American singer and actress, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, has celebrated rapper Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, known professionally as Cardi B, on her birthday.
The 40-year-old took to her official website to wish the rapper a happy birthday as she clock 29 year old today.
Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan, on October 11, 1992. The daughter of a Dominican father and Afro-Trinidadian mother, she was raised in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx, and spent much time at her paternal grandmother’s home in Washington Heights, which she credits with giving her “such a thick accent.”
Almánzar developed the stage name “Cardi B” as a derivation of Bacardi, a rum brand that was formerly her nickname. She has a little sister, Hennesy Carolina born in 1995. She has said she was a gang member with the Bloods in her youth, since the age of 16, and has stated that she would not encourage joining a gang.
Cardi B attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school on the Herbert H. Lehman High School campus.
She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College before eventually dropping out. While stripping, Cardi B lied to her mother by telling her she was making money babysitting.
In 2013, she began to gain publicity due to several of her videos spreading on social media, on Vine and her Instagram page.
