Invasion of Privacy is released

Why it matters

Invasion of Privacy came out April 6, 2018, on Atlantic. It is Cardi B's debut studio album, nine months after "Bodak Yellow" had hit #1. The album sold 255,000 copies in its first week, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, and won the 2019 Best Rap Album Grammy — making Cardi the first solo woman ever to win the category. The album consolidates Cardi's writing voice and confirms the "Bodak Yellow" moment was not a fluke. "I Like It" with Bad Bunny and J Balvin (the Pete Rodriguez interpolation that became an instant Latin-crossover #1 hit). "Bartier Cardi" with 21 Savage. "Bickenhead." "Be Careful." "Get Up 10." The production roster is a who's-who of late-2010s trap (J. White Did It, DJ Mustard, Boi-1da, Cassius Jay, Murda Beatz). The album opens with the line "they gave a bitch two options: strippin' or lose" and continues from there in the kind of direct working-class boast register that Cardi had spent the previous two years calibrating. You should hear it. The Grammy was correctly given.