Before the fame, before the glam, there was just Cardi from the block—a ‘regular, shmegular’ girl from the BX.

We actually crossed paths with Cardi back in 2012—or more accurately, ran into the hurricane that is Cardi. That moment lives on, loosely, in Frames 4 and 7 above.

One thing hasn’t changed. Then as now, as she puts it: the only way forward is ‘working, working, working.’