What do you imagine a Cardi B song called “Be Careful” is about? I thought it would be a warning shot; one of those braggadocios songs rappers sometimes make where they tell you to “be careful of me or I will fuck you up”. However, Cardi’s song is actually the opposite.
Over a gentle beat, Cardi raps aspirationally (“I wanna get married like the Curry’s, Steph and Ayesha shit”) and with a trademark directness (“Poured my whole heart out to a piece of shit”). It’s all good – albeit standard – stuff until we reach the chorus, which is uncharacteristically vulnerable.
It turns out that “Be Careful” is meant as a warning, but a different type of one. She is not warning you to be careful of her, but to be careful with her. “My heart is a package with a fragile label on it”. I didn’t think that Cardi – whose voice is a force of nature – could sound this tender. By doing so she showcases a side to her artistry many people didn’t think existed.
As great as the chorus is though, the most affecting parts of the song for me are Cardi’s “yeah”s. In hip-hop, “yeah” is normally used by rappers to announce their arrival. To alert the listener that they are about to go off. The “yeah”s in “Be Careful” are entirely different. Cardi says them in a hushed tone, as if she is trying to psych herself up. These “yeah”s are emotional ones, out of step with any I’ve heard in rap. More than any of the great one-liners, this my favourite moment from the album.
That Cardi’s album is good seems to be a shock to the general public. The reaction of the (white and male) hiphopheads subreddit to good reviews saw them struggling to comprehend that a popular, sex-positive, female rapper could be critically acclaimed (at the same time, many of them defend domestic abuser XXXTentacion). This sexism is sad. Cardi’s rise over the last year has been a dreamlike story of hard work and taking advantage of every opportunity. To those hating, who does your response say more about, her or you?
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