BRS Kash can’t stop smiling, his gold fronts on full display as we talk about the transformative year he’s had. His braids are hidden behind a black bucket hat and he’s sporting a cream sweater. A small photo of a woman, a deceased friend, dangles from a gold chain around his neck. Kash’s debut mixtape, Kash Only, is out today on LVRN and Interscope Records, following the success of one of 2020’s most unlikely anthems.
“Throat Baby” — the title means what you think it means — is a melodic ode to sexual desire and the things it can drive someone to do (buy flowers, bail someone out of jail, etc). It’s crude, yes (a contemporary of aughts hits like the Ying Yang Twins’ “The Whisper Song”) but undeniably catchy—the song is Kash’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at no. 58, and racking up more than 25 million streams on Spotify. (Freddie Gibbs told GQ it was his favorite song of the year.) During the holiday season, videos of “Throat Baby carolers” standing in apartment hallways and on porches singing the song’s hook in a hilariously operatic tone went viral. On TikTok, teens popularized choreography to the single, forming a cradle with their arms and rocking an imaginary baby back and forth.
Kash Only showcases the musical influences of Kash’s East Atlanta youth: He grew up surrounded by music, including in his own home, where his mother’s participation in an all-girl rap group was squelched by his grandmother. Standouts include the flute-driven strip club anthem “Shake” and “Kash App,” which samples the Ying Yang Twins and “Do It,” and sees the rapper utilizing a cadence popularized by fellow Zone 6 rapper Gucci Mane. It’s taken him nearly fifteen years to land a breakout hit, but the 27-year-old insists he never considered doing anything else.
GQ: How long have you been rapping?
BRS Kash: I’ve been doing music since I was about 12. I was in my first talent show at Tucker Middle School when I was in the 8th grade. From the crowd response that day, I knew music was something that I wanted to do. Even though I’m shy, I liked the adrenaline rush from the crowd. We had the whole crowd rocking, but one of my homeboys dropped the mic and cursed. That got us disqualified. We still got a trophy, though.
With the success of “Throat Baby,” you’ve been able to realize a longtime dream. How has your life changed?
When “Throat Baby” first started taking off for me last year, it made me really proud. There was a lot of doubt from everybody. Folks told me all the time, ‘You know how many millions of people doing this? You think you gon’ make it?’ Even though I knew I wanted to do music, I walked around with no sense of direction for the longest. I was sleeping on my friends’ couches. I would literally not have a job and focus on music. I would be scrounging up for change just so I could support my dream. My family would get on me constantly, but I would always block it out and follow the path that I knew I wanted to walk down. The part that I love about it the most is I did it with the people I grew up with. My team is my friends.
What—or who—inspired you to make “Throat Baby”?
The song originated from a crazy experience with one of my homegirls. We never did anything sexual [before] but it just ended up happening after a drunk night. The next day I ended up making a song about it. I sent her the lyrics to the hook. I didn’t get a response. Her friend ended up giving me something even better in the back of a Sprinter and that’s how I ended up finishing the song.
For the remix, you collaborated with DaBaby and City Girls. It seems like having City Girls give a woman’s stamp of approval helped add credibility to the song?
When I saw the City Girls posting it, and I was already a fan of them, I ended up reaching out to them. DaBaby said it was one of his favorite songs out right now, too. It definitely wouldn’t have been a remix without a female artist, period. The girls had to get their side off and who else better than the City Girls to do that?
You recently performed at a get out the vote event for the Georgia senate runoffs in support of the Democratic candidates. The event took place outside of a church. You changed the lyrics from “Throat Baby” to “vote baby” but was there any initial hesitancy about participating?
I was very hesitant about doing it because I know the perception people have of me and the song, but I did want to use my voice to encourage the youth. I made the ultimate decision that if I’m gon’ do it, I’m gon’ do it the right way.
Did you anticipate people bringing up your old social media posts, including a 2012 post where you refer to rape, following the performance?
That tweet was back from [around] high school. Twitter was basically just something that you would...you would just say anything. Twitter was known for the most outrageous comments. That tweet, it didn’t represent me as a person, especially not now. I meant the tweet as a metaphor, but folks took it in a different type of way.
When they tried to bring it up, it made me feel real bad. It’s like, dang, I’m trying to do something good and they’re trying to bring up the bad. And they’re going back to when I was young and dumb to do that. I definitely didn’t expect that.
You’re releasing your first mixtape this week. One of the songs on the album, “Kash App,” features Mulatto and has a sample of the Ying Yang Twins’ “Whistle While You Twerk.” I’m assuming as an Atlanta native you grew up listening to them...
Oh, yeah. I grew up on all the Atlanta vibes. My homeboy ZachontheTrack likes to make those twerk-type bounce beats. When he sent me the beat [it was] like ‘Cool, we’re about to bring the real Atlanta vibes back.’ The party vibe.
What do you want people to take away from this mixtape?
Don’t isolate me in a box because I’m a real artist. When you listen to this project, you gon’ see that it’s way more to me than just “Throat Baby.” The last track on the tape is called “Thug Cry.” People are familiar with the fun side of me, but “Thug Cry” is about my best friend.
Is that her in the photo on your chain?
Yes. She passed away. That song gives you the feeling that I felt. I know it’s going to touch a lot of people that feel that way. She actually came in and crashed my studio session when I made “Throat Baby.” The studio didn’t have a booth so she came in drunk with her friends and that’s them at the beginning of the song playing around. She heard the song one time in the club before she passed.
