Cardi B Gets Candid About Motherhood: “I Could Shake My Ass, But I’m Still A Great Mom”

In July of 2018, an enormous change happened to rapper Cardi B's life. Yes, her just-released album, Invasion of Privacy, was climbing the charts, but arguably something even more monumental came into her life. She gave birth to her first child with husband Offset, Kulture Kiari Cephus. Now, appearing on the cover of Vogue's January 2020 issue, the Bodak Yellow performer opens up about how motherhood has changed her life — but not necessarily her sense of self.

"I could shake my ass, I could be the most ratchet-est person ever, I could get into a fight tomorrow, but I’m still a great mom," Cardi tells Vogue. “All the time I’m thinking about my kid. I’m shaking my ass, but at the same time I’m doing business, I’m on the phone with my business manager saying, make sure that a percentage of my check goes to my kid’s trust. I give my daughter so much love, and I’m setting her up for a future. I want to tell her that a lot of the shit that I have done in life — no matter what I did, knowing that I wanted to have kids made me go harder to secure a good future for my kids."

As an eight-time Grammy nominee and with a win for Best Rap Album under her belt, it seems as though Cardi is pulling more than enough weight to secure a comfortable life for her daughter.

"I’m busting my ass right now so you could have a good car when you’re 18, so you can go to school and have an apartment that I could pay for," she continues. "If my daughter wants to go to college, that’s OK, but I just want her to be an owner of whatever the fuck she wants to own. Just be an owner. Be the boss."

For all the love and financial support she gives Kulture, Cardi still acknowledges that sometimes mastering a successful work-life balance in motherhood can be tough — especially when you live the on-the-go lifestyle of a famous performer.

"Flying is hard on Kulture, so if I go to a place and I’m not going to stay more than five days, I’m not bringing her," she says. "But now that’s getting harder, because she’s sleeping on my chest and she doesn’t want to let me go, or she sees you on FaceTime and she’s crying. It’s kind of like a friendship now, and it’s hard to leave your little friend."

"Being a mom — how can I say it? Things are a little bit harder to balance, but it’s good for the mental," she says. "Like, if I’m playing with my daughter, I forget about the issues."

Like any celebrity, Cardi B struggles with the immense amount of pressure (and hate tweets) she faces daily from her fans, peers, and the industry in general. But, for her, the one constant in her life that keeps her grounded is her daughter.

Right now, Cardi B and husband Offset are talking about the possibility of codesigning a children's clothing line — with Kulture as the CEO, of course.