“I Like It” was the song that was released almost about two years ago. It was announced on May 25th, to be the fifth single from off Cardi’s debut album, ‘Invasion of Privacy.’ I Like It” was a Latin trap song that comprises a trap beat and salsa music. It was written by the three performers along with Jordan Thorpe and Klenord Raphael, while the production was handled by J. White Did It, Tainy, Craig Kallman and Invincible.

The single topped the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cardi B’s second number one—the most for a female rapper in the chart’s history. The song ended up being very critically acclaimed, the Billboard staff, Los Angeles Times, and Apple Music’s editorial selection ranked it as the best song of the year, while Rolling Stone named it “the best summer song of all time.”

It was also nominated for Record of the Year at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. It became the first song led by a female rapper to surpass a billion streams on Spotify, also making her the first woman in hip hop with a pair of billion-streamers on the service. “I Like It” is the highest-ranked song led by a female rapper on the Billboard Hot 100 decade-end chart for the 2010s. It was certified octuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2019.

BACKGROUND

“I Like It” is a Latin trap song. It is a blend of trap and salsa, and samples 1960s boogaloo song “I Like It Like That”.

As noted by a Billboard editor, the song is “heavily indebted to the world of Latin hip hop.” Bad Bunny raps in English and Spanish, while J Balvin performs in Spanish.

COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE

Prior to its release as a single, the song debuted at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cardi B’s fifth top-ten entry on the chart and the highest debut of the songs from the album, which all debuted on the Hot 100 during the album’s first week of release. Bad Bunny and J Balvin earned their first and second top 10s, respectively. Following the release of the single’s accompanying music video, the song rose to a new peak of number seven on the chart, For the chart issue dated June 16, with “I Like It” and “Girls Like You,” her collaboration with Maroon 5 charting at number four, Cardi B scored two concurrent Hot 100 top-five singles for the second time in 2018.

It reached number one in its twelfth week, earning Cardi her second chart-topper, thus making her the first female rapper in history to do so. Bad Bunny and J Balvin scored their first number one. She also became the first female soloist to reach number one with two songs from a debut album since Lady Gaga, who did it in 2009. “I Like It” reached number one on Digital Songs in its 20th chart week, claiming the sixth-longest wait to the summit since the chart began in 2004.

It also became Cardi B’s second number one song on the Radio Songs chart. Internationally, the single also charted within the top 10 in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the United States, “I Like It” reigned in the charts for 51 weeks, which made Cardi B the first female rapper to have a song chart that long.

MUSIC VIDEO

he song’s accompanying music video was directed by Eif Rivera and filmed in March 2018 in Little Havana, Miami.

A preview of the clip was featured on YouTube Music’s announcement video on May 23. Released on May 29, 2018, the music video opens with Cardi B in a neighborhood, followed by scenes of Bad Bunny in the streets and J Balvin in a club. It also features scenes of the trio performing together.

“I Like It” topped YouTube’s 2018 Songs of the Summer list in the United States, and ranked fifth globally. As of March 2020, it has received over 1.1 billion views.

FINAL THOUGHTS

“I Like It” ended up being one of my favorite songs from ‘Invasion of Privacy.’ Its one of the many songs I always hear even when out in public places especially during the summer time. This song practically screams summer vibes. When it was announced as a single, I had a feeling it would end up being another big hit for Cardi under her belt.

If there is something I want to see Cardi do for her upcoming sophomore album, it’s to see more Latin trap songs. She could definitely flood that market with some good trap beats. I would also like to hope that this is was the starts of seeing more Latin mixing with Hip-Hop. It’s always been a thing, but we haven’t had a hit song that crossed over the two in a long time. This song still gets played in my rotation and is still one of my favorite songs from, ‘Invasion of Privacy!’