Cash Cobain on sexy drill: "Instead of rapping about killing each other, it's about having a good time"

Cash Cobain has gone supernova in 2024. A relentless summer saw him release critically-acclaimed album ‘PLAY CASH COBAIN’, tour North America with Ice Spice, and perform at New York Fashion Week, as the Bronx-hailing artist rose to rap's big leagues. Though a hectic schedule is not new — he's been grinding behind the scenes for many years to lay the foundations for the success he is now revelling in.

Starting out as a producer then becoming a rapper too, he's been steadily building since his debut mixtape '719' in 2018. A watershed moment came with 2021 collaborative track 'Nobody' with Chow Lee and Lonny Love, marking the start of a movement that snowballed with Cash Cobain and Chow Lee's 2022 mixtape '2 Slizzy 2 Sexy', catching attention for their raunchy lyrical content and sampling that infused more of a pop, R&B and Jersey club feel to the menacing sonics of drill.

Now the style known as ‘sexy drill’ - which he describes as being about sex and having a good time, rather than rapping about street violence - has become the sound of New York, with hits like ‘Dunk Contest’ and ‘Fisherrr’ landing mainstream attention this year.

The success of sexy drill has led to huge collaborations with the likes of Drake, Don Toliver and Central Cee, as well influencing a whole array of up-and-coming artists that are helping take the subgenre from the streets of New York to all over the globe.

You performed at Wireless Festival over the summer, which I believe was your first show in the UK… What was that experience like?

Wireless was good! It was amazing to see fans from overseas really fuck with me. That was my first Wireless, a lot of first-time things this year. That shit was fire.

How much has your life changed over the last few months? You’ve had crazy success and sexy drill is the sound of New York.

This journey has been amazing. This is what I’ve worked hard for and I’m finally getting the recognition. It feels good actually, it’s not overwhelming.

A few months ago you announced a last-minute show and so many people turned up that the police had to shut it down… It must be surreal to see the love and support that New York has for you?

It’s crazy. My city loves me and I love my city. This is not an easy city, this is New York that we are talking about, this is the one. I’m grateful that my city really fuck with me.

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Is performing something that comes naturally to you or something that you’ve had to grow in the last year?

Whether you’re natural or not, you grow with it as you progress and perform more. I would love to grow my performance and grow my stage presence and everything to do with performing. In the near future, it’s coming. I just go up there and do my thing. I love when the crowd really fuck with me, I feed off the crowd energy.

You recently supported Ice Spice on her headline tour, what did you learn from that experience?

Hard work and dedication. I learned how to get a crowd’s attention, what works for me and what doesn’t work for me. There were some tough crowds out there too!

How would you describe sexy drill?

Drill music but imagine it being about sex. Instead of [rapping] about killing each other, mine is about having a good time, having sex, meeting somebody you like and saying to them in all so many words what you want to do to them. It’s a groove where you can dance and move your body.

It feels like sexy drill is what the genre needed, because drill was perhaps becoming a bit too saturated, but you’ve influenced a whole new sound and artists from this wave!

Yesterday [in October] I heard the Camila Cabello song with Playboi Carti [‘I LUV IT’]. It’s like pop / sexy drill, that shit was hard.

It must be surreal to see artists like Playboi Carti and Drake being influenced by sexy drill?

Hell yeah, that shit is crazy because those are the artists that I look up to.

Who did you grow up listening to?

I grew up listening to the artists that we just brought up: Playboi Carti, Drake, Young Thug, Future. Everybody. I grew up listening to everybody, I wasn’t a picky consumer.

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I saw that Drake did the album art for ‘PLAY CASH COBAIN’. How did this come about?

Me and bro talk a lot so he just sent me a picture. He was outside, I don’t know what he was doing, but he sent me that picture. I was like, “That’s hard, I got to use that as my album cover!” Come on, Drake did your album cover? That’s crazy!

Has Drake given you advice about how to navigate fame amidst this crazy change in your life?

Drake has given me motivation and reassurance that I’m one of those ones.

I was listening back to some of your old tracks and I love ‘HATE U DELILAH’... What inspired this?

It was one of those songs that I grew up listening to, ‘Hey There Delilah’. One day I ran into it again and [decided] to sample this shit. He was talking good about Delilah but in this day and age, we are going to talk bad about Delilah. The Delilahs we have around, they’re bad. I wanted to make it New York swag too.

You started as a producer and continue to help other artists with projects… What do you love about the behind-the-scenes work?

I never wanted to be a rapper. When I was growing up, I would have definitely said one thing I didn’t want to be was a rapper. I didn’t even know I wanted to be a producer, I just knew I wanted to make music before I even had a [label] to what I was doing. I just wanted to make beats.

Rapping comes with a whole set of problems and responsibilities. I got in the door and made that bridge for everything else. Producing is my love. Being a creative, I just love making beats and I can’t stop. I still want to be on top but I want my other artists to shine and take the spotlight. I want everyone else to have the spotlight, I just want to oversee everything.

Did you get into rap to build that bridge for other opportunities?

I didn’t get into rap to build the bridge. One day, I thought, “Fuck it” and started rapping and I liked how it sounded. But nowadays as I’ve been rapping for mad long and I’ve seen where it’s heading, I would love to use it as a bridge to get to where I need to be.

Where is it heading?

It’s heading to stardom! I want to be a star, but I want to be able to relax sometime and chill in the cut. I don’t need to be the guy. I don’t need all that spotlight. Spotlight on me, spotlight off me, I’ll just be me regardless.

You’ve been working with the rapper Laila! recently, who blew up with the viral hit ‘Problem’... Is this an artist we should keep an eye out for?

Like her song says, she’s a problem! She mixes her beats and produces, she’s very talented and she’s aiming for the stars and she’s going to reach that. I listened to her whole album on a flight and it was fire.

She’s going to be good. I just hope her mental stays [strong] because she’s so young. It gets hard and you may do what you don’t want to do. You may just want to lay down but you can’t, you’ve got to work! I hope she stays strong.

Does your career trajectory keep you humble because you’re at the top but you’ve come up the hard way?

It keeps me level-headed! I’ve got other things that keep me humble and level-headed too [laughs].

'Play Cash Cobain' is out now, check it here

Adam Davidson is freelance writer, follow him on Instagram