"Money" is a song by American rapper Cardi B, released by Atlantic Records on October 23, 2018. The song was written by Cardi B with its producer J. White Did It. Its music video features Cardi playing characters in different locations, including in an art museum, a bank and a strip club. Cardi performed the song at the
61st Annual Grammy Awards
The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and ...
, alongside the "
Money Bag
A money bag (or money sack) is a bag normally used to hold and transport coins and banknotes, often closed with a drawstring.2019 BET Hip Hop Awards and the
2019 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2019 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 26, 2019, at the Prudential Center in Newark, being the first VMA ceremony to be held in New Jersey. Sebastian Maniscalco hosted the 36th annual ceremony. Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, and Bill ...
2019 Soul Train Music Awards
The 2019 Soul Train Music Awards took place on November 17 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and aired live for the first time, on BET and BET Her. It was hosted by Tisha Campbell & Tichina Arnold, honoring artists in 12 different catego ...
On October 22, 2018, Cardi B announced that the single would be released the following Thursday. However, the song was released two days earlier due to a leak. The single's artwork features Cardi posing in gloves composed of gold watches and a gilded, chain-fringed hat.
Composition
"Money" is a
New York hip hop
East Coast hip hop is a regional subgenre of hip hop music that originated in New York City during the 1970s. Hip hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in the Bronx, New York City.
In contrast to other styles, East Coast hip ...
number, with Cardi performing over a stripped-down hip hop
drum beat
A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated rhythm establishing the meter and groove through the pulse and subdivision, played on drum kits and other percussion instruments. As such a "beat" consists of multiple drum strokes ...
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
notes. Lyrically, it celebrates financial stability.
Critical reception
Writing for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', Jon Blistein commented "Money" "boasts a stomping yet simple
beat
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery (c ...
built around spitfire trap drums and stark piano strikes. Cardi rides the beat with characteristic aplomb, switching flows with ease as she unravels an array of punchlines and another instantly memorable
hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...
." Carl Lamarre of '' Billboard'' opined the song "finds Cardi dashing back to her mixtape roots, flexing a steely flow over a thunderous beat." Tom Breihan of '' Stereogum'' wrote, "this is exactly the sort of song that Cardi B should be making right now. It's tough and immediate, and it projects the same larger-than-life sneer that made Cardi sound like such a revelation on '
Bodak Yellow
"Bodak Yellow" (alternatively titled "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)") is the major-label debut single by American rapper Cardi B. It was written by Cardi B, Jordan Thorpe, Klenord Raphael, and produced by J. White Did It and Laquan Green. It was r ...
' more than a year ago." Stephen Kearse of ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' deemed the track "familiar yet fun," and added, "Cardi remains a direct and parsimonious writer, paring ideas down to their essence." ''
Complex
Complex commonly refers to:
* Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe
** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' listed the song among the week's best releases, with editor Carolyn Bernucca praising the lyrics.
Music video
Background and synopsis
In early December 2018, Cardi teased the music video on her social media pages, sharing a behind-the-scenes look at her outfit, a leotard and headpiece made of gold watches. The Jora Frantzis-directed video premiered on December 21, 2018.
The music video opens with a dancer swinging hypnotically around an invisible pole. Cardi makes her first appearance in a black and white dress, which she wears with a futuristic-inspired, halo-like headpiece in an old-world style room. She is surrounded by a group of women in
garter belts
A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking f ...
, black
fascinator
A fascinator is a formal headpiece, a style of millinery. Since the 1990s, the term has referred to a type of formal headwear worn as an alternative to the hat; it is usually a large decorative design attached to a band or clip. In contrast t ...
s and open blazers baring nipples. Cardi then appears as a statue in a glass case, being gawked at by wealthy attendees. The glass case is surrounded by several of her previous outfits on display. She also portrays a nude piano player and a
breastfeeding
Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...
mother in
couture
Couture may refer to:
People
* Couture (surname)
Places
Belgium
* Couture-Saint-Germain, a village in the municipality of Lasne, Belgium
Canada
* Couture crater and Lac Couture, an impact crater and the lake that covers it in Quebec, Canada
...
