Kash Doll made an appearance at Rolling Loud’s first-ever festival in Los Angeles in December of 2017 where I got the opportunity to speak with the Detroit native about her bittersweet journey. At the time, she informed me she was pregnant…with her album, due spring of 2018. Overdue, this fall she was finally able to deliver her 17lb baby, “Stacked,” healthy and strong.
Ahead of Stacked‘s release, I spoke with Kash again at the Uproxx offices in Los Angeles where we engaged in a candid conversation about the album, the music industry, advice she has for young up-and-coming women who want to get into music, her decision to work with Iggy Azalea despite her controversial history and most importantly, what’s fueled her hustle for so long.
Kash Doll has been through a lot and never once backed down. Through everything she’s been through, the BET Best Female Hip Hop Artist award-winner remains both humble and grateful.
How would you describe this album?
It’s like timeless music. You got some party bops, something to make you feel like you ready to go pick up a bag or get motivated. You got to have music for all different moods. Sometimes you want to be in love or you want to say, “fuck n*****,” then you want to feel cute or you might want to talk sh*t to these b*tches. I got all that type of music in one.
“Ready Set,” is kind of different from what you’ve done in the past. It’s more radio-friendly.
I didn’t cuss not one time on that song.
I didn’t even notice that. With Apple music, the first song you can select is always the edited version, which I hate but I never noticed that.
So you didn’t even know? But it still feels so full. It don’t feel like you’re missing something.
No, it isn’t missing anything. I didn’t notice that! Well, let’s talk about “Ready Set” because the song is about celebration. What’s the last thing you celebrated?
I feel like I’m celebrating every day. Just coming from where I come from and being where I’m at, it’s a celebration. The last thing I celebrated was my nomination for the BET Awards.
Why the BET Award nod in particular?
Because I work so hard. Even with my team, when I first met my management, I told them, “I want to be nominated. I want to be winning awards and sh*t.” To actually get through being stuck in a contract, getting out of that, putting out music, putting out videos, doing Rolling Loud, going on Beyoncé’s stage, going on stage with Drake, Remy Ma bringing me out and going on tour with Meek Mill. I’m always satisfied knowing that I’m progressing. I feel like every day is a celebration. Leaving Grammy meetings and then coming here to talk to you. That song gets you in the mode of just being grateful.
What keeps you motivated?
I really have self-motivation. I was blessed with that. I always been like that since I was a little girl. I always knew that I’d be doing this. Every time my friends come to my events they be like, “You used to say that. That’s crazy.” I just be like, yeah and I ain’t done yet. It’s this new house I’m looking at. That motivates the f*ck out of me.
Up here?
No, it’s in Michigan. It’s off the lake.
When did you see it?
Girl, I seen it last Monday and I’ve seen it 19 times since then. I kept riding past it. I kept going to pull up in the driveway, walking out and looking in there. I went in there looking around and it’s just like I’m finna have my eyes on this house. That house is my latest motivation and I want to buy it. I want to get into buying my homes now. I’m not renting no more.
Don’t you have a house in Atlanta, too?
Yeah.
So you’re just building up those assets.
Yeah, and I want a boat.
You got to get you a yacht or a boat.
I want a boat, I want a yacht, and I want an airplane.
You can do that!
I want an airplane for my 40th birthday. I want a f*cking airplane. Kash Line. Kash Lane. That got a ring to it! Kash Lane or Luxury Lane or Expensive Fly.
[Laughs] We’re going to work on the name. Being that you came from having a rough beginning with your previous label, what are three things you’d advise young girls coming into the game?
I’d say, don’t sign no damn papers. With nobody. You figure out who you are as an artist first. You don’t even know who you are as an artist if you just go and sign papers and think they supposed to do what they need to do for you. You got to do what you got to do for yourself first. Give yourself some time to get to know who you are as an artist before you just jump into any situation, period.
Secondly, I say don’t compare yourself to other artists. You stay in your own lane and you drive as fast as you can. Don’t drive as fast as the person next to you, because you going to crash. That ain’t your speed. Be happy and comfortable with what you got going on and learn how to be happy for others.
Third? Starve negativity, feed positivity, because what you feed will grow. If you pay attention to all the negative sh*t more than you pay attention to the positive sh*t you’re going to be miserable, because now all you feeding off of is bullsh*t. Feed the positive sh*t, so at least you got a good energy going. This b*tch says you ugly, but 30 other people just said you’re beautiful. Why you comment to the ugly hoe that said you was ugly, when she ugly her damn self?
What if you got time that day?
