Well, that could have been awkward.
Cardi B’s Thursday show at TD Garden was a recipe for commotion. The rap megastar, who’s notoriously as outspoken in real life as she is in her explicit lyrics, was on the turf of not one foe, but two: Medford-born rapper BIA, whom she’s beefed with for years, and the New England Patriots, ex-team of her ex-boyfriend Stefon Diggs. Add in the irony that Cardi’s current slew of dates is called the “Little Miss Drama” tour, and a viral scene felt practically guaranteed.
But that moment never came, and Cardi devoted Thursday’s sold-out concert to the role she was born to play: bawdy, buoyant hip-hop star.
She emerged at TD Garden rapping her song “Hello” in a black pleather gown and matching crescent headpiece, a cult-ish look that Lady Gaga might have left behind in a dressing room earlier this week.
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Steely-eyed and sans her-often playful countenance, she launched the two-hour, six-part affair with numbers from her sophomore album “AM I THE DRAMA?” while carrying herself like royalty. She is, after all, the second-ever woman rapper to top the Billboard Hot 100 with a solo single, “Bodak Yellow.” The no. 1 song remains the highest-certified track by a woman emcee in history, having gone platinum 13 times over.
But she softened soon enough — she’s also surely the first artist to gleefully address a TD Garden crowd as “baked bean mother[expletive]s!” upon first mention.
So went Thursday night’s pendulum swing of serious and saucy moments, as Cardi zipped through 30-plus songs (many of which were shortened) and an ever-evolving set design. She performed her few somber songs, “Ring” and “Thru Your Phone” peering at the crowd from inside a massive birdcage at the end of the catwalk. Later in the set, while diving into newer tunes “Dead” and “ErrTime,” she and a cadre of dancers hopped aboard a carnal carousel — no seats or animals, only poles. (Use your imagination, this is a family newspaper.)
Boston City Council declared Thursday “Cardi B Day” across town, and while the occasion never came up during the show, its sentiment did. “Many residents in Boston, especially young people and members of the Afro-Latino community, see their own experiences, challenges, and aspirations reflected in Cardi B’s story and success,” the decree reads, in reference to the artist’s Dominican and Trinidadian heritage. During the self-described “Latino section of the show,” which strung together numbers such as “I Like It” and “Bodega Baddie,” that representation was on display when her dancers paraded around flags from the Caribbean and Central and South America.
When it came time to rap “Pretty & Petty,” Cardi’s fall diss track that targets BIA, she hollered the opposing emcee’s name with her whole chest, but quickly came to her defense afterwards.
“Don’t bully that girl on social media! Don’t do it,” Cardi told the crowd. “She’s gonna wanna beat the [expletive] out of me after today.”
That was as “dramatic” as the entire evening would get. Shortly thereafter, she hopped on a swing adorned with angel wings to hover above the catwalk and perform her portions of two pop collabs: The otherwise-grating Maroon 5 song “Girls Like You,” and the R&B-tinged Bruno Mars duet “Finesse.”
It wasn’t the finale — that would come later with a no-nonsense rendition of “Bodak Yellow” — but it was a subliminal message of sorts: Cardi B can be above it all.
When she feels like it, of course.
CARDI B
With DJ SpinKing. At TD Garden, Thursday
Victoria Wasylak can be reached at victoria.wasylak@globe.com. Follow her on Bluesky at VickiWasylak.bsky.social.
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