Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” Song Review

Hello, I’m MusiCommentator, and I decided to look back at the charts to see what the people were listening to.  Somehow, Despacito is still on the top!  I am not reviewing that song!  Number Two is DJ Khaled’s song with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller “Wild Thoughts”.  I have listened to it before, and it is better than his other hit single “I’m The One”, but I have already reviewed a DJ Khaled song, and reviewing one song by him is one too many already.  What was really surprising, though, is that number three is a song by Cardi B.

I am assuming that most of my readers do not know much about Cardi B, so I’ll give you all some background.  Born in 1992, Cardi B grew up in the Bronx.  To escape poverty, she started stripping, but some social media notoriety got her name out in the public.  She started a musical career in 2015 and has been popping out mixtapes left and right.  She slowly started to gain more and more fame, even temporarily being a cast member of the hit show “Love & Hip Hop”, and apparently signed a record deal earlier this year.  “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” was then released in June 16.  Named after rapper Kodak Black because of the chorus’s melody sampling his song “No Flockin”, “Bodak Yellow” really sent Cardi B to new levels of fame.  For being a new rapper, this song has reached monumental levels of acclaim, leading to her performing it at the 2017 VMAs.

I am always willing to give a new artist a listen, so I might enjoy this song.  Plus, I have never given a rap song on this website a real positive review.  “Unforgettable” did get a three out of five, but that is still average.  Maybe Cardi B is giving me the chance to interview a really good song.  So, let’s dive into the chorus.

“Said, ‘Lil b*tch, you can’t f*ck with me if you wanted to’
These expensive, these is red bottoms, these is bloody shoes
Hit the store, I can get ’em both, I don’t wanna choose
And I’m quick, cut a n*gga off, so don’t get comfortable, look”

Cardi B hits the ground running with this chorus.  Even if she is just a newcomer, she is immediately stating her dominance over others that think she is not good enough, and the wordplay she portrays helps her point.  By saying “red bottoms”, she is referring to a style of shoe she wears, but she also compares them to the color of blood, saying that she does not mess around and will not be afraid to kill a competitor.  She continues by saying that she is both styles, fancy (red bottoms) and ruthless (bloody shoes), and is so rich that she does not have to choose which characteristic she has to present herself as.

“I don’t dance now, I make money moves
Say I don’t gotta dance, I make money move”

She continues with the wordplay here by talking about her past life as a stripper.  She is saying that she does not have to “dance” on the pole, because her money makes “moves”, with the word “moves” in this case being a synonym for “dance”.  These lines are all just from the chorus, but I am not going to lie, I am really digging her style and figurative language (I sound like such an English teacher).

“Now she say she gon’ do what to who? Let’s find out and see
Cardi B, you know where I’m at, you know where I be
You in the club just to party, I’m there, I get paid a fee
I be in and out them banks so much, I know they’re tired of me”

Cardi B starts off the first verse after completing the chorus, and while the first two lines are pretty simplistic and nothing special to talk about, the next two lines are entertaining.  She points out that most people pay to go to the club, but when she goes, she likely is performing, so she gets paid for it, which proves again her dominance over those she is striking in this song.  The proceeding line does not pack the same amount of punch in it, but is kind of funny.  I could just imagine an accountant saying “Is that Cardi B again?  God, I hate that woman.  At least she comes in here enough to make us a good amount of money”.

“Dropped two mixtapes in six months, what b*tch working as hard as me?”

Yeah, I’ll admit, that is a pretty impressive feat.  It takes most artists at least a couple years to release an album, but putting out two projects in this amount of time is difficult (that is, if they are actually good).

“I don’t bother with these h*es, don’t let these h*es bother me
They see pictures, they say, “Goals,” b*tch, I’m who they tryna be”

Now this set of lines I like a lot.  Cardi B is describing what most would call a “Basic B*tch“, a breed of girl who commonly post memes saying “Bae Goals” or “Life Goals”, and how Cardi has the life goals these girls aspire to have.  I specifically like this because Cardi B is calling out a brand of females that I really find annoying (of course, not all females are annoying.  Everyone knows the stereotypes of a “basic b*tch”, so you know who you are…Kim Kardashian).

“Look, I might just chill in some BAPE, I might just chill with your boo
I might just feel on your babe, my p*ssy feel like a lake
He wanna swim with his face, I’m like, ‘Okay’”

There is really nothing special about these lines, but at this point in the verse, she switches up her flow so she is spitting at a much faster pace.  I personally love this change-up and it injects the song with a lot more energy.

“I’ll let him get what he want, he buy me Yves Saint Laurent
And the new whip, when I go fast as a horse, I got the trunk in the front”

I understand that the point of these lines is that Cardi B is so persuasive with men that she could make them get her whatever she wants, but why would she do that?  Throughout the rest of the song, she has been bragging about how rich she is, so why does she not just buy it for herself?  While these lines may be confusing for that reason, I will give it a pass because “Yves” was my “French name” when I took French in school.

“And I just checked my accounts, turns out, I’m rich, I’m rich, I’m rich
I put my hand above my hip, I bet you dip, he dip, she dip”

Going into the second verse, Cardi continues the main theme of the song.  She does not add anything special to her boasts of her wealth here, but this is made up in the next line.  Her dominance assertion is strong here, as “dip” is referring to a bow, and how she is the queen making them bow to her feet.  It may not be that good of wordplay, but I like it for what it is.

“I just a-rove in a Rolls, I just came up in a Wraith
I need to fill up the tank, no, I need to fill up the safe”

She brings that fast flow I like into this verse, too, and she has more good lines.  She is obviously bragging about cars here, and she states that she needs to fill up the tank of the car, but instead opts to fill her safe with money.  This could be her showing that she cares more about the money she has than her possessions, and—

Yeah, okay, I know I’m stretching a bit there.  The second verse is just not as good as the first one.  Sure, she keeps the flows and her voice consistent throughout, but there is not as much of that good wordplay I liked the first verse for.

“Rollie got charms, look like Frosted Flakes”

Now here, this is not too bad of a line.  She is saying how she has put so many accessories on her watch that the white gems on it are similar to the cereal Frosted Flakes, which are covered in white flakes.  I mean, it is not the best line, but nowhere near the worst one I have heard.

Overall, though, this was a pretty good song.  I know it did not sound like I liked it too much at the end, but most of the lyrics are still good.  Even if more of her better lines were in the first half, she spit some good wordplay throughout that kept her brags quite interesting.  I can understand why some would think her voice would be annoying, but I do not mind it, and I already said how much I liked her flows of this song.  However, the beat is pretty lackluster.  It is a trap beat, and while not all trap beats are bad, I already had my expectations.  The percussion is just so bare-boned in this song.  Hi hats are a staple in all trap songs, but that is pretty much all the percussion this song has.  There are some bass kicks here and there and a percussive clap every couple beats, but that is all the variation the percussion in this song has.  Still, the majority of the good lyrics and brooding piano in the background make up for this.  I will give this song a 4 out of 5.  Do you agree?

Thank you for reading my “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” song review. If you liked this review, make sure to follow my website, Twitter, and Instagram, like this post, and be sure to check in to read my future reviews. Also, if you have something you want to see me review, tell me in the comments. Until then, keep on listening to good music! I know I will.