. In the following scene, a team of women take over the bank, as Cardi appears in a jewel-covered
string bikini
The bikini has spawned many stylistic variations. A regular bikini is a two-piece swimsuit that together covers the wearer's crotch, buttocks, and breasts. Some bikini designs cover larger portions of the wearer's body while other designs provid ...
in a vault. The scene then moves to the strip club, with the rapper wearing a black leather corset showing off some moves on the pole and dollars flying all around her. She also makes an appearance as part of the audience in the club, wearing a massive version of a slanted hat.
The looks in the old-world style room scene and in the bank vault were inspired by
Thierry Mugler
Manfred Thierry Mugler (; 21 December 1948 – 23 January 2022) was a French fashion designer, creative director and creative adviser of Mugler. In the 1970s, Mugler launched his eponymous fashion house; and quickly rose to prominence in the fo ...
's 1999 ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
1997 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1997 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 4, 1997, honoring the best music videos from June 17, 1996, to June 16, 1997. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
American singer Beck took home the ...
, respectively. As of June 2020, the age-restricted video has garnered more than 100 million views, while the audio has accumulated more than 200 million views.
Critical reception
In ''Rolling Stone'', Charles Holmes opined that the video "is a monument to celebration and opulent overload ..The metaphors aren't subtle. In short, 'Money' showcases all of the personalities, characters and storylines that made Belcalis so compelling all 2018." Rachel Hahn of ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'' described the video as "a full-out catalogue of some of Cardi's most over-the-top fashion moments yet." Writing for ''
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
'', Lake Schatz said the clip "takes a seemingly mundane trip to the bank and turns into it the most sensual, lavish adventure, complete with sexual acrobatics and Cardi herself serving up one masterful outfit after another." He further added, "if
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
somehow became a posh strip club and French art museum all in one, this is the setting of
he video
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
" Nick Romano of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' noted Cardi "embraces her early beginnings as a stripper in New York." Dayna Haffeden of '' XXL'' thought it "shows that she's the true definition of a boss," while Erica Gonzales of '' Harper's Bazaar'' felt the "ostentatious and unsubtle" visuals are "full of epic moments." ''W'' magazine's Katherine Cusumano deemed the video "brilliant" and noted Cardi's first scene in the video with the group of women as "the
male gaze
In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heteros ...
so often seen in music videos—especially rap videos—inverted."
Live performance
Cardi B gave the first televised performance of "Money" at the
61st Annual Grammy Awards
The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and ...
. Pianist
Chloe Flower
Chloe Won (born August 6, 1981), who is known professionally as Chloe Flower, is an American composer, writer, producer and classical pianist. She studied at Manhattan School of Music Pre-College and later at Royal Academy of Music in London.
Car ...
opened the number, followed by Cardi in a tiger-print bodysuit and floor-length purple jacket, at the top of a set of risers fashioned like lilac vinyl couches, before taking her place atop the piano. She closed the performance wearing a large peacock feather fan. The look is from 1995 Mugler's couture collection, originally shown on the 20th anniversary of the French fashion house.
Writing for ''Rolling Stone'', Brittany Spanos noted "the rapper embraced her inner showgirl during a lush performance... The set had touches of
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
showmanship as she vamped atop the bedazzled piano and later danced in front of a large peacock feather fan." In ''Billboard'', Taylor Weatherby wrote, "the performance put Cardi's
panache
Panache () is a word of French origin that carries the connotation of flamboyant manner and reckless courage, derived from the helmet-plume worn by cavalrymen in the Early Modern period.
The literal translation is a plume, such as is worn on a h ...
at the forefront as she strutted across the stage, with none of the sparkles and choreography taking away from her impressive vocal performance."