Cardi B has worked extremely hard to get where she is today, first by branding herself as a dancer and social media personality, and then by starring on VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York. Now, at age 25, she's already made history as the first woman since Lauryn Hill to top Billboard's Hot 100 list in the rap genre with her hit "Bodak Yellow."
Despite her open-book approach to fan and media interactions, there are still a few things about Cardi B that fans have been left to ponder, including how she came up with her stage name. Turns out, the origin story is just as outlandish as we've come to expect from her.
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Working hard for what I want and 10x as hard to keep it.
— Cardi B (@lmCardiB) October 31, 2017
According to People, Cardi B told Wendy Williams that her name is an ode to the rum you undoubtedly know all too well.
"My sister's name is Hennessy, so everybody used to be like 'Bacardi' to me," she told Williams. "Then, I shortened it to Cardi B. The 'B' stands for whatever, depending on the day...beautiful or bully."
The B could theoretically also represent her birth name, Belcalis, but she said that no one, "except for my family, my mother and my daddy," is allowed to call her that (I'm guessing that also goes for her fiancé, Offset, too). It's also worth nothing that she's recently started calling her fans, #BardiGang. So, honestly, who knows at this point.
Cardi B seems to still appreciate the alcohol brand that helped inspire her moniker because People reports she recently worked with Bacardi to throw a "Dress To Be Free" Halloween fête. The rapper dressed up as "Bruella," a play on sexy super-villain Cruella de Vil. Coming up with twists on names seems to be a hobby of hers.
Hey, when you're as successful as Cardi B, you can go by whatever you want. Just ask Diddy, aka Brother Love!