There seems to be a fascination with authenticity within the Rap scene. In many interviews and exchanges on social media, the ethnicity of Cardi B – whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar Cephus – is often interrogated. Cardi B has had to repeatedly set the record straight, sometimes with photographic evidence – she was born to a Dominican father and a Trinidadian mother of African and Spanish descent.
In an interview conducted by Zendaya, the Grammy award-winning Rapper dives into the subject of race and heritage.
“One thing that always bothers me is that people know so little about my culture. We are Caribbean people,” she explained. “Some people want to decide if you’re Black or not, depending on your skin complexion, because they don’t understand Caribbean people or our culture.”
Cardi B never misses a chance to represent the Caribbean – be it by vacationing in Jamaica or by putting her fans onto the latest in Reggaeton and Calypso.
The Grammy-winning rapper was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan and raised in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx. She spent much of her youth at her Dominican grandmother’s home, marinating in the culture. She credits this period for her iconic accent. For her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, she became the only woman solo act to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
