Cash Cobain Does What He Feels—From Shifting His Sound To Drinking Hennessy And Honey

Armon Sadler
·9 min read

It was admittedly surprising for Cash Cobain to be so quiet upon entering VIBE’s New York City office. His music is braggadocious and, well, extremely promiscuous. IRL however, the 25-year-old was kind and gracious. He moved like a star though; he wore shades indoors and didn’t say too much, outside of insisting that we get speakers to “really feel” his new album Pretty Girls Love Slizzy.

He mostly faced the TV screen, rapping along to the tracks and getting especially animated for songs that were clearly his favorites. He said a lot without actually saying much at all: the Bronx rapper is proud of what he creates and doesn’t need to sell a product that sells itself.

Cobain has become the innovator and face of “sexy drill,” a subgenre that trades violent lyrics for vulgarity and expressing one’s desire for sexual relations. While it has gotten him this far and become very popular, he is interested in showing people that he’s capable of more. “I feel like, if you been listening to me since like 2016, this one got songs like ‘So Fire,’ ‘Clocking U,’ ‘Nice N Slow,’” he said. “Song that’s more nicer, I don’t know how to say it. More to the woman, more different than just sexy-drill. The beat’s different, the vibe’s different and newcomers are going to get like, ‘All right, he can switch it up sometimes. He don’t got to be on this type of time all the time.’”

When asked if he felt like he had to switch it up, Cash disagreed. “Nah, I ain’t feel like I had to,” he said. “It was never a thing to like, ‘Yo, let me let them know I can switch it up.’ It was just what I was feeling.” Feelings were referred to a lot throughout the conversation, especially when it came to how often he creates. While some artists are studio rats, Cash Cobain only steps into the booth when he is inspired.

“I don’t make hundreds of songs regularly,” he said. “I got to feel it for real. It’s more so quality over quantity. I feel like nowadays, it’s easy to make a song that’s regular or mediocre. A song that’s gon be like, ‘Eh, it’s all right.’ If I’m not going to my go-to, like even now, that new flow, whatever flow that is that I got, that go-to flow, if I’m not doing that, I try to do something different. I want to bring something different to the table, for sure. I don’t want to just keep making the same songs.”

“Clockin U” shows a new side of Cash Cobain: a man chasing a woman with multiple suitors. The lyrics find him offering to ride with the woman forever—as long as she doesn’t engage with any other men. He explained that despite the unusual position, the creation process was still natural.

“It was going to be a weird song but when I was making it I was like, ‘Nah, they’re not ready for this. They’re not ready for it to be weird right now,’” Cobain said. “So I made it like a regular song. But I had the flow. I ain’t have the words. Once the words started coming in, I was like, ‘All right, this is the one.’”He admits some of the lyrics don’t make sense—take “hookah shots,” for example—but that they’re provocative, they get the people going.

“When I say dumb sh*t like that, that don’t even make no sense, but it sounds like I make sense, I’m like, ‘All right, I got one,’” Cash said. “It sounds like it makes sense but, what the hell is a hookah shot for real? But, it sounds good and it’s like, word. That was an easy song to make too. I really liked making the beat for that song. I just knew it was different from other ones.”

Though sampling generally comes easy to Cash Cobain, there is a challenge that has plagued him for years—he’s just not willing to share it. “I can’t give all my secrets, because then motherf**kers going to try to sample it,” he stated firmly. “But, it’s a good one. It’s been like that for years. I honestly don’t know how to f**king do it. I just got faith in God. When the time is right, he’s going to point me to the right direction.”

While Cash Cobain has taken drill in a different direction, he still creates the kind of sample-heavy music people have complained about over the years. He isn’t phased by the noise, though. “I don’t really care about people, because at the end of the day, people are always going to talk, whether you like it or not,” he said. “I just know me, personally, I love sampling. I started off making music sampling. I grew up on these songs, for real. I’m never going to stop sampling. However, I get why people may feel like it’s oversaturated, because some people just sampling and these sh*ts whack.”

