Cardi B Receives Billboard’s ‘Woman of the Year’ From Breonna Taylor’s Mother

Billboard’s yearly Gals in New music function on Thursday night virtually assembled some of the new music industry’s 2020 powerhouses for a celebration hosted by the illustrious Teyana Taylor.  

“Tonight’s honorees assisted us search through the darkness and uncover the light-weight. Their music impressed our Zoom dance events, they applied their platforms to struggle a international pandemic, to battle for equality and persuade voters to make their voices read,” Taylor stated for the duration of her opening speech. “While the entire world was in lockdown, these ladies were being standing up, executing what women of all ages do greatest: acquiring to the work and getting to the money.”

The livestream present bundled performances by Chloe x Halle, Dua Lipa, and Dolly Parton, who had been honored through the night time. It also featured numerous A-list presenters like Beyoncé, Lilly Singh, Miley Cyrus, Maluma, and Senator Bernie Sanders. 

But the focal level of the night was none other than Cardi B, who was honored as Billboard’s Woman of the Calendar year not only for her audio, but her political activism through the 2020 election system. The top honor was presented to the rapstress by Tamika Palmer, mother of the late Breonna Taylor. 

“One of Breonna’s most outspoken advocates more than the previous nine months has been Cardi B,” Palmer explained in a pre-recorded statement. “From the beginning, Cardi has made use of her system to unfold the reality about what happened to Breonna and to reaffirm that Black women’s lives make any difference.”

Taylor’s murder by Kentucy police officers before this yr galvanized a further conversation about how we need to be uplifting and safeguarding Black girls in and past the Black Lives Make a difference movement. It also prompted Cardi, her collaborator Megan Thee Stallion, and other women in the sector to communicate up about violence versus Black girls. 

“Cardi B’s impact reaches much past new music,” Palmer carries on. “That’s why I am so happy and honored to present Billboard’s Girl of the Yr award to Miss out on Cardi B.”

During her acceptance speech, Cardi tackled how COVID-19 threw a wrench in her resourceful system this yr. 

“This calendar year, when it came to songs, I had so a lot of things prepared,” Cardi explained. “I had so several jobs that I preferred to appear out. Regretably, because of to COVID, I could not put out the visuals the way that I wished, it messed up my innovative house. You know, I believe all people this yr was just messed up.” 

The “WAP” rapper went on to celebrate her hit one of the calendar year and talk about how the song polarized the nation, drawing criticism from appropriate-wing pundits like Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and other folks.

“So I am just grateful and thankful that the track that I actually did place out this year, which was ‘WAP’ that includes Megan Thee Stallion, not only was it an amazing track that broke so several information, but it was a discussion that I never ever believed was likely to be so major. I signify, it pissed off a full bunch of Republicans for no motive, you know what I’m stating?” she laughed. “It was just unusual.” 

Afterwards in her speech Cardi inspired youthful ladies like herself to work extremely hard to make their goals occur true. 

“You in fact gotta set in the do the job. You gotta be ambitious. You gotta community. You gotta develop into excellent at what you do. You gotta be able to take criticism. … There is hope. You can find hope for your dreams,” she stated.