Features
Co$$ Asks Fans To Look Past The Dollar Signs
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Readers to might not immediately recognize the name Co$$. He has a solid flow, a knack for selecting quality beats and substantial content, but he’s kind of low-key, and Google searches for more info on the LA-based rapper may yield skimpy results for a couple of reasons.
First, he’s gone through his share of name changes, starting out as Cashus King, with “cashus” meaning evolution and change, and “king” stemming from a bit of rapper bravado. It’s a name from which Co$$ wishes he’d never strayed, but feening for alias during his days of posting raps online, he began calling himself “Hollow Coss.” Eventually the “Hollow” melted away, and Co$$ was born.
Then came the dollar signs, which seem to be one of the Tres Records artist’s major regrets.
“I know y’all see dollar signs and think I’m on some bling-bling swagger sh*t, but give it a chance. I’m stuck with the damn things, now,” says Co$$.
Not only do they put off some potential listeners who are run from anything resembling a trend, but they’ve also put a dent in Co$$’s Google results. The search engine doesn’t recognize anything other than numbers and letters. And unless you’ve already got the buzz of Curren$y, it can make things difficult.
But Co$$ isn’t up for changing his name. For one thing, his fan base has already latched on to the four-letter moniker. Plus, with Kendrick Lamar and others having changed their names, making a switch could leave him trading one fad for another, and Co$$ doesn’t want fans to think he’s following a trend.
That’s Co$$’s style. He’ll go through pains to protect his originality. One great example of this was the choice he made to release his first work on wax as an ode to hip-hop.
“We dropped it on wax like, ‘We’re gonna do some 12-inch throwback sh*t.’ I stand by that decision, but from a business perspective, I should have pushed it a little because I’m most proud of that release based on the quality of the record. I really feel it could have innovated the whole West Coast sound if it had more exposure,” says Co$$.
Now he’s gotten a second chance at helping expand people’s idea of West Coast hip-hop past g-funk and jerk music. This June, Co$$ released his first studio album, “Before I Awoke,” and it’s a great introduction for those unfamiliar with his work. It even received an excellent review from Deft writer, and harsh music critic, Mia Logan.
Co$$ is proud of “Before I Awoke” and dubs “Pot Ash” his favorite song off of the 19-track album. “That was the first record I wrote. That was probably the most personal to me. That was my favorite beat on the album, that Exile track. I actually wrote that two years before I started the record, so that’s the song I have the strongest connection to,” says Co$$.
While he feels that he delivered artistically, Co$$ admits that he could have done a better job pushing the album from a business standpoint. Based on the quality of his work, he felt that “Before I Awoke” could have been received on the level of work like Big K.R.I.T.’s acclaimed mixtape, “Return of 4Eva,” but it didn’t have as much buzz.
“I’m not really mad at the game and the industry. I’m just mad at myself for not putting more footwork behind it, and getting my name out there. It felt good to have it on the market, but it sucks to feel like people are sleeping – especially when it’s not the people’s fault. It’s not like people haven’t been on me just because. It’s because I didn’t put it in their faces enough,” says Co$$.
Mainly, Co$$ regrets not networking with his peers more on his album. Most artists’ albums are so packed with features they don’t carry a single track alone. Co$$, on the other hand, had a grand total of five features on his album.
“I’m very reclusive. I don’t like f**king with ni**as that don’t f**k with me. I should’ve reached out to certain MCs and tried to build bridges that I just didn’t build, so it’s kind of like I’m on my own island in the rap game. Everybody f**ks with each other, but no one f**ks with Co$$, so that was kind of my downfall,” says Co$$.
One track from “Before I Awoke” a wide-range of hip-hop blog visitors did get wind of was “No Allah.” Instantly turned off by the title, they took to the comment sections, ranting and raving about Co$$’s alleged disrespect of the Muslim faith, or organized religion, in general.
“That wasn’t the purpose of the song. It means ‘no God if you don’t know God’ – that it’s hypocritical to follow a belief if your lifestyle contradicts that. People reacted the way they usually do when it comes to a higher power. The fear of the unknown – people don’t like to question that. When you question that, it tends to make people uncomfortable, because human beings think they have an understanding of something that the human mind cannot grasp. That’s my opinion. People don’t like to think they don’t know what’s going to happen when they die. They don’t want to consider that,” says Co$$.
In some cases, it wasn’t that listeners just didn’t understand the message of the track. Co$$, who usually avoids reading comment section critiques of his work, alleges that many of their comments proved that they didn’t bother to listen to the track before condemning its message.
“It was crazy how many people didn’t even listen to the song. There were actually people who requested that the blog take the song down. I can almost guarantee I know more about your religion than you do. I’m a belief-leaning agnostic. I’m very spiritual. I believe that there’s some power greater than us. I just don’t believe in labels,” says Co$$.
“’No Allah’ was not my denouncement of organized religion. But I’m not going to be disingenuous and act like I thought that people were just going to be like ‘Aww, that’s great.’ What I didn’t like was the reaction I got when I put out ‘No Allah’ and then ‘Scriptures.’ People these days can’t recognize a real ni**a. They think everything you do is for a gimmick or attention, because that’s what most of these bi**h ass rappers do. I’m
Not that ni**a. If I do something, it’s genuine. It’s not because I want to get a rise out of your punk ass. That’s one thing that irritated me. It’s ok if you don’t get it, but don’t think I did it just to stir emotion,” says Co$$.
Those few negative responses to his work haven’t discouraged him. Co$$ is now working away at building his already extensive discography. He and Numonics are set to follow up last year’s “Revelations” mixtape with “Genesis,” he’s working on another mixtape called “Instrument of Emotion,” which is set to drop at the beginning of next year, and is going to it all with a self-motivated outlook.
“It all falls on you. It’s not your management. It’s not your homies. It’s not the people you do features with. It’s not your crewmates. It’s you. If you wanna make your sh*t pop it’s up to you. You have to grind. I thought I could just record songs and put out mixtapes and that would do the trick, but it doesn’t. You have to be hands on with your movement, with your brand. And the generic method: keep it real. That’s my motto.”
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