Cardi B’s the Elle of the ball…

The 27-year-old half-Dominican American rap superstar, who recently celebrated a second week atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart with her Megan Thee Stallion collab “WAP,” graces the cover of ELLE magazine’s September issue.

In an up close photograph taken by Steven Klein, Cardi B appears on the cover rocking a crystal wig by Area that completely covers her head and hair, putting her beautiful face on full display. The dazzling wig featured long strands of diamonds that hang down the sides of her chest while the rest encompass her entire head and wrap around her neck.

She brings even more glam-ness to the image by rocking Mordekai by Ken Borochov diamond bracelet cuffs, which feature long silver strands hanging down. A strapless crystal-embellished dress and three diamond piercings down her sternum add even more pizazz to her look.

For Cardi B’s makeup on the cover, she rocks a sultry light brown smokey eye with voluminous lashes and a nude lip lined in dark brown and covered in a shiny gloss.

Throughout the photo shoot, Cardi put her labret piercing on full display, revealing a tiny diamond stud pierced below the center of her bottom lip, just above her chin. Insanely long pointed black tip fingernails complete her edgy cover.

And Cardi B’s cover shoot just keeps getting better as she is pictured throughout the magazine in a slew of shiny looks. In one photo, she’s seen in head-to-toe Paco Rabanne, as her head is covered in a gold and silver chain hood, while she rocks a matching metal top. The hood is made up of gold and silver triangle charms which cover her forehead while the metal top is low cut.

In another look, Cardi B stuns in a long-sleeve silver and black off-the-shoulder sequin Balenciaga top while wearing a mesh black Swarovski crystal veil by Keren Wolf to cover her face. Her hair is done down in a super short straight black bob with blunt bangs covering her forehead.

The glamorous feel of the shoot feels like a far cry from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when magazines were relying exclusively on self-shot images of stars in their homes.

In the cover story, written by Marjon Carlos, Cardi B talks about politics and activism, from her outrage at the way Breonna Taylor was killed to her plea for fans to become more civically engaged at all levels of government.

“You can vote for DAs. You can vote for mayors. You can vote for your district. Not everything is the president. You know what I’m saying?” she said.

Cardi B also opened up about the frequent attempts to cancel her (“it’s like I have a target on my back, but it’s not because of my music”), her sometimes-controversial relationship with husband Offset (“I feel like people would rather start rumors because they want me to be heartbroken”) and her upcoming album (“my music is always going to make a woman feel like a bad bitch”). 

To read the full cover story and see more photos from the cover shoot, visit elle.com.