I feel like I’m on FaceTime with Cash Cobain. When the rapper answers the phone, which is really a Zoom call, his face is almost comically magnified in the screen, taking up every inch of the frame — a reflection of the dominant presence he’s held over New York rap in the past year.
It’s a bright autumn afternoon, and Cash is calling from the “SLIZZY PHONE.” He’s moving around, rustling through his closet and half-full suitcases for the finishing touches to his outfit. He’s almost done getting dressed to perform at the WNBA playoffs, where he’ll perform the New York Liberty’s Game 2 halftime show with frequent collaborator Bay Swag. Despite the huge surge in fans this year for the WNBA, especially in New York for the Liberty, Cash admits he’s not a full-blown WNBA head just yet. “I like A’ja Wilson, though,” he says. “I be a fan of the players.”
Cash recently performed his first headlining show in New York since April’s frenzied Slizzyfest at Irving Plaza. The Chow Lee co-hosted concert was ultimately canceled, seemingly due to crowd size concerns, and replaced with an impromptu performance down the block at Union Square Park in dedication to the fans.
This time around, Cash was able to perform his biggest records and already-viral hits from his debut studio album, Play Cash Cobain, on a different New York stage: the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, one of Brooklyn’s oldest venues.
“That show felt like a job well done,” Cash Cobain tells Teen Vogue a few days after the concert. “I’ve been waiting to do a show in New York and sold [it] out. Sold out in a day. I wish I could do that sh*t over and over again.” And he will, with a lineup of performances at various colleges and festivals throughout the winter. But it won’t be the same.
“[Those shows] don’t be like New York, though,” he says firmly. “I like the hometown, my home crowd.”
