How Do We Grade the Rollout for Cardi B’s ‘Am I the Drama’ After Seven Years of Waiting?

In 2018, Cardi B aced just about every aspect of her first career album rollout. Invasion of Privacy was released to rave reviews, spawned another immediate smash in the J Balvin and Bad Bunny collab “I Like It,” debuted atop the Billboard 200 and eventually won a Grammy for best rap album. Her videos were iconic, as were her interviews, and the deep cuts on the album were just as rewarding as the big hits, all of which fit together perfectly. It was a borderline-perfect album era — one that, perhaps unsurprisingly, took her seven years to even attempt to follow up.

With this Rollout Report Card episode, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Kyle Denis and Emily Fuentes as we look at everything surrounding Am I the Drama? — both in the seven years that separated it and Invasion, and now the three months since its actual announcement. We attempt to grade all aspects of the rollout, and whether or not the longest-anticipated album in recent pop or hip-hop memory (and Cardi’s tireless promotion of it) managed to live up to our expectations.

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As we hand out our letter grades for all the most important factors in Cardi’s Am I the Drama rollout — from the live performances and music videos to the new songs and overall “albuminess” — , we answer all the most pressing questions about the Drama: Did Cardi need a bigger budget for some of her music videos? Which of the album’s advance singles deserved a better reception than they got? Why didn’t we get any official live performances on this album cycle? Should Kelly Rowland have her own talk show? Is it possibly to have an album-y 23-track LP that ends with two half-decade-old singles? How do we feel about Lizzo doing 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up” karaoke? And perhaps most importantly: After seven years, does it feel like Cardi B is officially, properly back?

Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from this fascinating album campaign, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!

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