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The energy Cardi B brought to Moda Center felt at once urgent and timeless. What her discography lacks in tenure, it boasts in gravitas—Cardi is every bit the hilariously hammy Instagram star who defined so much of 2010s reality lexicon, but she is an elite performer. On Feb. 19, Cardi balanced immaculate camera close-up face work, an expert sexual dance repertoire and, most importantly, bars on bars on bars.
Cardi kicked off with “Hello,” the first track from Am I the Drama?, introducing herself to Portland wearing a layered blue bob that high-key felt like a salute to the blue-haired alt baddies our city is known for, and a red trench coat sparkling with silver grommets—the first of eight costume changes. The final, a robotic Asher Levine body suit with light-up cutouts that seemed an homage to Mugler, was a work of art.
From there, Cardi eased in and out of albums Am I the Drama? and Invasion of Privacy. The camera work was tremendous. Cardi stayed mugging hard enough to shatter the lens (shout-out to Cardi’s glam squad, trans beauty icons Tokyo Stylez and Erika La’ Pearl). The distinct acts saw Cardi process deeper, darker, more raucous emotions through intense pyrotechnics and smoke effects. She moved through more tender moments of loss and reclamation via conceptual dance and a caged-bird metaphor. Her 10 dancers dominated the stage with utter grace, using modern and ballet elements as well as krump, hip-hop, locking and the dopest freestyles imaginable. There was a glorious Afro-Latin cultural celebration with “I Like It Like That” and “Bodega Baddie,” leading to an ass-shaking contest projected on the jumbotron that felt like a divine moment of pure feminine Black and Brown joy.
Latinas, Black girls and even intergenerational baddies were unapologetically ass-shaking, screaming in laughter and glee, safe in the space Cardi curated. For all the shit that gets talked about Portland being the whitest city in the U.S., on this night it felt like the Blackest place on earth, and that was a feeling every fan contributed their parts. The stands and streets flooded with adult schoolgirls. The dress code for Lil Miss Drama was Drama School, so legions of femme fans dressed in pastel tweed pleated miniskirts, cropped letterman jackets, cardigans, knee socks, Mary Janes, and an abundance of bare flesh despite the obvious winter chill. But thus is the Tao of Cardi: A hoe never gets cold.
