PALMER TWP., Pa. — Amber Williams and Surray Landis were the first in line outside Spin Me Round Records’ outdoor entrance at Palmer Park Mall on Saturday.
They had been there since 6:30 a.m., carving out a spot for themselves to see Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum selling rapper Cardi B, who was due to arrive for a promotional event at 2 p.m.
While Cardi B was a bit late to the Easton area — about 2-and-a-half hours — fans were willing to wait it out to see the star, pick up her new album, “Am I the Drama?” and bond with others in the line.
Asked if 10 hours in the sun was worth it, Williams and Landis responded with “Yes, absolutely.”
“It was amazing, awesome,” Williams said, with Landis adding, “…Even though it was super quick.”
During their time in line, the pair enjoyed pizza and made fast friends, pointing out they have a Friendsgiving celebration planned with a few people they met outside the mall Saturday.
Palmer preps for Cardi B
Cardi B’s newest album dropped on Friday, concurrent with the start of the "Am I the Drama? Meet and Greet Tour," which kicked off in Long Island, N.Y.
Outside Palmer Park Mall, the line was already extended before noon from the record store’s exterior entrance to the back of the mall.
Tracks from the new album blared from speakers situated just outside the record store entrance, and fans flocked around in Cardi T-shirts, carrying posters and eagerly awaiting the singer.
“Today has been a fantastic day. We were really excited that as soon as Stephanie, the owner of Spin Me Round, put out the invitation, ‘The Party with Cardi,’ over 1,000 people pre ordered the record and are here to pick it up today,” public relations specialist Tiffany Sondergaard said.
“The best thing about Cardi and this promotional tour is that she is doing it from a street level."Tiffany Sondergaard
Sondergaard added that Cardi B’s appearance in the Lehigh Valley brought a wealth of attention to the Palmer Park Mall, with the meet and greet drawing plenty of foot traffic through the shopping center as fans exited the session via the interior.
“The best thing about Cardi and this promotional tour is that she is doing it from a street level. You know, yes, she will be going on tour. However, for now, she is out here, face to face, and spending her time directly with her fans who are buying her album,” Sondergaard said.
“So I think that's amazing; this is for the fans. Today is for the fans. And how lucky are we that it's in the Lehigh Valley and at the Palmer Park Mall?”
And while waiting nearly half a day for the meet and greet was a bit rough, Heather Griffith’s Wrap’d Tight Gourmet Wraps & Salads — which has a spot inside the mall — had a food truck waiting outside with a special Cardi B menu to keep everyone sated.
Griffith, a Cardi B fan herself, said the chance to serve the event was incredible. She said Cardi’s “journey and everything she’s going through right now speaks volumes to a lot of people — men and women —and so it gave us the opportunity to be part of that.”
Asked what she would recommend for the acclaimed rapper, it was clear Griffith had done the research.
“I'm going to give her everything. I contoured this menu to her," she said. "I did some research. And in doing research, she stated when she's pregnant – which, congratulations, she just said she is pregnant – that she likes hot honey chicken. So we contoured the Am I the Drama mac and cheese bowl.”
“We also contoured the 'Am I the Drama?' wrap for her, and it also comes with hot honey chicken, the peppers, the mac and cheese, and it’s wrapped up and it grills on the grill. So we contoured those. If she came out here to my truck, I'm asking her, which one does she want? Or, since she's pregnant, does she want both?”
'Am I the Drama?'
Palmer Township police said early on that there had not been any issues with the fans, and while things got a bit excitable when Cardi rolled up to the entrance in her black SUV — after she quickly reassured fans she would stay until 3 a.m. if need be — just about everyone was happy with it.
But there wasn’t any time for interviews, as this was for the fans, she said, so Cardi went right in and got to work.
"Am I the Drama?" was certified platinum on its launch day, with lead single “Outside,” which dropped on June 20, becoming a viral hit and earning Cardi another top 10 placement on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
This album also includes a few singles — such as “Up” and the controversial “WAP”— which had come out over the past few years, with Cardi saying the hits “deserve a home.”
The inspiration for the album stems from “real-life drama” which Cardi said she had been experiencing for a while.
An "Entertainment Tonight" piece said Cardi got the title from RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ Scarlet Envy, with the rapper saying she had plans with Envy to collaborate in the near future.
Cardi B is pregnant with her fourth child; New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs is the father.
Cardi B is set to visit New York City, Atlanta, Houston, and Long Beach before the meet and greet tour wraps up.
Following that, she’ll launch the Little Miss Drama Tour in February 2026, with an April 7 show set for Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
