Formal Booking Requisition

Talent Dossier

Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar was born on October 11, 1992, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.Her father Carlos is Dominican and her mother Clara is a Trinidadian of mixed descent; Almánzar identifies as an Afro-Caribbean.Almánzar 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 younger sister, Hennessy Carolina, who was born in 1995. She has said she was a gang member with the Bloods in her youth, since age 16, but stated she would not encourage joining a gang.She attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school on the Herbert H. Lehman High School campus.Belcalis speaks Dominican Spanish, English, and a small amount of Russian and French.