Being a mom isn’t easy. Kids require a lot. They need attention, they need love, and above all, they need purposeful intent, something Kash Doll knew the moment she gave birth to her son.
“Everything became so intentional,” she said. “Once I laid eyes on Kashton, I got a whole new pair of eyes, and I just saw life differently.”
Kash Doll gave birth to her first child in January of 2022, and like she said, nothing was the same. Her schedule was different. Her lifestyle was different. Heck, even her career and the way she toured had to change, which is why she started touring with them and bringing out Kashton in select cities.
“I can’t live without my kids. Like when they are not there, I feel empty,” Kash Doll admitted. “I don’t bring him out on every tour stop, but I wanted him to come say hi to his hometown, and then he wanted to come out there and act shy.”
During Kash Doll’s The Last Doll tour stop in Atlanta, she brought out her son, who was hyped watching his mom perform. Once he got on the stage, he became a little more reserved, and it was cute to see because, of course, a young boy would be a little shy in front of a sold-out crowd. It made for one of the most memorable moments during the show and will be a beautiful anecdote one day, especially if Kashton decides to follow in his mother’s footsteps.
“If Kashton wants to be a rapper, he better be the best one there is; you better chase your dreams and be fly,” Kash Doll said with a laugh. “Be yourself, don’t ride no waves, don’t try to be any other rapper, and keep it real. Don’t do it because ya mom do it or because ya dad do it.”
When Kash Doll gave birth to her second child, this time a daughter, she felt as if the feeling of intentionality not only doubled but quadrupled. Her daughter Klarity was born in June of 2024, and off rip she knew that this would be a different challenge than raising Kashton.
“This is a girl; she has to come into this world and learn life through me. Wow,” Kash Doll said. “See, I’m not a man; there are certain things I can’t teach my son, but my daughter? That’s what inspired me to write ‘Kash Kommandments.’”
I guess the saying “The greater the inspiration, the greater the result” is true because “Kash Kommandments” ended up becoming one of Kash’s biggest hits to date. The song has millions of streams, and the music video has nearly 9 million views to date on YouTube, a video she shot while also pregnant with Klarity.
“My daughter needed that real because this is the world you are coming into, and I’m your mama,” Kash Doll said. “So I’m going to shoot this video pregnant with you, and you will know the rules to live by.”
Being a rapper is a 24/7 job. Being a mom twice over is a 24/7 job. Being a lover is a 24/7. So how does Kash Doll balance family and her career? The answer was simple.
“God,” said Kash Doll with no hesitation. “It’s no other answer but God because I don’t even know how I do it sometimes. I let go and let go, and I just be riding on autopilot like, where we going, God? I know God got me.”
God took her a long way. Kash Doll got her name back in 2011 or 2012, when she was working in the club in Detroit. Even though she didn’t know back then she would become a platinum rapper when she first started dancing, she did learn a lot in the club. The club taught Kash Doll confidence and finesse. It taught her how to talk to different people and showed her that “she was that girl.” But when she finally got in the studio, she knew she was done with dancing.
“Once I started rapping, I stopped going to the club because I knew what I wanted to do now,” Kash Doll admitted. “I knew I didn’t want that life anymore, and it’s really why I don’t drink anymore. I remember I used to have to take like 3-4 shots of Grey Goose just so I was able to deal with the room. So many different vibes, it felt like a rollercoaster in that bitch.”
Kash Doll made sure to emphasize she chose to quit. Kash was that girl at the club, easily the highest-paid dancer at her club. She wouldn’t tell me a specific dollar amount, but she was indeed ‘That Girl’ in Detroit. She hasn’t danced in more than a decade, at least since 2014, so it’s something she doesn’t really care to talk about these days. But with the explosion of new fans she has been gaining, she knows it’s something that’s making its way back around again.
“It’s a part of my life, a part of my story; I’m just tired of talking about it.”
She stopped dancing and started rapping at the end of 2014/early 2015. She was gaining traction and slowly building her fan base, but her big break came in 2017. One of Detroit’s biggest DM’d her on Twitter and said, I got this song for you.
“I’m in awe because it was Big Sean, and I love Big Sean,” admitted Kash Doll. “I played it for myself for so long before I even wrote anything down because I couldn’t believe that I was about to be on a record with Big Sean, one of the biggest out of Detroit, Michigan.”
For those of you that forgot or didn’t know, Big Sean was him. He was one of the first artists Kanye West handpicked to be on G.O.O.D. Music back in 2010. By 2017, he had already established himself as an icon in the game and arguably the biggest commercial artist out of Detroit since Eminem. Kash Doll knew she had to do her ‘biggest one.’
“After I finally laid down the track and sent it back to Big Sean, he called me. This was my first time hearing his voice on the phone too. He said, ‘Are you ready for this?’ ”
Big Sean had to confirm with Kash because he knew what a radio hit sounded like, and he knew “So Good” would become one, and it did. It was one of the highest streaming songs on Big Sean and Metro Boomin’s collaborative album Double or Nothing, and the song popped across the country. It introduced Kash to a bunch of the fans, in America and overseas, and Kash Doll hasn’t looked back since.
The next year she would find solo success and sign a record deal with Republic Records. Her first single from that deal was “Ice Me Out.” The song blew up. Girls around the country were singing it, and if she wasn’t before, Kash Doll’s name in rap was now a formality. Throughout the years, more hits followed; “For Everybody” found radio success, and her latest album, The Last Doll, is packed with hits too. So why did she name her album and corresponding tour that?
“It’s just where I’m at in my career; I’m changing my name,” said Kash Doll. “It’s what The Last Doll means. I’m dropping it. On my next album and next tour, I won’t be Doll.”
It’s crazy because the Dolls have been beefing, well, at least not on Kash Doll’s end. Kash is the OG Doll, and she made a statement claiming that, which got the other Dolls’ panties in a bunch. Kash is over it, though; she doesn’t care about the one-sided beef, and she really is tired of addressing it.
“I don’t want to keep going back and forth about something the world knows,” Kash Doll said emphatically. “I don’t want to beef; I am not getting anything out of that; I am not making no money off that. It’s so beneath me that it’s irritating at this point. If we are going to be anything in this world, we are going to be fucking for real. Love yourself.”
Kash Doll isn’t into beefing. She knows who she is and stands on that. She started this Doll wave and that’s just a fact. She knows it, the world knows it, and as much as they want to deny it, the other Dolls know it too. She’s focused on her kids and family, like any great mom is. The “Kash Kommandments touch on that too. “
“The most important Kash Kommandment is ‘Put the family first; put that in front of everything.” Kash Doll said. “I say that because the rest follows behind that. If you don’t put your kids and family first, it reflects because God doesn’t bless no mess. Once you do right by that, everything else in life will make sense.”
Kash Doll is our latest Sister with Superpowers, and her superpower is motherhood and the way she is able to balance her career with it. She has two beautiful kids, Kashton and Klarity (“Klarity,” the lead track on The Last Doll, is a standout track as well), and she is there for them every day and in every way. And her career hasn’t suffered an inch because of it. She’s been able to balance being a top rapper, an actress, and a mother in ways few people can, thanks to God, of course. She’s intentional with everything, from her kids to her music, and that’s why she is not only the OG Doll but The Last Doll, and nobody can deny that.
Photography by Jakeem Smith
