When you talk about street fables, Cash Kid Ru (Davonta Robinson) comes to mind. His story is a grand installment of thoughtful transformation and seizing the day. It’s not that he was lost to the streets, but the streets were appealing to him, like many of the black youths today. Cash Kid Ru had a moment of manifestation. He knew that if he didn’t make a decision, and a rather defiant one, it was life or death, him or the streets—He chose himself, a different pathway that led him straight to the music… “Sometimes, I want to cry but I stay strong because I have a family that will do it for me. I won’t stop now,” he says.
Cash Kid is respectful and extremely bashful. He doesn’t present himself as anything other than a lyricist who is simply trying to make it out of his hometown of Pageland, SC.
The 20-year-old said it was easy for him to break into the music industry because it’s his life, and he’s been rapping since forever. “The support is good,” he says. “Everybody is trying to sound like me, now,” Cash Kid clarified that since he’s been out, other artist from the same area replicated his style, but he’s cool with it. He’s hallmarking the town, and leaving melodic footprints with his own creative vibe… “I grew up in a church. I can sing. I also thought, ‘What if I can sing on a beat. That’s what really gets you. I think singing and rapping, that’s more spiritual than you just getting out there and saying anything. That’s not rap. That’s bull-crap. If you put your heart into it and you sing with it, everybody will listen.”
In the next coming year, Cash Kid says, “I want to be rich and famous.” He also imparts that his stage name is the perfect representation of success. “I make the world go around in my music,” he giggled blushingly. “I want to be the goat [greatest of all time]. We’re going around the world, and everyone will know that it’s all about the cash. That’s what I’m doing.”
The rapper is inspired by other artist like Nelly, the late Juice World and Kodak Black. If he could share the stage with an artist, it’d be Kodak and Juice World.
He said that this musical journey, its spiritual. “God is the only person that put me here. I was out there doing crazy stuff and He [God] got me through that and put me in music. I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. I saw everybody going to jail and people getting killed when I was out there, that’s when I started seeing moms crying for their kids. I said, “My momma can’t go through this. No. I had to get right. At that time, I was lost, and then I found the music.”
The rhymer learned other priceless lessons about the musical side of things like, finding engineers, and producers that are honest.
Cash Kid released two singles recently. One is called I KNOW. It's a buoyant vibe about love and growing pangs of being in a relationship… “It was a playful song about a girl. We were just playing around with it [the track] and then we decided to push it,” says the rapper.
"I KNOW" featuring Q.Reid
The song played on all the local college radio stations. Cash Kid toured various universities, while performing the song. It became a cool hit for the students, and a nice summer jig-- A wet teaser for sure. Cash released another little banger about a month ago called To Go. Cash swerves between rapping and singing his own hooks on the track. His cadence is more relaxed, as he expresses the need to juggle a relationship or maybe end it, so he can chase freedom and stardom.
He admits that he freestyles many of his songs. “Everything is about pain and what I’ve been through. I like putting pain on the beat and I make people feel me.” Although his odes emanate from a dark place, Cash Kid is happy about living. He says that while he's enjoying the moments of his life, he’d like to help people as well… “I want to show them that, you don’t have to be in the streets to make it out. You don’t have to sell drugs. Just put your mind into it. If you want to rap, you can make it out that way too, and show people in our city that there are better ways than doing that crazy stuff. That’s all.”
His parents, they actually manage him. His mom said, “Anything that’s going to keep him out of trouble, I’m down for it."
“I got to make it,” he reflects by acknowledging his support system. “That’s all that matters and that’s all I care about is family, so I got to make it. They’re all supporting me and I can’t let them down. I got to keep going."
Parting words for up-and-coming rappers: "If you’re new in the game, you should stay focused and keep pushing. Anything you want to do, you can do it. You just gotta work for it.”
To link with the rapper, check him out on Instagram @CashKidRu