Cardi B brought her blockbuster Little Miss Drama tour to her hometown of New York City on Wednesday night (March 25), marking the first of two nights at the iconic Manhattan arena. Naturally, Bardi put on a special show for her city, stacked with special guests, a relentless setlist, and her trademark energy and charisma.
As the lights dimmed over a crowd diligently decked out according to the 35-date trek’s “schoolgirl” dress code, the opening seconds of “Get Up 10” blared through the speakers, setting the stage for an equally celebratory and cinematic night. But this show was deeper than that; last night was also a homecoming moment for one of the most incredible hip-hop come-up stories of the late 2010s. Just under a decade since she exploded onto the scene with “Bodak Yellow,” Cardi returned to the city that gifted her the roots and the tools to become a Grammy-winning rapper who’s also the only female MC to have her first two albums — 2018’s Invasion of Privacy and 2025’s Am I the Drama? — debut atop the Billboard 200.
And those roots were meticulously honored throughout the show. From the Highbridge-indebted grit and bravado that anchored her searing opening run of solo rap anthems, to the Afro-Latin-Caribbean colors and rhythms that grounded the party-rocking third act, nearly every corner of New York City got some love at the Little Miss Drama Tour. She even paid tribute to her strip club days by turning the night’s fifth act into a booty-clapping bonanza, soundtracked by steam cuts like “On Dat Money,” “Thotiana” and, of course, “WAP.”
Drama songs comprised the bulk of the set list, with Invasion of Privacy and her enviable collection of standalone singles and classic guest verses making up the rest. While Megan Thee Stallion was in town for her Moulin Rouge! Broadway stint, the Hot Girl Coach did not pop out for a surprise performance of “WAP” and “Bongos.” Nonetheless, Bardi treated her hometown to Bed-Stuy-bred female rap legend Lil’ Kim and new-school Bronx star Cash Cobain. She also ceded some stage time to Natalie Nunn of Zeus Network’s Baddies franchise — which, in a way, called back to her own pre-“Bodak Yellow” reality TV days.
Here are the seven best moments of the first NYC stop of Cardi B’s Little Miss Drama Tour at Madison Square Garden.
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Lil’ Kim Struts to “Quiet Storm”
“I don’t want y’all to think I wanted to be dramatic,” Lil’ Kim quipped after she took the stage and strutted down the runway to the opening notes of her timeless “Quiet Storm” remix. “Cardi dressed me!”
The Brooklyn-bred, Grammy-winning rap icon popped out in a steamy black leotard, black thigh-high boots, and a grand black overcoat that complemented the one Cardi wore. Though Kim’s mic appeared to have some issues — and she did more strutting than rapping — the brief cameo avoided complete awkwardness by landing as a notable moment in rap history. Bardi is the first female rapper to sell out back-to-back nights at The Garden, so for her to share that space with Kim, a pioneer in the field, made for a welcome display of NYC female rap unity.
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Lighting Design
Cardi has spoken about Beyoncé’s recent stadium-conquering Renaissance and Cowboy Carter tours, which inspired her own trek, and that much was clear at last night’s show. Dan Norman, the lighting and production designer for the Little Miss Drama Tour, understood exactly what piqued Cardi’s interest about Beyoncé’s light design. Queen Bey & Co. design each aspect of the show to make every vantage point feel like a front row seat.
At the Little Miss Drama Tour, the lighting design functions as a second show, extending the color palettes and transitions of her video interludes into projections that turned every section of The Garden into an extension of the stage.
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Cash Cobain Reps The Bronx’s New Class
Although Cash Cobain appeared on a particularly strong cut from Am I the Drama? (“Better Than You”), the slizzy god pulled out an old reliable cut for his surprise appearance last night: “Fisherrr” is a forever-certified banger, especially in NYC. Still, the real treat was watching Cash rap as his older Bronx sister acted as hypewoman, twerking, running and ad-libbing in circles around him.
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Natalie Nunn Hosts Impromptu ‘Baddies’ Takeover
It’s highly unlikely that any of last night’s attendees expected a $5,000 twerk contest that was really a Trojan horse for a Baddies segment — but in New York, anything can happen! Reality television personality Natalie Nunn has been making inroads in the music industry for the past few months, and Cardi allowed her to perform “Doin’ What I Want,” an August 2025 single that’s still making the rounds across social media.
Although in-ear issues appeared to trip her up in the beginning, Natalie eventually caught the beat and made it through the song in front of a sold-out MSG crowd. Given that the world watched Cardi graduate from reality TV to Diamond-certified records, this was a sweet moment that showed how she holds the door open for those coming up behind her.
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Music Direction
Little Miss Drama Tour musical director Mitch Cohn was tasked with weaving a coherent narrative across two stacked studio albums and a catalog boasting an incredible range of heavy-hitters. And he pulled it off.
After keeping things rooted in the Drama era with scathing cuts like “Hello,” “Magnet” and “Check Please,” Cardi transitioned into a more introspective and emotional segment — one that found her revisiting more relationship-minded songs like “Be Careful,” “Thru Your Phone” and a snippet of Kehlani’s “Folded” that bridged the Oakland R&B singer’s beloved Cardi duets (“Ring” and “Safe”).
From there, she brought The Garden to The Heights, blasting through the tropical rhythms of songs like “I Like It” and “Taki Taki,” before returning her attention to her latest album in the fourth act, with cuts like the Selena Gomez-assisted “Pick It Up,” which found Cardi trying her hand at vogue-esque hand performance. For the fifth act, the final segment before the rapid-fire round of hits that properly closes the show, Cardi took the arena to the strip club, tearing through numbers like “ErrTime” and “Pretty & Petty” while on a revolving platform peppered with stripper poles.
Under Cohn’s musical direction, Cardi delivered a show that transported the audience through her personal history, while still honoring the city that made her and primarily promoting the album she’s on tour for. Even more impressively, they made it look pretty damn easy.
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Home Sweet Home
Nothing hits like a hometown show, and Bardi was clearly giddy to be back in New York City. At the top of the show, she quipped that when it comes to New Yorkers, nobody’s special and “we’re all celebrities.” As funny (and true) as that statement was, it also doubled as a subliminal promise from Cardi that she was going to especially turn up for her hometown show — and that she did.
Not only was her energy on 10 the whole night, but she also clearly got a kick out of highlighting all the beautiful cultures and ethnicities that make the city such a melting pot. Moreover, she frequently shouted out her parents — who were both in attendance — and even brought out her two eldest children (Kulture, 7, and Wave, 4) to walk the runway with her and gaze at the sold-out crowd.
This story originally appeared on Billboard
