The rap superstar is launching a new collection -- and dishing on everything from her relationship to her political aspirations.
Cardi B is still topping the charts and taking home major awards -- and now she's preparing to take over the fashion world!
The rapper's new collection with Fashion Nova drops on May 8, and only ET was on the set of her photo shoot for the campaign in Los Angeles. After Cardi's first collection sold out in minutes, she's done her research to make sure this next one is just as in-demand
"I study what people want," the 26-year-old superstar explained of cultivating her new line. "I always read some of the pros and some of the cons of my last collection, even though it did well, and is still doing well. So it's like, OK, [this one] is going to be a little more fun. More summertime vibes. And I think people are going to like this one."
But her plans for the fashion world weren't the only thing the "I Like It" rapper opened up about during ET's exclusive visit. She also talked "mom guilt," baby Kulture, new music and more! Read on for seven more things we learned about Cardi on set with her new collection.
1. She's still struggling to come to terms with her newly-elevated fame.
"It's definitely harder, like, the more money the more problems the more people that think they know you," Cardi admitted. "It just gets harder. Some people don't understand the struggle and think it came easy for me, you know?"
She even admitted that she's learned to sympathize with celebs like Britney Spears, who have publicly struggled with the pressures of fame. "I totally understand why these artists go through what they go through, why they're shaving their head. It's just crazy!"
But she's not giving up, promising to "thug it out, because I'm already famous. I got no choice but to keep it going."
2. And her newfound struggles are influencing her next album in the works.
"It's so crazy, because when it comes to my next album and everything, I always think, well, I can't really rap about the struggle. I can't really rap about what I used to work on, because I've passed the next level, so what am I going to talk about besides the glamour?"
But that's not to say she's struggling to find new material. "I feel like I've been in a lot of drama," Cardi admitted. "I feel like people have thrown so many different crazy obstacles, a new chapter in my life, like, I've got a whole lot of s**t to talk about."
"There's a lot of things that I don't be saying," she confessed. "I say it, people eat me up alive from it. They say I complain too much. You know what? I'm just going to put it in my music then."
3. She and Offset are "doing good," though filming the "Clout" video was a tough time.
"We're doing good. A lot of good things," Cardi said of her husband. The pair -- who married in a secret ceremony in fall 2017 -- split in December, but attended the 2019 GRAMMY Awards together in February and are "working out" a reconciliation. "We're planning a lot of good things coming on."
The pair recently teamed up to film the steamy music video for Offset's song "Clout," from his debut solo studio album, FATHER OF 4, and while Cardi admitted that the shoot wasn't a lot of fun on her end, it had nothing to do with their relationship ups and downs.
"It was actually really easy, the crazy thing is that I had such a bad migraine that day," she shared, assuring that she's fine now. "It was so terrible and as soon as I finished the music video, he just got me in a car and rushed me to the hospital."
4. She's become the strip club guru of the Hustlers set.
With a star-studded cast that includes Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Julia Stiles, Lizzo and more, Hustlers is quickly becoming one of Hollywood's most anticipated films. And while Cardi admitted that she had to take a smaller role than originally planned, due to her demanding schedule, she knew she had to be a part of the film -- which is inspired by a viral New York Magazine article about a crew of savvy former strip club employees who banded together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
"I had to be in this movie," she raved of the film, due out Sept. 13. "This movie is something I can relate to. All the actresses in the movie, I can tell them like, 'No, no, no, this is how it goes,' because, you know, like, the club that the movie is based on like, that's the first type of club that I worked in."
5. She's politically savvy, but ruling out a run for office in the near future.
"I feel like that's a big responsibility," Cardi admitted. "With my job today, I could quit it today, like, no that's it, I'm set up for me and my daughter. But when you're a political person, you cannot let millions of people down that voted for you, that rooted for you to make their lives better so that's just not my thing."
"I feel like I would be a Democrat, you know what I'm saying? [But the] House is full of Republicans right now, so it's just like, I don't wanna promise somebody something and then it won't happen because people are not going to vote for what I want or certain things won't happen," she added. "Like, for example, I want free health care and I feel like college education should be free. That's how I feel, that's what I want. I can't promise that, because I don't know how laws happen."
6. She's staying real about mom guilt.
"It makes me sad sometimes," she said of her crazy work schedule and its effect on her and Offset's 8-month-old daughter, Kulture. "All that traveling, and I know her sleeping schedule is getting a little messed up."
"It is getting harder because she knows me," she continued of her mom guilt. "She recognizes more now and that's like... you can just tell she wants me to be there. Sometimes, when she sees me leaving she looks up and goes bitch where you going?"
7. She even cut a song about her daughter from her first album, Invasion of Privacy.
Cardi's debut studio album was certified triple platinum, with all 13 tracks certified gold or higher, but Cardi revealed that there was almost another track on the album, about her baby daughter, who was born just a few months after Invasion of Privacy's release.
"I get so emotional when it comes to my kid," she admitted when asked if she'd ever feature Kulture on a track, a la DJ Khaled. "Maybe, though...I did a baby song that was supposed to be on my first album and to this day when I hear it I get emotional."
See more from ET's exclusive visit to the set of Cardi's Fashion Nova shoot in the video below!
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