CBCardi B
But I hold back so much. I hold, I hold back so much, so much, so much, so much, so much, so much.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
[sighs] I really, you know what? I really did change a lot. I don't know what changed me. Maybe, maybe the age, maybe the kids, maybe life.
- JSJay Shetty
You softened up a bit.
- CBCardi B
I always been soft, but I could, I could really give it to you. [laughs] And I won't stop. But I stop just for, mm.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
[laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
Is it the age? Is it the kids? Which, which one is it? Or all of them, all of the above?
- CBCardi B
It's a combination.
- 1:16:38 – 1:19:56
Does Life Ever Get Easier?
- JSJay Shetty
You, you've talked about how money doesn't fix everything, and success doesn't solve everything.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
And, and it almost feels like when you don't have those things, you think it will.
- CBCardi B
Yeah.
- JSJay Shetty
And then when you get it, you realize, oh, wait, there's all this other stuff that we haven't figured out yet. What i- what is something that you're still trying to figure out, learn, solve in your own life? Wh- what's, what's the part of your life you're, like, working on, dreaming, envisioning, imagining to be better and different?
- CBCardi B
I mean, life in general.
- JSJay Shetty
All of it.
- CBCardi B
All of it, to be honest with you. Life just doesn't get... I wonder when life is gonna do start getting easier, 'cause life is just hard, no matter if you have money or not.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
You got problems when you're poor; you got problems when you're rich. [laughs] You're just always just trying to figure it... Every single day, I feel like people is just trying to figure it out, trying to figure themself out, trying to figure life out, and it just will never stop.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
It will never stop, I think. When will it though stop, when you're 60? But even when you're 60, you're gonna start having other problems, like back problems. [laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
And it's like another thing, another problem that you gotta figure out. You know what I'm saying?
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah, yeah.
- CBCardi B
Like, it's like, it just will never stop.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
The older you get, the more people you lose. The more kids you have, the more things you have to worry about. The more money you have, the m- the more you have to learn about managing. If you have a partner or when you don't have a partner, you gotta figure out how you, if you wanna, how you wanna deal with being alone. When you have a partner, it's like how, you gotta figure out how to be they peace in everything.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
And I really don't want people thinking either that it's like just because you have money, like, it's like you live the easy life. Everybody that, that have money, that are successful, that are good at what they do, if you notice a pattern, they work their asses off. You think that Beyoncé got a [censored] boat and a mansion and this and that because she's just Beyoncé? No, she work her ass off. She's one of the most hardest people ever. Why people cannot get to her level? Why people cannot this and that? Because they just, she just have a insane work ethic and insane time. And my partner, he wakes up every day at 5:30, 6:00 AM, and leave work at 7 P- PM. And then you got people that hate on him, and it's like, wh- well, why he so good?
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm.
- CBCardi B
'Cause he works hard.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
Why am I here after seven years? Because I'm every day, every day, working every day. What we doing next? Hello, what y'all doing? Wake up. I got something planned. I just, I just thought of something. I just had a dream of something. We gotta make it happen.And working hard, you could say working hard and it sounds like working hard, but it's like it's hours and hours, it's hours, it's time, it's body, it's brain.
- JSJay Shetty
Hmm.
- CBCardi B
Like, I'm exhausted. I'm really exhausted right now. Back hurt, butt hurt. I'm sleepy as shit. I got a headache on the right side of my head-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm
- CBCardi B
... when I'm working.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah.
- CBCardi B
After this-
- 1:19:56 – 1:22:14
The Power of Daily Prayer
- JSJay Shetty
In this conversation, you've talked about Jesus, you talked about the devil. Do you talk to God a lot? Do you pray?
- CBCardi B
Every day.
- JSJay Shetty
Every day?
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm. I feel like I have a very deep spiritual connection with God. And it's not even, like, about praying, it's, like, talking. Like, even when I talk to God, I talk to him just like I'm talking to you.
- JSJay Shetty
Hmm.
- CBCardi B
I be cursing-
- JSJay Shetty
I love that
- CBCardi B
... crying. 'Cause people be like, "Oh, cursing is bad," but it's like, Go- God know, God knows who, God knows who I am. God knows, God knows how I be. Like, it's like, it's almost like I'm talking to a friend.
- JSJay Shetty
Hmm.
