Cardi B: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

It’s well past midnight at New York’s Daylight Studio, and Cardi B is fighting to stay awake. Five hours into her Billboard photo shoot, a slight wardrobe malfunction with her black dress is prompting a quick timeout. “S–t, I got a wedgie,” she groans, dropping into her seat with a smirk. But like a true New Yorker, she toughs it out — chewing ice and cracking jokes like she’s headlining her own late-night set.

Clutching a Chick-fil-A cup, she rattles off a story about the fast-food chain botching her order. Then she seamlessly swerves into her recent social media spat with WWE’s Naomi. A couple of days earlier, Cardi had hosted SummerSlam at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium — and in the run-up to the event, she’d threatened on X to shave Naomi’s head and use her hair as a wig. “I just be talking s–t because I know these b–ches can really fight,” she gags, eyes gleaming.

Cardi’s jokes and swagger never clock out. But behind the antics, she’s focused — and eager to reassert her hip-hop dominance. Seven years after her Grammy Award-winning, multiplatinum-selling, culture-shifting debut, Invasion of Privacy, she’s finally ready to launch her next act with her long-awaited second album, Am I the Drama?

“I’m really one of those artists that people ask for their albums the most every year,” Cardi says matter-of-factly. “I wouldn’t be confident if nobody asked me for my s–t. Imagine nobody asking for an album of yours? Imagine nobody asking for your music? That’s why I’m so confident.”

Read Cardi B’s full Billboard cover story here.