Cardi B names Rihanna, Jay-Z as her ‘biggest influences’

Cardi B wants to be a “billion-dollar woman” like Rihanna.

The Up hitmaker – who has two-year-old daughter Kulture with husband Offset – said she looks up to artistes like the 33-year-old Work hitmaker and hip hop superstar Jay-Z, 51, who have built lucrative business empires alongside successful music careers, and wants to follow in their footsteps.

Speaking to Stationhead, the 28-year-old rapper said: “When I came to the game and people used to be like, ‘Who do you look up to?’ I always used to say, ‘I don’t look up to nobody,’ because I didn’t really understand the game, and I only feel like I got influenced by the people that was around me. Now that I’m at the level that I’m at, one of my biggest influences is Rihanna and Jay-Z.”

She added that she’s not looking to curry favour, but that she feels “they’re so influential”.

“Rihanna comes from a country, a Caribbean country, that my parents came from, and she’s a whole billionaire. But for her to make her business so big and be a billionaire, that’s what I strive to be. That’s what I want. I want to be a billion-dollar woman,” she said.

Speaking about rapper Jay-Z - who is married to Beyoncé – Cardi B added how “he’s from the hood just like me. He’s from the hood, and this man’s a whole billionaire. And that’s just all about strategy, and that’s just all about shaking hands, that’s just all about putting plans together.”

Rihanna is a billionaire largely thanks to her Savage x Fenty lingerie line, while 99 Problems hitmaker Jay-Z has several business ventures and most recently sold a majority stake in streaming service to Tidal and 50 per cent of his champagne brand to LVMH, which shifted his net worth to a whopping $1.4 billion.