Cardi B may have been rapping about money, but she wasn’t making any for years.
Cardi B is a superstar. She's one of the most successful female musicians of her generation, and her boisterous personality has made her a pop culture icon. She has countless hit songs to her name, which is made even more impressive when one considers that she only has one studio album to date.
Unsurprisingly, Cardi B is extremely wealthy. She raps about her wealth ad nauseam, and she flaunts it in music videos, but there was actually a time when she was making less money than fans would have assumed. For two whole years, the rapper was making zero dollars from her most direct source of income: song royalties.
Cardi B couldn't miss in 2018 and 2019. The rapper burst onto the scene with the hit singles "Bodak Yellow" and "I Like It", which both went number one and helped drive the sales of her debut album, Invasion of Privacy. Unfortunately, Cardi B's ascent was hamstrung by a lawsuit filed by her former manager, Klenord "Shaft" Raphael, in 2018.
Raphael, who is a credited writer on "Bodak Yellow", sued Cardi B for breach of contract, in addition to unjust enrichment, declaratory judgment and defamation. He claimed that Cardi B damaged his reputation with other artists by claiming that he was trying to "rob" her, and told Variety that her actions had "deprived" WorldStar Marketing Group, the label Cardi B signed with, of substantial income. A rep for Raphael issued a statement that read:
"Shaft has played an integral role in developing [Cardi B's] music career and public image. While he is proud of their successful collaborations as she evolved from Instagram influencer to music megastar, Shaft is disappointed by her actions to freeze him out of her career, which are detailed in the complaint."
Raphael sued for $10 million, and due to his involvement with Cardi B's musical output, a freeze was placed on her song royalties. The rapper was unable to collect royalties for 2018 and 2019, which, as previously mentioned, were the years in which she released some of her biggest hits. These hits include:
Song
Release Date
Hot 100 Peak (According To Billboard)
"Bodak Yellow"
June 16, 2017
#1
"Be Careful"
March 29, 2018
#11
"I Like It"
May 25, 2018
#1
"Money"
October 23, 2018
#13
"Please Me"
February 15, 2019
#3
Cardi B was previously sued in 2017, when Kevin Brophy claimed to have never been paid despite being on the cover of her mixtape Gangsta B**ch Music Vol. 1 (2016). When it came time for the rapper to sit down with Brophy's lawyers, however, she revealed that the lack of royalties had seriously hurt her ability to make money:
"I mean, it's hard for me to do because I'm in litigation, so I haven't even gotten paid for, like, none of my music yet, so…"
In an effort to reclaim her song royalties, Cardi B countersued Klenord "Shaft" Raphael for a whopping sum of $30 million. According to Vulture, the rapper was suing on the grounds that Raphael was deceitful and disloyal when it came to the management of her career. The suit also claimed that Raphael attempted to manipulate Cardi B for financial gain:
"Shaft proved increasingly willing to take advantage of, deceive and exploit Ms. Almanzar, and he had the ability to do so through complete control over all legal documents and virtually every dollar that Ms. Almanzar earned in the entertainment business."
Part of the alleged control stemmed from a royalty agreement that Raphael proposed. The suit accused the former manager of using his power to "extract a larger portion" of Cardi B's wealth by requiring her to sign over all copyrights of "any audio or video recordings" to him, as well as 50% of the royalties for all Cardi B songs.
For a point of reference, Billboard reported that managers made 15-20% of their artists' gross income in 2015. If that weren't bad enough, Cardi B claimed that Raphael was negligent when it came to record-keeping and providing detailed accounts of how money was being spent on tour.
Cardi B's legal counsel issued a statement to Pitchfork that pointed to the abnormally high royalty agreement as an indication of Raphael's dishonest tactics:
"Even on its face, Shaft’s claim raises a huge question. For a hefty commission, a manager promises to carefully counsel and guide an artist in her or his career. In exchange, the law imposes a high fiduciary duty on the manager to always act in the artist’s best interest, not engage in conflicts of interest, not overreach, and not self-deal."
Cardi B was open about the legal battle with Klenord "Shaft" Raphael. She tweeted at a fan who asked about her financial situation and explained that she had to wait until the suit was settled before she could receive any of her song royalties.
She wrote:
"According to my lawyers, a little but more then that but it can’t be touch till my litigation is over. Its just can’t be touch till we solve the despute. But when that fat a*s check hit my account all at once it’s gonna be lit .Thats why I never trip cause it’s there."
Cardi B settled her legal matter with Raphael in December 2020. The court ruled that the suit and counter-suit were dismissed, and confirmed that:
The rapper was paid all the song royalties that had been frozen over the two years prior, and renegotiated her contract with Atlantic Records. She also signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music in 2021, according to Music Business Worldwide. The deal ensures that Cardi B will have more control over her song royalties for the foreseeable future.
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Danilo Castro is a writer living in San Diego. He has eight years of experience covering movie, music and celebrity news for sites like Heavy, We Got It Covered and Screen Rant. He’s also conflicted about the new Frasier reboot because his favorite show is Cheers.