He did have flowers for one legendary producer and how he samples, though. “You know Hitmaka? I like the way how he samples his sh*t. That sh*t be hard. Different. Especially in sample-drill. They be trying to just be like each other. They be just trying to be like me, for real. I’m going to keep sampling [,though.]. Never going to stop.”

Since he’s sampled tracks from a myriad of artists including Prince Royce, Plain White T’s, Whitney Houston, it’s natural to wonder what else he may be interested in exploring. “I did gospel but y’all ain’t hear it yet,” Cash said. “It’s a lot of sh*t I ain’t sampled, like Classical music. I ain’t sampled Jazz. I never sampled Opera. I ain’t never sampled like a couple things, I ain’t sampled for real. Also like, kind of harder to sample, for real. But, if something catches my attention, trust me, I’m going to figure it out.”

Cobain prides himself on being a dual threat and he has some dream collaborations with certain producers and other artists. “Metro Boomin is my favorite producer, but Pharrell is crazy. And Kanye is crazy. I’m going to have to go with f**king Pharrell. Just give me Pharrell.” As for the artist he would produce for, his answer was quick and easy.

“Travis Scott,” he said. “I love Travis Scott, man. I feel like he knows how to make an album, for real. Me and him coming together, really locking on an album, he would bring something out of me that I didn’t know that was in me.”

While Travis Scott, Future, and Young Thug collaborations haven’t happened yet, Cash did secure a major look less than one month after releasing Pretty Girls. The Bronx talent produced Drake’s  “Calling For You” featuring 21 Savage, which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. “That felt amazing,” Cobain said. “It’s an unexplainable feeling. Coming from where I come from, it’s crazy to just be on Billboard, let alone produce a song for Drake. Just all those combined into one is just unexplainable.”

The 6 God didn’t just request a beat from the “sexy drill” innovator, he paid homage to Cash’s style of nimble raps, autotune, and his “Like damn” phrase. Cobain’s relationship with Lil Yachty brought the collaboration about and the two worked on “No More Bodies” from his Slizzy Day EP and Lil Boat’s recent loosie, “Lotus Flower Bomb.”

“He’s a hard worker,” Cash said about the Let’s Start Here. artist. “ When he first came out, ni**as tried to say he was a mumble rapper. He’s not just a rapper that’s just doing this just to do it; he really took this music sh*t seriously. I could tell. I ain’t going to lie, I feel like he the MVP for this sh*t.”

Some fans have requested that Cash Cobain and Lil Yachty come together for a full joint project. According to Cash, they’ve got two projects worth of music together. As if these connections aren’t enough, Cobain is also set to have a placement on PinkPantheress’ forthcoming album, Heaven Knows. The song is called “Nice To Meet You” and features fast-rising UK rapper Central Cee.

”Our management set it up, and we just went to the studio and hooked up that song from scratch,” Cobain recalled. “It was a pleasure working with her. She’s an amazing artist. I didn’t know she make beats and stuff, so that kind of surprised me. We made the beat together. I loved working with Pink. Her vibe was good. That’s really my sister, for real.”

While Cobain cherishes his platonic women friendships, he equally loves an abundance of sex. In July 2023, Cobain famously told Pitchfork that he loves being a “hoe.”  He also listed off his close friends like Chow Lee, Lonny Love, Vontee The Singer, and Lenny when asked who he believes are the top five hoes of all-time. His elixir of choice when it’s time to fornicate is Hennessy and honey packs.

“Girls don’t drink Henny, but when you tell them you put the honey in it, they want to drink that,” he said. “It’s due for a good time. You drink the Henny, you go crazy. So imagine you put the honey in the Henny. You unstoppable. Can’t be stopped.” Fortunately, Cash Cobain has his own branded condoms and advocates for safe sex. When asked if he would ever do an erotic audiobook or movie, everyone in the room helped him arrive at the idea of making 50 Shades Of Slizzy, a flip on 50 Shades Of Grey.

“I never thought of that for real,” he said. “50 Shades of Slizzy might be a thing.”

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