Kenneth Cash
Kenneth Cash has just released his latest single “Patience”. The self-produced single is about being in a relationship where your significant other doesn’t seem to change.
I instantly loved this song because of the amazing production and the heartfelt vocals. It’s been a minute since I last featured this type of music in my blog because it’s been hard to find dope r&b artists with a different and cool sound but also with a true vision. Kenneth Cash has all that.
Thank you so much Kenneth for this thoughtful interview and thank you for sharing your story with everybody. You are inspiring.
“Patience” is out now :)
Photo credit: AIMOS
Introduce yourself - what's your story?
My story as an artist is very intertwined with my story as a person. I was born in Tacoma, Washington on an army base. Didn’t really spend too much time there, immediately moved to Brooklyn after my mom left the army. Most of my extended family stayed in Brooklyn, that’s where everyone grew up. My days in Brooklyn as a youngin’ was interesting. All I remember was the ice cream truck music at the park and avoiding the older kids at my school who used to choke kids out for their lunch money. I used to chill in the guidance counselor's room, I was that kid. That’s neither here nor there. My interest in music started in Brooklyn. My grandfather, Kenneth (or Kenny), used to show me old concerts from artists of his time, mainly Earth, Wind, & Fire. That was his shit. He used to have crates filled to the brim with classic vinyls in his room and in the garage. I don’t have many memories left of my grandfather, but seeing how music made him feel really stuck with me forever. Kenny passed in 2005, I was finishing up 3rd grade. Once 3rd grade ended, my family and I moved to Wylie, Texas. It was a real small suburban area 40 mins away from Dallas. When I first got there, the only thing to do to pass time was sports. I was already solid at basketball so I kept playing that all the way until highschool. Outside of basketball, I actually joined the school band. I played the trumpet which was definitely not one of my top choices. I also became close friends with this dude in middle school who played drums. He won two school talent shows back to back. Absolutely incredible. He got me interested in drums and I got my own starter kit for christmas around 11 years of age. I was pitiful, but it was fun regardless. There was a period in time in Texas around 2010-2011 where I expanded my tastes and started listening to dubstep and edm along with the hip hop I was already listening to. Skrillex was the main guy I looked up to sonically. He influenced me to start making beats at age 12. I remember downloading Fruity Loops, a beat making software, looking at it for a few seconds and then uninstalling it. I went on to download this program called Mixcraft. I was making EDM beats with no skill whatsoever. I don't consider this my music start though, as this was very short-lived. I quit and went back to playing ball.
High school came around and I didn’t make the freshman basketball team. My coach told me they were picking up 12 people for the team and that I was the 13th option. I was heartbroken. I spent hours and hours in the gym during the summer going into freshman year, sometimes until 2 in the morning. Regardless, I was short, undersized, and a year younger than the other kids. Once I didn’t make the team, I got myself involved in all types of bullshit. I wasn’t focused on my academics anymore Alas, I tried out for the team again my sophomore year and didn’t make it yet again. I thought maybe I just wasn’t cut out for it. My sophomore year was a memorable year for me though, that’s when I grew into myself and had my first real girlfriend. That’s also when I discovered Kendrick Lamar, Chance The Rapper, and NWTS by Drake came out. I only played those three artists that whole year. My junior year rolls around and I shoot for the stars and try out for the basketball team one last time. This time, I was good enough to make it along with my closest friend Reagan. After about a month of being on the basketball team, my mother tells me that we’re moving back to Brooklyn. This is where everything changed for me. Besides the fact that I worked my ass off to get on the team, I was also pissed that I’d have to restart my social circle all over again. Another alarming thing was my transcript. I won’t disclose my GPA but let’s just say I wasn’t going to any school with a U at the end of it. I wasn’t ready for a new start.
