colorthefuture.org interview with Cole James Cash

[Cole Cash]

shoutout to @dre for asking me to do this interview

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this was a interview i did recently and i really really enjoyed this one, they asked me some very in depth questions about my music making process and i always enjoy that

The expression is tried and true: artistry is a refuge. At it’s core, a work of art is a creative manifestation of an artist’s personal experience. Wherever an artist was on the gamut of emotion during their creative process, we should feel rewarded they’re gifted enough to convey them.

In a world of voluminous pain and misfortune, there can be slight solace in the idea that those who most beautifully adorn the beast of their burden can inspire, enlighten, or in the case of producer Cole James Cash, make you nod your head.

In the midst of recovering from drug addiction and homelessness, he’s found refuge as a masterfully creative music producer. We at Color The Future believe you may enjoy his story, his music, and at the least realize there’s always hope:

how long have you been producing? what initially inspired you to start beatmaking?

I have been DJing since I was 13 in 1996, I started producing after I left the service in 2005. I was inspired to do music because I figured I had something to offer the game. My motivation wasn’t so much money as it was, I was coming into the game with an upstart label and some cats who had been in the game as veterans so I figured I could bring my influences in from my own musical background as a jazz tenor sax player. It wasn’t until about 2007 however I began to really get a hold of how the MPC operates and really begin to have feeling and clarity to the music I was making.

at what moment did you feel you crossed over from a Beatmaker to a Producer?


I crossed over from Beatmaker to Producer probably when I came back this year in 2014 with Saigon. That was an album where I did literally everything I wanted to accomplish in terms of conveying the message I wanted to convey. I had no rappers on it so I thought about all of the ideas and stories I wanted to tell about the evolution of the city itself and its transformation from French Indochina, to Saigon, to Ho Chi Minh city, Every song crossed over into the next.

Once I made BBW however, I knew then that rappers could also see my vision and believed in me. There were some instances with a couple rappers where I would hand them the beat and let them do as they please with a few references, but some of the songs I was more hands on delivering notes of how I wanted things to sound. I had a hand in every song to a great extent, I didn’t just hand over beats and say “OK give me your verse”, every song has a theme attached and I expected those emotions to be conveyed back to me through their rhymes.

Some rappers I wanted to work with would reply “I don’t take direction on my songs” that’s fine, everyone is different, but when you ask to work with me, for my project, your conveying my vision. When I work on other peoples albums, I do my best to convey their vision instead.

explain your kickstarter campaign, your upcoming album? why street fighter?


My current kickstarter campaign for Street Champions (name changed to avoid copyright issues) is about a few things. Getting Chris Rivers and Skyzoo to round out the album, as well as having limited edition vinyl and some CDs to sell. Not to mention mastering from one of the best in the game, my friend and fellow engineer/producer E.Smitty. Its about gathering a budget so I can present the best album possible. I myself have already spent more than $2000 on features on top of the usual odds and ends to put an album together. I want to really provide my fans with the best presentation possible while staying true to my vision. The $3500 I need not only covers that, but guarantees the best product possible.

Using “Street Fighter” the game as a template allows me to have an album where the MC’s can showcase themselves lyrically. The game itself is about competition, pitting yourself one on one against your opponent. Its just you and them. Just like in rap, only you can step in that booth and prove you even belong. This album unlike the BBW album doesn’t have the same comedic tone as the last one. BBW was about romance and companionship, this one is about survival and staying in the fight no matter how hard it gets. For me and my life, that’s what I am going through. Through the pain, the heartbreak, losing my family and everyone around me through my addiction, through my life experiences, I stay in the fight, I do not give up and I for damn sure don’t throw in the towel.

whats your brainstorming process when deciding the theme for your next project?

For the process of this album I always think “What points and what message do I want to send with this album?”. I began to write notes of which story elements from street fighter or what personal themes I would like discussed. To be honest, a lot of this album has been inspired by my own personal struggle to stay the course.

I cannot begin to describe the pain and heartbreak I have experienced the last year. Losing someone you love, losing so much, having people look at you with shame. Sometimes its so much to bear that you want to throw in the fukking towel. So I said to myself “How can i remind myself and others to grind your teeth and keep with it”. Figuratively you are in a 12 round fight, losing your girl? That’s a knockdown. Losing your job, your home, your respect? You’re on the ropes taking a beating, but getting the help you need, staying in the fight, that’s the counter you need to turn the tide turn the momentum.

