Cardi B caught up with Billboard on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards on Sunday (Jan. 28) to chat about being nominated for two Grammy awards, the importance of the Time’s Up movement and what fans can expect from her album.
Asked what accolades such as Grammy nominations mean to her, Cardi B says “validation,” explaining that there are many people who want to discredit her and think that she isn’t worthy enough. “It’s just like, how do people with no credentials gonna make me feel like I don’t deserve my success?” she says. “And it’s like, there’s people from the Grammys, these are people that pick and choose who deserves it or not, and they feel like I deserve it, so it’s like… what’s popping? Who gonna say something?”
The “Bodak Yellow” rapper also discussed the Time’s Up movement, which artists are recognizing by carrying white roses at the Grammys. “To me, it feels so crazy that now that in Hollywood, it’s being talked about,” she says, “when in the community where I’m from, in the field that I used to be in, there used to be so many girls that were dancers, that are bartenders, a lot of urban girls that see hip-hop music videos, they see hip-hop magazines that there’s a lot of big, bootylicious girls, and there’s just so many men out there and there’s so many people that claim to be the ‘plug’ to get them there.”
Cardi also discussed what fans can expect from her album, saying, “Hood, cause I’m always hood, and a little feelings to it and something very different, something that I tried to be a little different — and they’re gonna love it.”
You can watch the full red carpet interview with Cardi B above.