Cashtastic

UK rapper Cashtastic is gearing up to release his new single 'In My Zone' on 10 June. After releasing a string of mixtapes over the last few years and having his first solo mixtape reach number 23 on the iTunes Hip Hop chart, the young star has recently signed a publishing deal to Universal Publishing. Cashtastic had a chat with


Music News' Tasha Demi about his upcoming summer EP release, his guilty pleasure and his weakness for dimples!



Before we get started, I've got a few questions to get us warmed up… ready?

Alright, lets go!

Hot or Cold?

Hot.

Sweet or Sour?

Sweet.

Phone calls or texts?

Phone calls.

Instagram or twitter?

Twitter.

Go back in time? Be able to fly?

Be able to fly!

Read people's minds? Or be invisible?

Be invisible for the day… and I'd spend the day in prison with someone who's doing a life sentence. Just to experience what they're feeling…

If you were a fairground ride, what would you be?

Bumper cars.

If you were trapped in a woman's' body for the day… what would you do?

Well, if I was alright looking, I'd go out and play tricks on my friends.

Does a drunk 'I love you' count?

Yeah!

What is your weakness?

I'm too kind sometimes…

Favourite feature on the opposite sex?

Smile.

Would you rather have a rewind button in your life of a pause button?

Rewind button… and I'd go back to secondary school.

One thing not many people know about you...

Erm… one thing not many people know about me is that I… meditate.

Oh wow really? How long have you done that for?

Erm… I started two days ago *laughs*, so by the time this interview goes out, I would have at least done it a few times! It's very relaxing!

I hear you have a massive family… how many siblings do you have?!

I've got 3 sisters and 15 brothers. I don't know them all! My Dad's gonna get upset with me soon, because in every single interview I say my Dads a slag… but it's true, he is!

Do you have any guilty pleasures?

You know what, I don't really look at them as guilty pleasures, but some would… but I'm a massive Westlife fan! I went to their last ever concert and yes there were tears in the building, and I was singing and everyone was looking at me like are you in the right place?!

What is the craziest rumour that you've heard about yourself?

It's definitely when I heard that I got beaten up in prison…. but I've never even been in prison! *laughs* There were tweets going around like, 'Oh my God, Cash got beaten up on the wing', and I'm reading these laughing in my own bed at home!
__________________

Okay, easy questions done, you ready for the real interview?

Ready!!

Firstly, congratulations! You've just signed your publishing deal with Universal Records, how does that feel to have that force behind you now?

Feels good! It feels like it was inevitable, but it also feels like it was the perfect timing. I'm very appreciative of it! It took longer than it normally does for my deal to go through because I like to build relationships, I don't like to just jump into situations and then later on regret them. So I've been closely working with Universal since I was 17 and I'm 19 now. After a couple of years, we decided to do it properly, and I actually signed the contract on my mums birthday, so that was a nice little present for her!

Ooh, I bet you brought her a nice present didn't you?!

Oh yes, I did I did! *laughs* So yeah, I signed the deal late last year, in November, but I announced it this year. Its crazy because my management were like, you know we still haven't announced anything yet?! I put my hands up and admit I was a little bit selfish with it, because for me although I am so happy about it, it's just a stepping stone… I just wanna get the work done!

But for my supporters and my fans it's a massive achievement for them, so I was selfish in keeping it from them for so long. Management were like you should tell them, so I did a freestyle and said it in the song and they went crazy for it! My attitude isn't that, oh now I'm signed I can relax, it's totally the opposite. Now my workload has to triple! If I was working hard before the publishing deal, then now, I've gotta go innn!

What has been the piece of work you've been most proud of that you've put out so far?

I've actually only done one solo mixtape, the rest have been joint with other artists, so I'd say that one. 'A little bit of Cash' was my last mixtape, and I was very proud of that. I treated it like it was an album, all of the songs were originals. It was a proud moment for me because I did it when I was in between 16 and 17, and it was in HMV, on iTunes, some of the videos on there went on BET, Virgin, VIVA, so it was a great, great moment for me.

Okay so 2011 and 2012 were like warm-up years for you. You put in a lot of work to create a buzz and like you said it wasn't just all about you, you had your joint mixtapes, you had your features, you were performing, and your mixtape got to number 23 in the iTunes Hip-Hop charts…

Yeah! I didn't even know that! I found that out last year! Someone said that to me in an interview, and I was like did I?! That's how caught up I am in my work. Like when I put out a video, I don't even look back at it. Its done. Next! That's both my gift and my curse. I regret sometimes that I never take in moments enough, I just work work work!

What's been the hardest thing in your journey so far? Have you had to fight something within yourself, or had struggles finding your way through the music industry...?

The hardest thing so far in my journey was actually breaking away from being on the streets to fully doing music . I used to dabble in both and music was just a hobby for me, but then I realised that this is really what I wanna do seriously and to know that opinions are always gonna come in and to learn to not let it affect you. Having to make sure that whatever negativity comes my way, I can put my little shield up and I can just go pow pow pow!

As cliché as it sounds, what is it about music that gets you going?

