Hip-hop heavyweight Cardi B was named Songwriter Of The Year at the 34th annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards Thursday night, June 20.
During her acceptance speech at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., the GRAMMY-winning rapper said the win validated her career success.
"Sometimes I gotta see it and feel it for myself because it’s hard," she said. "Everybody always wants to say I made it because of this or made it because of that. I made it because I worked my ass off… Thank you very much, ASCAP. This is an honor for me."
She also mentioned how she feels pressure to always do more in the industry: “Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing too much because when it comes to female rappers, it’s like you’re never doing too much or they’re always pitting you against another female rapper. People on my team are like, 'Cardi, you’re crazy. You won a GRAMMY. Cardi, all your songs are charting."
Cardi B won Best Rap Album for Invasion Of Privacy at the 61st GRAMMY Awards and has penned lyrics for "Bodak Yellow," "I Like It," Ozuna's "La Modelo" and more. In a 2017 interview with VladTV, the singer said she's studied the work of rappers before her to get her own writing down.
"I'm from New York and I listened to hip-hop like practically my whole life, and then as I'm writing things I study when these guys be freestylin', what is considered bars, what are considered metaphors and this is why I'm so grateful I want to school because I get to put things together. My vocabulary is not the greatest, but I do read," she said.
Other honorees included rapper T.I., who received the Voice Of The Culture, and Berry Gordy Jr., who received the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award on behalf of Motown Records.
