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Cardi B: The Unapologetic Afro-Latina

One of the most popular Afro-Latinas in today's 2017 pop culture sphere is none other than the rapper, Cardi B. Born Belacalis Almanzar, Cardi is the epitome of the Caribbean gyal - she's the daughter of a Dominican father and a Trinidadian mother. Family played (and still does) a huge role in her life, where she would spend time with her grandmother and her sister Hennessy, growing up.  
A native New Yorker, from the Bronx specifically, Almanzar has made such strides in her life. She went to a specialized arts high school, then to the CUNY college, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), before she started working as a stripper to raise enough money to get out of a relationship where she experienced domestic violence. She started to become a well-known name in the club scene, as she progressed in her career. Cardi's career really made waves when she started making videos detailing aspects of her life on the social media platforms, Vine and Instagram. The partial reason I even chose this background color is to pay homage to Instagram's picture sharing app.
With Cardi's online rise, she garnered the attention of casting producers from VH1's hit reality show, Love and Hip Hop: New York (LHHNY), a show that documents the personal and romantic lives of various hip hop producers and rappers. She joined the cast and throughout her time on the show, she was able to release two mixtapes Gangsta Bitch Music Volume 1,  and Gangsta Bitch Music Volume 2. Not only was Cardi B being recognized as the "regular, degular, schmegular girl from the Bronx," but her music was making to hit the charts. With songs like "Lick" and "Washpoppin,'" Cardi's music career was skyrocketing. It wasn't until the summer of 2017 did her single, "Bodak Yellow," really garner a following. Cardi's song did so well, she created a Latin Trap remix to "Bodak Yellow," where she features the Dominican rapper, Messiah, and even raps in Spanish herself (she even performed this version at New York City's Dominican Day Parade, to showcase her Afro-Latina heritage). "Bodak Yellow" became so popular, the song rose to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart. She became the second female rapper to reach this spot since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing You Do)" hit the Number 1 spot 19 years ago, back in 1998.
However, not everyone is supportive of Cardi B, and Non-Black Latinos have never understood that Cardi is a Black Latina. When it comes to her Latinidad (performance of Latino-ness) or her Blackness, people have always resorted to her ethnically aligning herself as one or the other. Again, here is the "otherness" that Charlotte E. Jacobs refers to - Cardi B's fanbase questioning her ethnicity resorts her into an "other" space, where the narrative excludes her from being Afro-Latina. Cardi's existence in her Blackness and her Latinaness are not isolating spaces, and her fans put her in the position to have to choose between her heritage, rather than fully appreciating being Black and Latina as a whole. This is a very common narrative for Afro-Latinas in the media. 
If you watch the video above and read the tweet on the right, you will see how Cardi B consistently has to defend herself for celebrating being an Afro-Latina. Despite recognition from the scholar, Zahira Kelly in the video, or the reaffirmation from Selena's sister, Suzette Quintanilla, defending Cardi reffering to herself as the "Trap Selena," there is an added pressure on the rapper to explain herself for her Afro-Latina heritage. 
Cardi also received backlash from the Latino community for referring to herself as the "Trap Selena." On the song, "Motorsport," Cardi B lays down about a minute's worth of rhymes, and in that time, she refers to herself by saying "Let me wrap my weave up/I'm the Trap Selena/Damé mas gasolina." Cardi pays homage to the reggaeton song, "Gasolina," by Puerto Rican artist, Daddy Yankee. Here, Cardi builds her Blackness and Latinaness, one lyric at a time, and creates an image of herself as an Afro-Latina. After Cardi B made the "Trap Selena" reference, the intent behind it was to reflect on her hip hop style (Trap), and the late Latina Tejano singer who made waves in the later 1980s/early 1990s, Selena Quintanilla.
Despite the public reception to Cardi B reclaiming her identity, we can acknowledge how Cardi B's presence for Black women and girls is a triumph. We can actually build our literacy on her celebrity and hip hop image, particularly by looking at how successful she became in the summer months of 2017, along with her online and television persona. In order to analyze this, we can look at how Cardi B's image affects young Black women, and in particular, note her star persona to the writings of Elaine Richardson.