Boom, October 2014. Brooklyn, NY. In a blink of an eye. I was so depressed I didn’t feel nervous when I pulled up to my new school. It was nice to be back in East Flatbush but it was such a culture shock. From an almost all white school for half my life to an all black school. It was good to be around familiar faces, but it was odd to hide a side of me that I knew would have me labeled as a weirdo. So I became reserved. More than I already was. Basketball tryouts were coming up soon and I was feeling the pressure of the better competition at my school. When it came time to try out, I was so nervous and did so poorly that the coach didn’t believe I played basketball in Texas. I even faked an injury to leave early. Two months in and as time passes I find myself religiously watching videos on Kanye West, Ryan Leslie, and other great producers. Then one day I stumbled upon the IDFWU music video by Big Sean. It wasn’t even the song itself that had me shook, but the sample that played before the song started. In that exact moment, I knew that music is what I wanted to do forever. It’s hilarious, not many people can say that IDFWU by Big Sean is the reason why they started music, but to me it further solidifies the fact that I can be very unpredictable. As soon as my birthday rolled around in mid December, my mom got me a laptop and I went crazy from there. I got a cheap midi keyboard and downloaded Ableton on New Years. I later switched to FL Studio to prove to myself that I can understand it after all, plus the learning curve is a lot faster.
I couldn’t stop making beats. Everyday afterschool and on weekends I would lock my room door and make beats on my laptop and cheap computer speakers. If it wasn’t for my friend Valentino (Tino), I wouldn't have any social life outside of that. He was heavily tapped into the New York scene. He introduced me to the modeling scene during fashion week, showed me the ins and outs of Soho, and invited me out to events every weekend. I was obsessed with everything. As introverted as I was, I still enjoyed my time outside of my bedroom studio. Those are things that I’m grateful to have experienced since it’s paying off now. Fast forward to the end of senior year and I was able to improve my grades to get into a decent university. I applied and committed to Clark Atlanta University.
Atlanta was an instant culture shock for me, I had never seen anything like it. My school was ranked #19 for party schools in all of America. When I first moved into my dorm I quickly made a friend that I knew from Twitter. One day during the first week of school I went over to his dorm room and heard somebody making a beat across the hall. It was this dude named Bizo who I’ve also seen around campus. There was an instant connection from there once we started collaborating. Soon after, there was this kid named Trey who got close with us as well. Bizo saw that he could rap and told him he should take it seriously. At this point, I had no desire to be a real artist so me and Bizo produced Trey’s first mixtape. Going into the second semester during winter break. I had an epiphany and I started making full songs myself. I noticed how genre-less I was naturally and came back to school with a few good songs under my belt. Fast-forward to my sophomore year and me and my two friends became a music group. We made two projects together and made some small buzz around campus. Near the end of that year, this one dude wanted to sign us to his label. He gave us all kinds of false promises and we were under the impression that he would get a house for us to make music in. I know, how naive. Long story short, he didn’t fall through on his promises and I was left without a place to stay in Atlanta. I was forced to move back to Brooklyn and break up with the group much to my dismay.
Damn, at this point it’s history repeating itself. Having to leave after my sophomore year when I’ve already made my close knit circle of friends was so tough. I fell into a depression again and continued going to school at Brooklyn College. This was my blessing in disguise. I now had a lot of firepower in my musical artillery. I had the grittiness of Texas, the bounce of Atlanta, and the genre-less appeal of New York. I combined that with my depression and I made some of the best music I ever made. Two months after moving from Atlanta, I made “Stickyola,” which is now coming up on half a million streams, and this song called “Too Heavy” (unreleased). Shortly after, Valentino invited me to this private event that North Face was hosting. At the event I met this dude named Kevin who was looking to manage artists. I told him I’m looking for a manager and we exchanged information. Kevin didn’t hit me back for a full year for personal reasons, then invited me to a studio session with AKTHESAVIOR out of the blue. I went to the studio and showed him and a group of his friends my music that I’ve been making over the past two years. They were immediately down to manage me and I’ve been with them ever since. This is only the beginning, there is so much more in store.
"Patience" is your new single - what's the inspiration behind this single?
