Cardi B Wanted Crab Cakes, Got Carrots At NPR’s “Tiny Desk”

Cardi B wanted crab cakes at NPR’s “Tiny Desk.” She said she got celery and carrots, then took the set into “I Like It.”

The performance premiered Monday on NPR Music’s official YouTube channel. The video ran 18 minutes and 46 seconds.

Cardi aired her food complaint after “Bodak Yellow.” Chicken wings, crab cakes and blue crab all made her list of missing food.

“They got the best crab cakes out here,” she said. Instead, she told the room, she had received “Just celery sticks and carrots.” She also joked about sweating in latex.

Earlier, Cardi moved through “Be Careful” before calling for a shift in mood. “Change the vibes,” she said. Then came “Up,” with its repeated hook and verses. She later reached “Bodak Yellow,” followed by the snack complaint and her closing song.

The smaller setting followed a big year on the road. Pollstar’s midyear report ranked Cardi seventh among the world’s touring acts. Her “Little Miss Drama Tour” grossed $72.1 million. The run traveled through North American arenas from February through April.

By its halfway point, the tour had sold 209,622 tickets across 17 shows and grossed more than $32 million, Pollstar reported. The full trek was scheduled for 35 shows. Two nights at the Forum in Inglewood drew 25,145 fans. Live Nation said she was the first female rapper to sell out two shows there.

The trek also marked a shift in how Cardi toured. Pollstar noted that most of her earlier concert dates in its archives had been festivals or shows with several acts. She had headlined individual arena dates in 2019, but this was her first full arena run.

The tour supported her second album, “Am I the Drama?” It arrived September 19, 2025, through Atlantic Records. It followed her 2018 debut, “Invasion of Privacy,” giving the arena run a second studio album to draw from alongside her older hits. AllHipHop’s earlier coverage tracked the tour announcement just before the album came out.

At “Tiny Desk,” “I Like It” carried the set into its final minutes. A call for applause for the band, singers and audience followed. The video ended with cheers.