Bronx rapper Cardi B talked about her past, her successful career and her journey to motherhood in an exclusive interview with W magazine published Tuesday (Oct. 9).

Cardi B in W Magazine’s Art Issue.Mickalene Thomas

Bronx rapper Cardi B talked about her past, her successful career and her journey to motherhood in an exclusive interview with W magazine published Tuesday (Oct. 9).

Before Cardi took the world by storm with her 2017 breakthrough hit “Bodak Yellow,” she was a young stripper from New York City who utilized her resilient work ethic to survive and achieve her dreams. By creating hilariously magnetic videos on Instagram in her New York Latina accent, Cardi quickly accumulated thousands of followers who would later become the biggest supporters of her music career. Her breakthrough song “Bodak Yellow” propelled her to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the first female solo rapper to top the chart since Lauryn Hill in 1998. The hit single later paved the way for her Invasion of Privacy album released earlier this year, along with becoming the first female rapper to score three No. 1 singles on the Hot 100.

Cardi B in W Magazine’s Art Issue. Mickalene Thomas

At 25, the Bronx rapper recently gave birth to her first baby, Kulture, with Migos member Offset, an endeavor that no other female rapper has taken on at the beginning of her career.

“When I got pregnant, I was fucking freaking out,” Cardi told W. “Everybody around me was like, ‘No, this never happened before. Every artist that had a baby, they already put in years in the game. This is your first year. You’re going to mess it up. How are you going to make it?’”

Despite her crippling fears, Cardi’s confidence allowed her to maneuver being a new mom, which, according to her, came with a plethora of surprises.”“People don’t really talk about what you go through after pregnancy. Like, they don’t tell you that you get stitches down there or that your first two weeks you’re constipated. Or that you get contractions because of breastfeeding. I wasn’t expecting that. When Kulture was born, I felt like I was a kid again, everything was making me cry, and I needed a lot of love. I be feeling like, Do babies know who’s they mom? I feel like babies love whoever is giving them the milk, and I want to give the milk the whole time. I want her to know me.”

Cardi B in W Magazine’s Art Issue.Mickalene Thomas

The rap icon has also revealed that she and husband Offset are planning to raise baby Kulture in their Atlanta home, with big plans for her future. “My baby. That’s all I give a fuck about right now,” Cardi said. “I’m thinking about how my money’s going to last so this girl is 21 and put in college. I’m thinking about investments. I’m thinking about five years from now and about the craziest shit like, How am I going to discipline this girl?”

Read the full interview with Cardi here.

Cardi B on the cover of W Magazine’s Art Issue.