In Richardson's essay, "Developing Critical Hip Hop Feminist Literacies: Centrality and Subversion of Sexuality in the Lives of Black Girls," she notes how important it is to create a space for hip hop feminist literacies with young Black girls. Richardson studies how Black girls' narratives are set through lived experiences, in relation to the dominating discourse of African American women's literacies and hip hop feminist literacies. In doing so, Richardson believes that hip hop feminist literacies are a growing study that can be seen as generationally and culturally relevant, and can be used as a vehicle as community building, and empowering for women and girls (330).  ​
By collecting data through participatory action research, Richardson sought out how two middle-school aged Black girls were resisting heterosexual desires that were cast upon them, while also acknowledging their own sexuality. With her research, Richardson discovered that the two girls were exhibiting a debate in Black and hip hop feminist studies, which consisted of creating a sole difference between sex positivity and respectability.  That's exactly how Cardi B carries not only herself as Belacalis Almanzar, but also as her rap persona. Not only is Cardi very careful about the music that she is producing and releasing for public consumption, she is also very comfortable with her body and sexuality. ​
While the concept of sex positivity and respectability seems like a contradiction, Richardson notes how it is her job to acknowledge and support the "development of a healthy sense of sexuality, to problematize how poor Black girls' bodies are read in society, to help develop their critical literacies of self and society, and to support their critical assessment of situations so that they are equipped to protect themselves" (337). What we need to take from this pedagogy that Richardson explains is that educators need to acknowledge the worth of Black girls' sexual autonomy, while also discussing the damage that has been cast upon the stereotypical Black women's bodies that are presented in the media.  
The above video gives viewers an idea of how teenagers are creating a critical media literacy in relation to Cardi B's music video, "Bodak Yellow." Take a look at the video, "Teens React To Cardi B," brought to you by the video producers from the Youtube channel,​ FBE. As you're watching, pay particular attention to Brooklin, a young Black woman who personally loves Cardi B. Watch how she reacts to the video playing, how she connects with the music, and how she exhumes her appreciation for the rapper. 
But how do we make sense of this video, and why is it important to academically talk about this? Aside from conducting audience viewer analysis, the reason why these reactions are important, is due to the fact that the teenagers in this video are creating a literacy that they are unaware of.  ​​
Brooklin mentions after watching the video that she and her mother have fondly watched Cardi on LHHNY. But the most important mannerism to notice is how Brooklin allows herself to open up to the FBE team, by acknowledging that she's usually restrained in her previous reaction videos, but since they're watching Cardi B for the day, she gets to unleash her true self. ​This action alone allows viewers to see how Black girls respond to media that is representative of themselves - they're allowed to be more receptive to the material and appreciate having the ability to enjoy content that is produced by someone that looks like them.
​Richardson notes how "youth workers, educators, and parents have to work together to support and nurture types of critical consciousness and feminist movement that adolescents can embrace" (339). This theory can be applied to the reaction video to "Bodak Yellow." Teenagers and young adults are creating critical media literacies by just reading a media text and making connections. In order to facilitate this, particularly for Black girls, we must create spaces of community where Black girls can consciously read media texts that is made for them and by them. 
Works Cited
  1. "The Best of Cardi B": www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T4ngi-YeaQ
  2. Cardi B's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamcardib/?hl=en​ 
  3. “Cardi B. on Love and Hip Hop Season 6 Promo”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwLVEJYMstE
  4. “Watch Cardi B Rap “Bodak Yellow” In Spanish At The Dominican Day Parade”: http://www.thefader.com/2017/08/14/cardi-b-bodak-spanish
  5. “Cari B ‘Moves’ to No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 With ‘Bodak Yellow,’ Post Malone Debuts at No. 2 With ‘Rockstar’”: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7973958/cardi-b-no-1-hot-100-post-malone-portugal-the-man
  6. “Black or Latina: Afro-Latinas Are Often Asked to Make a choice in Hollywood”: http://madamenoire.com/344230/black-afro-latinas-make-choice-hollywood/
  7. “Suzette Quintanilla Defends Cardi B’s “Trap Selena” Line & Kim Kardashian’s Halloween Costume”: http://remezcla.com/culture/suzette-quintanilla-trap-selena-kim-kardashian-costume/
  8. FBE – Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheFineBros
  9. Richardson, Elaine. “Developing Critical Hip Hop Feminist Literacies: Centrality and Subversion of Sexuality in the Lives of Black Girls.” Equity & Excellence in Education, vol. 46, no. 3, 2013, pp. 327–341.