Carlos Alman: Life, Work and Family of Cardi B's Father

Carlos Alman is the father of rapper Cardi B. People magazine reports that he came to New York from the Dominican Republic in 1990. He then drove a cab in the city for nine years. That is the short version of the record. Much of what circulates online about Carlos Alman comes from websites with no sources attached. This article separates what reliable reporting establishes from what it does not.

Who Is Carlos Alman?

People.com names him Carlos Almánzar and identifies him as the father of Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, who performs as Cardi B. Wikipedia uses the same family surname for Cardi B and for her sister Hennessy Carolina. Other outlets shorten the surname to Alman.

Cardi B was born on October 11, 1992, in Washington Heights, Manhattan, according to Wikipedia. She was raised in the Highbridge area of the South Bronx. People adds that she also spent time at her paternal grandmother's home in Washington Heights.

Cardi B's mother is Clara, whom People describes as Trinidadian. GQ reports that Clara came to the United States from Trinidad as an adolescent. GQ also reports that Carlos Alman speaks to his daughter only in Spanish. Cardi B herself grew up bilingual in the Bronx.

What Is Known About Carlos Alman's Early Life?

Very little. No major outlet has published a childhood account, a school history or a hometown for Carlos Alman. His age and date of birth circulate widely online, but none of the sources I opened supplies them.

The date of March 19, 1958 appears on websites that recycle one another's text without attribution. One of those sites states outright that his date of birth has not been established through dependable biographical records. No verified figure exists for Carlos Alman's birth date, and no age can be confirmed.

The 1990 immigration date is the firmest early fact on record. People.com reports that Carlos Alman immigrated to America from the Dominican Republic in 1990. That single year is the anchor for everything else that followed.

How Did Carlos Alman Become a New York Cab Driver?

Cardi B has described her father's driving work herself. People.com reports that Carlos Alman worked as a cab driver in New York for nine years. He retired around the time Cardi B's rap career began to grow.

XXL reported in September 2023 that Cardi B said her father had never been arrested. XXL described her 2020 posts stating that he drove a cab in New York City for nine years.

Carlos Alman kept a connection to the trade after he stopped driving. In 2019, Cardi B reacted to an episode of The New York Times television series The Weekly. That episode examined working conditions for New York cab drivers. People quotes her post on the matter. She wrote that her dad "still campaigns for cab drivers to this day". She described the costs drivers absorb and the rudeness of some customers. She ended by asking people to "be nice to cab drivers".

How Does Carlos Alman Relate to Hennessy Carolina?

People reports that Carlos Alman and Clara welcomed two children together. They are Cardi B and her younger sister Hennessy Carolina. People gives Hennessy's birth date as December 22, 1995, in the Bronx. Wikipedia places her birth in 1995 and describes her as Cardi's younger sister.

Beyond that, reliable detail is scarce. Claims that Carlos Alman has eight children appear only on unsourced biography websites. The People.com account names two children with Clara. I found no authoritative source that adds more.

How Has Carlos Alman Shaped Cardi B's Identity?

His influence shows most clearly in two places: language and food.

GQ reports that Carlos Alman speaks to his daughter exclusively in Spanish. Wikipedia quotes Cardi B describing how her father taught her about Caribbean countries. She recalled him explaining that Europeans took over Caribbean lands. She linked that lesson directly to her sense of identity, saying she hates when people try to take her roots away.

Food is the second thread. People reports that Cardi B and Carlos Alman are "personality twins." They share a love of making jokes. She credits him with her habit of eating tomatoes sprinkled with salt, which he introduced to her as a child. In 2021 she posted a video of herself cooking mondongo, a stew of diced tripe and vegetables. She captioned it: "I got it from my dad."

What Role Do Carlos Alman and Clara Play as Grandparents?

Cardi B has two children, Kulture and Wave. People reports her gratitude for her parents' help after Kulture was born in July 2018. "My mom has not left my side not one time," she said in a video. On her father she said he was "just running errands for me in New York".

Cardi has publicly called both parents her "biggest blessings". People quotes a video she posted shortly after the birth. She said: "I've been blessed since birth. Because of my parents". She described them as her biggest blessings and said she was thankful and grateful for them.

In 2020, Cardi wrote that her mother is the "greatest grandma in the world". GQ reports that Cardi is close to both parents and describes her upbringing as strict. She has explained that she was not allowed to attend sleepovers.

Why Did Cardi B Defend Her Father From Reporters?

In June 2019, cameras from Univision's El Gordo y la Flaca approached Cardi B on a New York street. She was with her father and her child. XXL reported that the reporter continued after Cardi B said she was not camera-ready. The reporter then tried to speak to her father.