No, I always have time, sometimes. I like to snap.
Sometimes you’ve got that energy built up.
But I just say don’t only give that person attention. Make sure you show love to the people that’s showing love too because now they feel like they got to say something negative to you so they can get your attention. They probably don’t even mean it. They just want a comment back from you. So now they see, “All she comments on is negative sh*t? Let me say this b*tch is ugly, and maybe I’ll finally see her in my mentions.”
Yeah, I hear a lot of fans, especially kids, they’ll leave the craziest comments, only because they want their favorite artists to respond.
But you got all these people from the bigger brands who come to look at your page and they’re coming to see how people react to you. They don’t know that these fans just want your attention. They thinking, “Damn, don’t nobody like this person. I don’t even want to do business with her” so you always got to be thinking about stuff like that.
You have this song with Iggy Azalea called “F*ck It Up” that’s out, considering her controversial past what made you want to work with her? Because she has a lot of people who don’t like her.
Why don’t people like her?
I think because she’s from Australia and she talks with a fake accent as if she’s from Atlanta so a lot of people feel like she’s appropriating Black culture and she’s unapologetic about it. She has this flippant attitude when people try to educate her on certain things.
She’s human. If it ain’t got nothing to do with me, I don’t pay attention to it. It don’t really have nothing to do with me. I’m learning from you that people don’t like her, but I don’t know why. I’ve heard it a couple times and I was just like, well why? She didn’t do nothing to me, so why would I not do something with her? I’m just trying to get an understanding.
It has been just that, when she’s done interviews there hasn’t been any sense of respect from her about American rap culture and Black culture. She dismisses it or people just don’t feel that she’s paying respect to it like she’s kind of like mocking it to make money but I respect that you did you, because she does get so much backlash. I don’t even think anybody really got on you about it and they shouldn’t.
No, nobody ever say nothing to me because they can’t.
I think people have a little more respect for you.
Working with her, I witnessed something else. I’m a real b*tch first by any means so we’re going to sit here and we’re going to be honest. What’s really the issue? What did she do? It’s a lot of b*tches in the game that don’t rap, that get people to make them songs and they just repeat it. They don’t have no meaning behind nothing. What’s the difference? My personal experience with Iggy was straight. She hit me up, said she had a song I could get on and I’m like, let me hear it. I heard it, I liked it.
Then you guys did the Romy and Michele type music video for it. It looks like you guys had fun!
I can only go off how a person treated me. Nobody is perfect. If I liked the song and if I like you and how you approached me, I do it. If I don’t then I don’t have to do sh*t I don’t want to do. At the end of the day we all come from God, and when I have a good feeling about something, if it just flow, I do it. She didn’t give me anything to make me feel like I didn’t want to do it.
That’s all it matters.
There’s some stuff going on around me right now about my age. I never said I was 25, 26 years old. Somebody else made that online. I didn’t do that. But I just never comment on it because every birthday I say I turned 21. I’m not in my f*cking 30’s like everybody tries to say, but I’m not about to tell y’all my age because now y’all made it such a big deal that I’m going to let y’all just always keep my name in your mouth. That’s a perfect example because on my birthday I said I turned 21 and I say that shit every year.
Like most people.
Everybody say they turn 21 and that’s a prime example of how things just grow over time because that was the big thing: Kash Doll age. Now, I would never tell them motherf*ckers because they care too much and I think it’s funny. You just got some people that just want to end up in the blogs. I don’t care about that sh*t. I don’t want to be over-saturated. I don’t want you to go on there and just see me on complaining every day. I love who I am. I’m happy.
Protect your energy.
You got to by any means necessary.
So what do you want people to know about Kash Doll?
That she don’t care. Period. Just know that I’m really a genuine, sweet person.
You’re a Pisces, like me…you can’t let things get to you. You have to let that sh*t roll off because we’re so sensitive.
We’re very sensitive.
We’ve got to protect that.
Got to protect that by any means necessary. I been through the hard part of my career already while in Detroit and that was hard. Them muthaf*ckers is mean.
What’s something that happened that you will never forget back then?
When I was dancing and I was in a dressing room and a girl I was friends with, we was best friends since second grade, she recorded a girl sneaking me and pulling my hair out and recorded it and put it all over the internet. They hated me that much.
Were you guys friends still when she did that?
We was, I thought. Sh*t. They just didn’t like me. It gets like that. I been through some shit. That was in 2012. I’ve been through so much. It’s like I want to enjoy my moment and I ain’t about to let none of these b*tches make me mad.
Stacked is out now on Republic Records. Get it here.
