Money

Album: released as a single (2018)
Charted: 35 13
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Songfacts®:

  • Cardi B's first solo release since breaking through with her Invasion of Privacy album finds her talking about her love of money, which she now has in abundance.

    I was born to flex
    Diamonds on my neck
    I like boardin' jets, I like mornin' sex
    But nothing in this world that I like more than checks


    Cardi's success is enabling her to maintain a luxurious lifestyle, something that comes naturally to the MC.
  • In July 2018, Cardi gave birth to her first child, Kulture. The Bronx MC reflects on being a mother as she considers the need to provide for her daughter.

    I got a baby, I need some money, yeah
    I need cheese for my egg


    While Cardi is here for the dollar bills there is one thing that is more important to her. She stresses in the last chorus:

    Nothing in this world that I like more than Kulture

    The Bronx MC's daughter always outweighs a check.
  • The song's stomping instrumentation was supplied by J. White Did It, the producer behind the beats for Cardi B's chart-topping singles "Bodak Yellow" and "I Like It." J. White Did It's beat dates back to the same sessions that produced Invasion of Privacy. The producer was surprised when Cardi decided to revisit his soundscape after the album's release and lay down some vocals from it. He recalled how they met in the middle over the production.

    "She wanted a raw sound," he told Genius. "I wanted it to have a few more elements to it, so towards the end of the track it definitely picks up a bit more, where at the beginning it's definitely raw."
  • The piano serves as the lynchpin for J. White's beat. "I love just intense-sounding sounds, so this piano is what I started with," he recalled to Genius. "This is suspense. Like, I'm coming. It feels like some shark in the water. That piano just… it sets the tone for the mood."

    From there, White added handclaps, hi-hats and the all-important 808 pattern. "I feel like the 808 is the heart and soul of every hip-hop record," he explained. "I space my 808s out because I just don't feel like riding in my car and hearing 'boom boom boom' the whole time. I want the song to breathe, and I feel like as producers, we have to learn that the voice is the main instrument."
  • Cardi performed this at the Grammy Awards in 2019 in an extravagant performance centered around a grand piano. Cardi's Invasion Of Privacy album took the award for Best Rap Album at the ceremony, making her the first female solo act to take that award.
  • This won Best Hip Hop at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards.

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