Cash Cobain - 2024 XXL Freshman Freestyle, Interview and More

GOV'T NAME: Cashmere Small
AGE: 26
REPPIN': The Bronx
X: @CashCobain_2x
INSTAGRAM: @cashcobain_2x
TIKTOK: @cashcobain12
NOTABLE RELEASES: Songs: “Fisherrr” with Bay Swag, “Fisherrr (Remix)” with Bay Swag and Ice Spice, “Dunk Contest,” “Grippy” with J. Cole; Projects: Slizzy Timing, 2 Slizzy 2 Sexy with Chow Lee, Pretty Girls Love Slizzy; Guest Appearances: Don Toliver’s “Attitude” featuring Charlie Wilson, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s “Body”
LABEL: Giant Music
CURRENTLY WORKING ON: Play Cash Cobain project dropping this summer.
WHO ELSE SHOULD BE PART OF THIS YEAR'S CLASS: “Anycia. Karrahbooo. Veeze. Chow Lee. A lot of people. I ain’t gonna lie. You’re missing people.”
INFLUENCED BY: “[Ye’s] Graduation. I wouldn’t say like a specific person. I just listen to music. Old-school music. I listen to some Drake.”
AS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL: “[I was] late. I was just myself for real.”

TRUTH ON BEING AN XXL FRESHMAN: “After the [Freshman meeting], I knew the people were like, ‘You gotta pick this ni**a, man’... I felt amazing, my mama felt amazing, everybody was congratulating me and sh*t like that. It was a beautiful moment.

The XXL Freshman Class? It’s history, this is a moment, this is a milestone in my timeline. People are gonna remember this one. I remember just being a young ni**a and just watching this sh*t, 2016, 2017, you know. That was the sh*t, but no one’s gonna deny I have to be here, though. Like I said, it’s a milestone. It motivates you. It gives you that light, that spotlight on you. It puts that magnifying glass on you, and everyone’s like, ‘Who the f**k is this ni**a?’ Everyone gets to know you. It’s a gift.”

Watch Cash Cobain's 2024 XXL Freshman Freestyle

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It’s hard to argue that any rapper has put New York City on their back quite like Cash Cobain in 2024. The Bronx-bred polymath has been steadily making a name for himself since 2019, producing and writing tracks for both hometown talents like B-Lovee and Big Yaya to national icons like Lil Yachty and Drake. After the pandemic shuttered everything in 2020, the 26-year-old rapper decided to look inward and invest entirely in his own sound. He began crafting a dizzying blend of sample drill, amalgamating tracks from the Spice Girls, Prince Royce and the Plain White T’s with the choppy bounce of Jersey club. Now, Cash is bringing that slick energy to his 2024 XXL Freshman freestyle.

In the rhymes he delivers, Cash feels the opps lurking at every turn, and is hesitant about who he spends his time with. "I come from the trenches, the slums, I can't go nowhere without bringing my gun," Cash raps in the video below. "Don't f**k with them ni**as, them ni**as suspicious they're not really with it."

However, Cash reiterates that he's won't let the haters keep him from wandering the bustling streets of his hometown, which he's been spotted doing on many occasions. "I handle my business, I'm outside, let's get it," he raps. "I'm outside, let's get it."

Cash has had an unbelievable rise in just two years. He's churned out five solo projects, each one inching closer to the sound that he’d later coin sexy drill. Cash finally struck gold with the success of 2022’s 2 Sexy 2 Slizzy with Chow Lee, and his signature sound started to become his Frankenstein’s monster. Imitators began to pop up all across the four boroughs, but as Cash continued his rise, it became clear no one could tap into the nonchalant bravado of songs like “JHOLIDAY” and “ALREADY.”

By the time 2023’s Pretty Girls Love Slizzy arrived, Cash Cobain’s silky sound had been completely embraced by the city that raised him. He earned the most praise of his career when "Fisherrr" dropped in February of this year. The song with rapper Bay Swag put the spotlight on the two artists in New York City and beyond. Unbelievable cosigns from artists like Frank Ocean and Lil Uzi Vert were like gasoline on an already raging fire, and it all culminated in the explosive Slizzy Fest this past April. The show was canceled before it even began because of how many eager Slizzy supporters showed up unannounced.

Instead of languishing in disappointment, Cash marched the party over to Union Square Park in NYC for one of the city’s most memorable moments this past spring. The moment straddled the line between both refreshingly new and nostalgically New York and immediately put Cash on everyone’s radar. In June, Cash popped out again outside Le Pére clothing store for another last-minute street performance. He's starting to become known as the hometown hero who is always out and about.

Ever since the Union Square Park event, Cash’s music has been unstoppable. His “Fisherrr” remix with Ice Spice and Bay Swag is already a top contender for song of the summer, and his recent “Grippy” collab with J. Cole is causing lyrical rap fans to note Cash Cobain’s impact as well. He's got an upcoming project, Play Cash Cobain, on the way. In July, he's performing on the Y2K World Tour with Ice Spice. As the world watches Cash’s sound spread, he hopes emerging as a 2024 XXL Freshman will continue to puzzle his naysayers.

"It’s a milestone," Cash tells XXL of being a Freshman. "It motivates you, it gives you that spotlight on you. It puts that magnifying glass on you, and everyone’s like, 'Who the f**k is this n***a?'"

Watch Cash Cobain keep it slizzy in his freestyle below.