Those even casually familiar with hip-hop have already long-known Cash Cobain as one of the most-promising, fastest-rising rapper-producers in the game. A week since Justin Bieber‘s Swag released, the rest of the music world may be getting to know that too.
Cobain delivered one of the best features on Bieber’s latest album, released on July 11, the highest-profile moment in the rapper’s career so far, with Cobain taking the opening verse on Swag’s title track.
As Cobain, a member of XXL’s 2024 Freshman class, tells The Hollywood Reporter, that collaboration started earlier this year after he saw Bieber posted his song “Trippin on a Yacht” online. He DM’d Bieber after, writing that “we had to make some fire together.”
“We were chopping it up since then, and then one day, he was in New York and he was like, ‘Yo, pull up on me,’” Cobain says. “We were in this big apartment, there were a lot of people there. He had a studio in his living room, there were a few other musicians and writers there and we were sitting in a circle on the couches. He had this microphone, they were playing a beat and he was vocalizing and he asked me if I had anything for that. I started harmonizing, mumbling, just coming up with ideas. We were recording everything.”
As Cobain recalls, Bieber called him again last week just before the album had released, asking for a few minor tweaks to the song they recorded together. That’s how he found out the album, which Bieber surprise released Midnight last Friday, was coming out that week. “I kid you not, he gets on the phone, he sent me the piece he wanted me to redo, a couple changes, andb the time I turned it in to him, the album came out the next day.”
As far as the actual recording session, Cobain describes it as loose, saying there “wasn’t a process.”
“We were just in there being free,” Cobain says. “And being creative. There wasn’t any pressure, none of that, I just went in there and did my thing, I put a few ideas down. It was a long session too. We skimmed through and figured out what we liked. I’m glad it’s out. I’m happy he was able to put out the album and song.”
Swag is Bieber’s first album since Justice back in 2021. Aside from the title track, which also featured rising Australian singer Eddie Benjamin, the record also features verses from Sexyy Red, Dijon, Lil B and Gunna. So far, “Daisies,” with production from music’s new guitar god Mk.Gee, is the album’s standout hit, topping both Apple Music and Spotify’s U.S. daily charts this week.
As for what’s next for Cobain, he’s got a sophomore album on the way, as well as his Party With Slizzy headling tour slated to start in New York in September.
#Cash #Cobain #Talks #Justin #Bieber #Swag #Collaboration
