Cardi B’s “Finesse” Lyrics Will Leave You Feeling Like A Boss

The year 2018 is still young, but it's already a great one for the fans who have watched Cardi B's momentous rise to fame. Midnight on only the fourth day of the year witnessed the release of an exciting collaboration — and really, it's all about Cardi B. Even the lyrics to Cardi B and Bruno Mars' "Finesse," which just dropped early Thursday, reference her huge amount of success in such a short period of time.

Cardi B has a background basically anyone can get behind. She's worked her way up to the top through a combination of blunt determination, a ton of charisma, and, of course, a huge helping of skill. From stripper to social media star to reality TV personality to literal chart-topping rapper — in fact, the first female rapper to reach that spot in 19 years — Cardi B has paid her dues, and she's never lost her personality while doing it. Her openness and genuineness, her unfiltered diatribes that launched her to fame on Instagram, and just the clear sense that this is a woman who truly loves what she does is all evident in both the "Finesse" video and in the song's lyrics.

Cardi B opens the song with a rap verse, and the super fun vibe of the video bleeds over into the lyrics as well:

Drop top Porsche, Rollie on my wrist

Diamonds up and down my chain

Cardi B, straight stuntin’, can’t tell me nothin’

Bossed up and I changed the game (you see me)

The theme here is similar to Cardi B's chart topper "Bodak Yellow," but after that song's notable success, she can do a bit of reflection on it in "Finesse":

It’s my big Bronx boogie, got all them girls shook

My big, fat ass got all them boys hooked

I went from dollar bills, now we poppin’ rubber bands

Bruno sang to me while I do my money dance like

Aye, flexin’ on the gram like (aye!)

Hit the Lil Jon, okay (okay), okay (okay)

Oh, yeah we drippin’ in finesse, getting paid (ow!)

Bruno Mars, of course, has already been established for a while now, and he takes the lead for much of the rest of the song. But Cardi B's opener really steals the show — and the lyrics above tell you that she knows exactly why that is.

"Finesse," of course, originally came out on Bruno Mars' 2016 album 24k Magic, but he's only now releasing it as a single with this added collaboration. While Mars' part wasn't written for Cardi B — she's engaged to rapper Offset, although there's been recent speculation that they might have broken it off — it's really easy to believe that he's referring to her:

Ooh, don’t we look good together?

There’s a reason why they watch all night long

Yeah, I know we’ll turn heads forever

So tonight I’m gonna show you off

That verse, actually, makes the most sense if understood professionally rather than romantically — this song has created a massive stir on Twitter and elsewhere, largely because of the star power that the two bring. Later verses carry the same theme:

When I’m walkin' with you

I watch the whole room change

Baby, that’s what you do

No my baby don’t play

Blame it on my confidence

Oh, blame it on your measurements

Shut that shit down on sight

That’s right

The chorus, then, is basically a celebration of the fame and success that they both bring to the equation:

We out here drippin' in finesse

It don’t make no sense

Out here drippin' in finesse

You know it, you know it

When combined with the incredibly catchy tune and the video that's basically one huge celebration of bright 90s style colors, you can tell that these are the lyrics of a true winner.