XXL quotes Cardi B telling the crew not to put her father on television. She said he does not walk around with security. She said they did not know who might harm him. She called approaching her with cameras "disrespectful".

Revolt reported the same incident and the same remarks. Cardi B later apologised on Instagram Live. She explained that Hispanic audiences had supported her and that she simply reacts differently in "mommy mode".

What False Claims Has Cardi B Refuted About Her Father?

Twice, in writing, and both times against false reports.

In September 2023, XXL reported that Cardi B responded to an X post. That post claimed her father was a convicted rapist and pedophile. She wrote that her dad has never been a rapist.

In January 2026, Complex reported a claim about Carlos Alman. A parody X account posted a screenshot of a Grok response. The screenshot claimed he was convicted of attempted rape in 1993. Complex noted that Grok itself later said the screenshot was fabricated.

Cardi B answered that her father had "never been arrested in this country". She pointed out that as an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, he would be deported for such a conviction.

What About Carlos Alman's Age, Height and Finances?

No verified figure exists for any of it. No reputable source gives a height, a weight, a net worth, a religion or a star sign. Several biography websites list a height of five foot eleven and a weight of 143 pounds. Those numbers appear nowhere in the reporting I read. They sit alongside invented details such as a named mother and a zodiac sign.

Carlos Alman is not a public figure who gives interviews, and he operates no official profile. The record is thin because the record is thin. It was not hidden from view. It was never documented.

Musical families recur elsewhere on this site, including Thomas Gooding, the bassist, and Solomon Marrow, Ice-T's father.

Frequently asked questions

Who Is Carlos Alman? People.com names him Carlos Almánzar and identifies him as the father of Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, who performs as Cardi B. Wikipedia uses the same family surname for Cardi B and for her sister Hennessy Carolina. Other outlets shorten the surname to Alman.

What Is Known About Carlos Alman's Early Life? Very little. No major outlet has published a childhood account, a school history or a hometown for Carlos Alman. His age and date of birth circulate widely online, but none of the sources I opened supplies them.

How Did Carlos Alman Become a New York Cab Driver? Cardi B has described her father's driving work herself. People.com reports that Carlos Alman worked as a cab driver in New York for nine years. He retired around the time Cardi B's rap career began to grow.

How Does Carlos Alman Relate to Hennessy Carolina? People reports that Carlos Alman and Clara welcomed two children together. They are Cardi B and her younger sister Hennessy Carolina. People gives Hennessy's birth date as December 22, 1995, in the Bronx. Wikipedia places her birth in 1995 and describes her as Cardi's younger sister.

How Has Carlos Alman Shaped Cardi B's Identity? His influence shows most clearly in two places: language and food.

What Role Do Carlos Alman and Clara Play as Grandparents? Cardi B has two children, Kulture and Wave. People reports her gratitude for her parents' help after Kulture was born in July 2018. "My mom has not left my side not one time," she said in a video. On her father she said he was "just running errands for me in New York".

Conclusion

Carlos Alman is a real person, documented in reliable reporting, and almost nothing else about him is certain. People.com establishes that he immigrated from the Dominican Republic in 1990. People.com also establishes that he drove a New York cab for nine years. GQ establishes that he speaks Spanish to his daughter and raised her bilingual in the Bronx. Wikipedia and XXL confirm his place in Cardi B's family.

Everything more specific that circulates about him comes from the same pool of websites. That pool offers a birth date, a height, a weight, a net worth and a count of eight children. It also traces those claims to one another rather than to any record. A number repeated across dozens of pages is still just one unsourced number.

His daughter calls him one of her "biggest blessings". That much, at least, is documented.

Sources

• All About Cardi B's Parents, Clara and Carlos Almánzar - People. https://people.com/all-about-cardi-b-parents-8666224

• Cardi B's Money Moves - GQ. https://www.gq.com/story/cardi-b-invasion-of-privacy-profile

• Cardi B - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardi_B

• Cardi B Goes Off on Reporter for Trying to Put Her Father on TV - XXL. https://www.xxlmag.com/cardi-b-reporter-argument-tv/

• Cardi B Calls Out Reporter for Filming Her Father - REVOLT. https://www.revolt.tv/article/2019-06-28/46120/cardi-b-calls-out-reporter-for-filming-her-father

• Cardi B Addresses X Accusation That Her Father Is a Rapist and Pedophile - XXL. https://www.xxlmag.com/cardi-b-addresses-rumors-father-rapist-pedophile/

• Cardi B Claps Back at Unfounded Claim Her Father Was Convicted of Attempted Rape - Complex. https://www.complex.com/music/a/cmplxtara-mahadevan/cardi-b-claps-back-unfounded-claim-father-convicted-attempted-rape