For me, I think the primary reason for my love of music, is actually just my love for music! Sometimes I think what would things be like if there wasn't any music, its crazy! I used to play football and that's what I wanted to do when I was older, but then I fell in love with making music and that's when the transition came. I love the whole process of making a song. I love taking part in the process of making the beat, I love the songwriting process, I love recording it, getting it mixed, getting it mastered, getting it out and THEN, having everyone sing it back to you - that's a crazy process. And going to places that I've never been before and having them sing it back… I went to Liverpool, and I'd never been before, and they were singing back to me and I was like, 'Oh my, how do you lot even know who I am?!'

What are you working on at the moment?

I've finished the EP, that'll be out in the summer and now I'm just working on the album at the moment… album, singles and maybe a mixtape. Just working on a strong body of work.

A lot of people out there, fans and supporters especially don't understand the difference between publishing deals and record deals. What it means, why its not the same thing etc… so just to make it clearer for them, how do you describe it all in regards to your own career and the position you're in?

Basically, I'm still unsigned… 'technically', because I've only signed my publishing deal and haven't signed a record deal and that's all by my own choice, like I said before, I don't like to rush into things. One of the things that benefits me, is that I'm one of the youngest in the whole game right now in my position. I don't wanna rush into situations, I wanna take my time with things. Both my team and I feel as though we don't actually need a record deal right now. Having that publishing deal behind us means we now have a whole machine behind us that we never previously had so we're just gonna try and run with that for a minute. And if I never feel like I need to sign a record deal then I won't, and if I feel like a need one then I'll take it.

That's a nice position to be in! So who are you currently working with on your new music?

On the EP I've got a track with Donaeo, Lady Leshurr and Misha B. I wanted to mix up the features in the sense of people who haven't worked together before. I wanted it to sound a bit crazy. That's just one off the top of my head. There's not a lot of features on the EP and we've got a track called 'In The Party' which is by myself and then we have the remix to the track which will feature the likes of…. *smiles* ah the list changes all the time! It was produced by Steel Banglez and one person who's definitely going to be on there is Fekki… he's coming through right now! I'm gonna try get Kano on there…. couple features you know… *laughs*.

You've already said you like to mix up different sounds, so what can we expect to hear on your EP? Will it be genre specific?

On the EP, I'm not getting as musical as I am normally. For the EP, I literally just want it to be a vibe because its coming out in the summer, I don't want any type of music on there that you're gonna have to think about too much. My initial plan, it might not even end up being this, but, my initial plan was to call it 'In The Party' so its literally what it says on the tin. So if you listen to it and you don't hear any painful tracks, or any big sounding singles, you shouldn't have expected that in the first place. All the tracks on there should be different party records, all in different genres - just good summer vibes!

So everybody is saying it at the moment and it's true, the UK scene is looking strong, who have you got your eye on right now?

Shakka is so sick!! I can't event stress how sick he is. His energy is on a whole next planet, he's definitely someone I've got my eye on at the moment!

Who would your dream collaboration be with?

Oh wow… Okay, my dream collaboration *sits back and laughs*, you ready? Okay, so Cashtastic featuring Westlife, Michael Jackson, Drake, Jay-Z, Kanye, Big Sean, Nicki Minaj… We're going for a 20 minute track with a movie-like video for it… Oh yeah wait, and Beyonce and Rihanna will do the remix too!

Oh wow! That's crazy! I wish we could make that happen but unfortunately some of them are no longer with us anymore…

That's okay… we can use technology! We'll find a way. They brought Tupac back in a hologram!

We all know that the majority of your fan base are females, so how is that working out for you?

I love that! It sounds better to hear girls scream at you than guys scream at you - it might sound like they're angry at you! Don't get me wrong, a lot of my male fans show me as much affection as the females do but they're very closed with it, you have to look at them to see it you know? If there's a lot of people around, they'll just nod their head at you but if they're on their own they'll show it properly! Girls don't care… they'll scream in front of everyone, their Grandma, their Mum… I love it!

So for your female fans, what is your ideal woman?

I love a lady with a beautiful smile, I love a pretty face. I LOVE dimples! I've got an obsession with dimples. That's it really looks wise… personality wise, I love an ambitious girl. A girl that can tell me exactly what she wants from life, even if its just an idea, to be able to tell me exactly what her goals in life are. I like a girl who is family orientated, I love someone that loves kids. I love a girl that can dress! And I love women that smell good… *sniffs* You smell good! *laughs*.

Ooooh somebody is trying to be the UK Trey Songz aren't they?!

*Laughs* Yeah, that's just a few things I like!

Tell me about your new single, 'In My Zone'…

I recorded it this time last year and its crazy because I always work a year ahead. So the stuff I released last year, I recorded the year before and it's hard for me because by the time I release them, I've rinsed them so much and they're not new to me any more. So with 'In My Zone', I wanted to get it out last year, and with everything I do, it's a stepping stone, so I thought if I release this now, it won't make sense, so I held onto it. And now feels like the right time with the Summer coming up. It's just something energetic and it's crazy in the club, I love performing it! Its produced by the Splurgeboys and they went crazy on it! And I can actually give you an exclusive… the track I was talking about earlier with Donaeo, the Splurgeboys produced that track as well!


Follow Cashtastic on Twitter @CashtasticMusic
Youtube.com/CashCam
Facebook.com/CashtasticMusic

Interviewed By: Tasha Demi @xoTashaa