Cardi B was honored as Billboard’s “Woman of the Year” at their annual “Women in Music” event, which had more to do with her outspoken political activism during and after the election, the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement than it did her chart-topping success.
Making the award particularly special was the woman who presented her award to her, Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer. Cardi hasn’t been afraid to speak out and has been an advocate for justice in the case of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old who was shot and killed by police officers raiding her Kentucky home with a “no-knock warrant”, on suspicions that her home may have been used to receive drug packages. “One of Breonna’s most outspoken advocates over the past nine months has been Cardi B,” said Palmer.
“From the beginning, Cardi has used her platform to spread the truth about what happened to Breonna and to reaffirm that Black women’s lives matter.” “Cardi B’s impact reaches far beyond music,” she continued. “That why I am so proud and honored to present Billboard’s Woman of the Year award to Miss Cardi B.” In her acceptance speech, Cardi spoke to “all the girls out there that are just like me” and said that, in order to achieve success, “you got to put your mind to it”. Cardi also touched on another aspect of her outspoken personality that always seems to have people in a frenzy, in particular, her song “WAP,” with Megan Thee Stallions. “Not only was it an amazing song that broke so many records, but it was a conversation that I never thought was going to be so big,” Cardi said. “”I mean, it pissed off a whole bunch of Republicans for no reason, you know what I’m saying? It was just weird.”Cardi also addressed young girls out there that are just like her, encouraging them to work hard to make their dreams come true, and to use that hate that people throw to push them even harder to grind.“You actually gotta put in the work,” she urged. “You gotta be ambitious. You gotta network. You gotta become great at what you do. You gotta be able to take criticism — believe it or not, y’all be saying I don’t take criticism, but yes I do. That’s why when people be like, ‘Oh, you can’t do this, you can’t do that,’ I practice so I can become better and better. There’s hope. There’s hope for your dreams.”Take a look at the full acceptance speech here.