I take from all of my experiences in my short life. I try not to write lyrics that I don’t relate to and this song is no exception. “Patience” is about being in a relationship where time and time again your significant other doesn’t seem to change, despite the many false promises that were given to you. Personally, I've been on both sides of this story. I’ve been the victim who has waited on the other person to do better and actually put effort towards a relationship. I’ve also been the bad guy, being so self involved and in my own world that I failed to recognize someone who was trying to stick with me through it all.
I remember my freshman year of college having to deal with this girl who kept toying with my emotions. Anytime she was in the wrong and I confronted her about it, she was good at playing victim and eventually I’d end up being the person who had to apologize. I kept coming back thinking that it’d be different and it never was. This took a toll on me and had me so confused as to who was really in the wrong, some would say I was being gaslit. Eventually, I got out of that situation and although this person begged me to come back, I was already past my limit. I ran out of patience.
It’s a vicious situation, one that leads to resentment and forces you to ask “what’s wrong with me?” It just made me realize there’s a fine line between being patient and enabling damaging behavior.
When did you start working on "Patience"? Could you describe to us the songwriting/production process? Who helped you create it?
Everything is self produced. The final version of “Patience”came about unexpectedly. The original version that I thought I’d be releasing stayed in my notes for about two years. I made this song two months after I made “Stickyola.” I have a way of being overdramatic in my songs and it really showed here. One thing though was that the song was simple and had no changes in the beat for the entirety of the track but I had some of my most powerful vocals on top of it. I didn’t realize how much it didn’t make sense until I was ready to release the song. I’ll explain, so I wanted to shoot a small video for it in LA but I wanted to make it special. So I made a live version for the song, adding beat switches and little background sounds to make it feel like it was live. Fast forward to the shoot day and while we were filming, me and AKTHESAVIOR realized how much more fire the live version was. I was like you know what? I’m gonna release this version as the single instead.
What did you feel when writing this song?
I felt the same pain that I felt when I was going through my on and off relationship. This was written only months after that situation so the feelings were still relatively fresh.
What made you want to release "Patience" as a single?
Out of all the songs that I’ve made in the past, this is my most dynamic song. I think it’s a great showcase of both production and vocals. Once I sat down and asked myself what to release next after my last single, “In Effect,” I knew that would be the one.
As an artist, what is the hardest part? And what is the best part?
The best part of being an artist is seeing how an idea in my head can turn into something that people resonate with and use to get through their most difficult times. It’s mutually beneficial to me and the listener. The feeling of being able to improve someone’s quality of life with my music is priceless.
The hardest part is getting as many ears as I can to listen to the music. You can spend so much time packaging your song with visuals and concepts only for it to not be noticed by people because of algorithms and all types of bullshit.
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
The industry is oversaturated. It’s great for a listener who wants to find many different artists, but bad for the artists who are trying to make a name for themselves. You could be the next Lauryn Hill, but don’t have the money to stand out amongst the sea of other artists. If I could change one thing, I would add more independent labels with small but manageable budgets. I wouldn’t mind less artists either.
What advice would you give to artists?
Believe in your craft more than anyone else. There will be times where you feel like you’re not capable of becoming successful. You may feel like you don’t have the money to support yourself or that you don’t know the right people. The truth is what's for you is what will come to you. You just have to meet your fate in the middle, don’t give up your passion.
In your opinion, what would make the world a better place?
Less people who try to exploit other people who are less fortunate than them. It’s an obvious sign of weakness, which makes it that much more disappointing when that kind of person is in a real position of power.
What biggest life lessons have you learned this year?
Balance is your best friend. I’m not at my best when my mind isn’t right. I’ve gone through all my life thinking that just because I survived, I must be doing ok. I spent so much of my life not being in the present moment and just enjoying life. Part of why I sometimes fall into states of depression isn’t just because of what happens to me directly, but how I go about my life in response to those things. Find people who love you. Love those same people back. Don’t become a victim to self-sabotage. Find your peace.
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