I think what's keeping me making music - the money is great, but... by Cakes da killa

I think what's keeping me making music - the money is great, but I make music for the visibility.

Cakes da killa

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Categorized in : Thinking Visibility

I don't know [whether] if I didn't get paid, or my career didn't keep going where it goes, if I would keep doing music.

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If we actually supported these gay artists and pumped money behind them the same way they pump money behind these divas, a conversation of homophobia in hip hop wouldn't be. Because I would have the money and the revenue coming in. It's not about homophobia or who's going to push back. It's all about who's supporting you and where there's money from.

hip-hop gay artist

In this day and age of social media, where everything is so centred around how many Instagram and Twitter followers you have, what's keeping me afloat is the fact that my live performance is something that people can enjoy.

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Coming into this, making music, I knew that was something that was going to be held over my head. Okay we get it, you're openly gay, but do you know how to rap? Can you really rap and deliver? And I feel like I have that pressure put on me that other artists don't. A lot of people don't have to focus on being so lyrical and actually putting on shows. Before anyone was gonna tell me I was bad, I was gonna prove that I was good.

I like to consider myself a student of hip hop. There's a certain level of certification and wit and craftsmanship that comes with rapping. As rap progresses - it's a young genre - it's becoming way more mainstream, crossing over to different lanes. I feel like it's losing its essence in a way, because it's getting commercialised. I want to keep it fresh and keep it progressive, but I also want to respect the foundation of what rap is about.

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For you to be able to rap fast and fit many words into a bar, that's what rap is about, the showmanship. That's the thing we're kind of losing now. I'm not saying that the music now is horrible. I mean, I don't listen to it. The showmanship and creativity in rap is what made it special and what made it different.

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Every time someone asks me who I want to work with, my answer is always the same: whoever wants to work with me that won't want to get their ego stroked.

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I'm a lot different in my career since that interview. To have someone like Diplo tweet "Cakes' album is really cool" is cool, but in the same breath I still like what I do without anyone's approval. It's still good music.

cake careers different

In the industry there's this whole mentality of working with someone who can open the door for you, but my whole thing is that I like my work to speak for itself. So I still do have that same mentality.

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Living New York, everyone has a million hustles, so I was doing party promoting, working the doors at parties, doing that whole nightlife thing.

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My love of words, alcohol, and stage antics basically cemented me as a rapper, but it wasn't a career that I wanted to do. It was just, "I like to do all these things at one time."

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I write a lot. I used to write a lot of poetry when I was younger, write for my school newspapers. Also reading is very important because you need to be on your word game if you want to be a lyricist.

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Not to sound egotistic, but I've gotten kind of good at it. It's something that came naturally to me, but my rapping is rooted in my writing.

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I didn't choose to be a rapper; it's just my talent. by Cakes da killa

I didn't choose to be a rapper; it's just my talent.

I am a rapper. The reason why I was against the whole rapper title is because I know so many people who want to be rappers and they're not.

titles rapper people

I think when I dropped The Eulogy is when it became more [about] feedback because that's when Pitchfork wanted to review it and things like that.

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I was doing my music because it was fun, and I always was like, "If it becomes a business, or it becomes too demanding, or if people try to tell me what to do or control what I'm doing, I won't do it."

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Now I'm in the business and I do have to have these awkward conversations about how I look, how I talk. But I'm still here.

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I started making music for fun maybe my senior year in college. I started rapping in high school, but it wasn't anything serious.

I do realize that I have a talent for making music. It wasn't anything expected, but I do think it's deserved, if that makes sense.

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