- CBCardi B
And I really do believe, in my weird mind, in my weird universe that I made, like, I have, I have angels. I really do believe that God gave me angels, and I believe in them. I feel like God is here and I feel like you got your angels here, then you got your other religions here. I believe in God so much, it's not even funny. And, you know, some people might not believe in God, but it's like, don't try... Like, it's like, I'm not gonna convince nobody to believe in what I believe in. But if it... How you expect me not to believe on the person that I've been praying to my whole life-
- JSJay Shetty
Mm
- CBCardi B
... and gave me what I wanted?
- JSJay Shetty
So that little girl was talking to God in that dream.
- CBCardi B
Always, all the time. It's like the, the imaginary friend, the voice in your head that you think is your friend, that you think is your, your, your voice, that's, that's just w- that was just you talking to God the whole time.
- JSJay Shetty
Hmm.
- CBCardi B
That's just you talking to God the whole time. I love Him, I believe in Him. I always tell this to somebody, like, it's like the most, the most, the most I could give you, the most powerful thing that I could give you is me praying on you. If I pray on you, for you, it's 'cause I love you. It's the most powerfulest thing. And I do feel like when you pray together, miracles happen. I love Him.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm.
- CBCardi B
I love you so much. Why do you love me so much?
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Why do you love me so much? Tell the- tell, tell, tell everybody. I'm, like, one of your favorite kids.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Tell them. Jesus, Lord, tell these people, I'm one of your favorites. Don't lie to them.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
Don't lie to them.
- JSJay Shetty
That's beautiful.
- 1:22:14 – 1:26:32
Cardi on Final Five
- JSJay Shetty
Cardi, you've been so, so generous with your time, your energy, your heart. I really felt, you know, this surpassed every one of my expectations that I had of meeting you and getting to interview you. Uh-
- CBCardi B
Hey, yeah. Well, you, you could do this all the time
- JSJay Shetty
... I, I knew there was, I knew there was so much spirit, I knew there was so much soul, I knew there was, there was just this energy inside that, that I'm, I'm really grateful you let share today and, and people get to know you a bit more deeply. Uh, we, we end every episode with a Final Five. These questions have to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum. So Cardi B, these are your Final Five. But I-
- CBCardi B
You know I talk a lot. You think-
- JSJay Shetty
I know. You can, you can. You-
- CBCardi B
You th- you think I can answer in one word?
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs] I'm giving you permission, you can.
- CBCardi B
Okay.
- JSJay Shetty
You can. All right. So question number one, we ask this to every guest who's been on the show, what is the best advice you've ever had or received?
- CBCardi B
Well, I'm gonna go with one advice that I heard today. No, I didn't hear it today, I heard it yesterday. Ask the difficult questions.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
The difficult questions make the relationship stronger. It could break it, it could make it, but you still have a understanding. If you become that understanding, then y'all might become stronger.
- JSJay Shetty
You said it better. You said it better. Whoever said it, you said it better, so.
- CBCardi B
Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
Uh, question number two, what is the worst advice you've ever had or received?
- CBCardi B
Ugh.
- JSJay Shetty
I think you've had a lot.
- CBCardi B
Sometimes wh- when somebody told me to wear a certain outfit or when somebody told me to drop a certain songs, you never know.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
It could go from here to that. Mm-hmm.
- JSJay Shetty
Question number three, finish the sentence: One thing I'll never apologize for is...
- CBCardi B
My mouth. My, my, my, my mouth. [laughs] Well, sometimes I'ma apologize for my mouth. Sometimes I might, maybe I'm a little too hard. I don't know. I'll, I'll apologize for my mouth sometimes, but not all the time.
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs] Question number four, what's something that you used to value that you don't value anymore?
- CBCardi B
Uh, I happen to have, like, the streets. I value it a lot and I don't. I value it because it made me and it gave me a certain mentality, but I wouldn't wanna advise that, a- advise, advise that to people that I love, people that I care, or to young kids, to young boys, to young girls, because it don't always lead you to where you think it's gonna lead you. It's very grimy. It don't love you back, ever.
- JSJay Shetty
Mm-hmm. And fifth and final question, we ask this to every guest who's been on the show, if you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?
- CBCardi B
If I was Kim Jong Un. [laughs]
- JSJay Shetty
[laughs]
- CBCardi B
What law? I'm not sure. I gotta come back to that.
- JSJay Shetty
Yeah. Think about it.
- CBCardi B
Matter of fact, if you hurt children, you gotta get... What's that thing when they clip you?
Episode duration: 1:26:32
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