This entire album is about knuckling up and pushing forward, the theme of the game is a backdrop for a larger message about resilience. Ask any MC I work with, they receive lots of notes to help them convey the tone I want for each song. I don’t rap, so the rappers are my voice.

whats the more challenging means of creating a project for you: a predominantly instrumental project, where you have to convey emotions without lyrics to explain, or corralling a group of MCs &trying to get them all on one accord?

With instrumental projects, I can do what I want, when I want, however I want. With MC’s however. they have lives, schedules, they have different personalities, some of them you can talk to, some only text, some only email, some you practically gotta have a fukking carrier pigeon to get a hold of them.

Either way, with people you have to meet in the middle. Sometimes they require changes in the beat and bar structure, sometimes they need more time. The difference between this project and my previous one however is that I have a little more juice to my name now so people are a bit more eager to work with me. They know if I put something out, its going to be heard.

out of 100%, how many of your beats are you coming to the lab with the core idea &how many are you experimenting until something happens?

Most of the time when I hear a sample, I already know what I want for it. I don’t do too much experimenting, I need a reason to do a beat. For better or worse. This is why I don’t have a bunch of beats I send MC’s. When its for my own project I send maybe two or three themes, if they aren’t rockin’ with those themes, then I get someone who will. A lot of times I just try to have a point to what I am doing. I may experiment with samples and try different things, but its always apart of a larger project or picture.

what beat are you most proud of in terms of telling a story sonically?

The beat I am probably most proud of was off of was “French Indochina” Off Saigon.



With this song I sampled french indie rock group “Stereolab”. The song feels like it has a certain calming finality. Toward the end of French rule in Vietnam their run as a colonial empire was nearly over in the 50’s. In the midpoint of the song you can hear a deleted scene in apocalypse now where the french farmer talks about how France has been run out of every war of the last few hundred years and how he was making his last stand in Vietnam, I then end the song with a straight untouched stereolab sample. If there was ever a song I was proud of that expressed a sense of sadness and a sense of finality it was this one.

in a perfect world who would be the Snoop to your Dre, Guru to your Primo?

When it comes to this question, I believe I have the perfect MCs for my tracks. That’s LEX and my man Eff Yoo. LEX is such a polished well schooled MC. He knows the culture, he knows the breaks, hes studied it, he represents the political, the caring side of me. When it comes to someone who understands what im trying to do not just on a surface level, but on a deep cerebral level, its him.

Now to compliment him is my man Eff Yoo also out of Queens. He represents my far more juvenile side. Disrespecting hos, punching nikkas in the face, puttin’ in work in the street. Every feature I have that they are featured on, they are there to compliment them. They are the stars of my songs, they are also my friends and I am fans of them. I have learned a lot just from talking to them and studying their work.

do you ever envision doing scores for cinema?

I definitely want to do a cinema score, writing jazz tracks, playing sax/piano, I would love to score something, video game, commercial etc…I love drawing out emotions from music to movement on screen.

do you believe your past &current trials have made you a better producer, a better artist? if so, does a part of you believe the pain was a necessary evil?

My painful past made me who I am. It made me a fighter, when I was in that figurative 12 round fight, being homeless was like being dropped and being in a standing eight count. One line that always sticks to me is something AG Da Coroner said on a track with Alchemist called “Apollos Last Stand”.

"Balboa fighting in the last round, tap glove
Sudden death, over time shyt, no coming back cuz
Sniffing on the powdered dust, eyes wide, make sure
Your shoes tied, we’re running from the reaper in a homicide”

That’s what my life became. I’m dizzy, looking up at the ref, my opponent is hungry and ready to finish me, all I can do is survive the round, survive the flurry and stay in the fight. I go back into my corner when that fukking bell rings and I regroup, go back out there, use my gameplan to take down a tough opponent and systematically break him down. That’s life to me.

what’s in the future for Cole James Cash?

In the future? The future you can expect this Street Champions album, bringing you cohesive quality, dope rhymes and most of all, a message you can relate to