Today we’d like to introduce you to CashOutJony.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Born in East Chicago, Indiana but raised in Gary. Moved to a few different states like Minnesota & Kentucky in my earlier childhood then ended up back in Indiana for middle and high school. Played basketball for the most part but switched to track as a sophomore. All the while having a suppressed connection with music. My father made music too. He traveled a lot so I would hear stories about him being with some of the big name rappers from the early 2000s. Rappers like Nelly, Jermaine Dupri, Lil Flip, some guys from the west coast, etc. he was everywhere. So I kinda took from him. I moved back to Indiana when I was 12. Stopped playing sports and was just focused on school for the most part. It was so different from what I was used to because it was the suburbs and I was used to being in areas that wasn’t so fortunate. Got into fashion like shoes and clothes. Around my Junior/Senior year, I was thinking about what I wanted to be in life. And I knew working in an office wasn’t me. I felt like I was too smart, talented, and too different to work a regular day job.
So in my head, I already had it made out that I would be rich, I just didn’t know how I would get there. 2016 is when I graduated so that year I was trying to get into a college or something because that was the normal thing, even though I really didn’t wanna do it. I ended up deciding on going anyways. Back to Kentucky. Lexington this time. I stayed in Louisville when I stayed there before. But before I even went to college, I remember a summer night with me and a couple of my closest people. We were on the trail in my apartment complex just ducked off somewhere trying to smoke. And I just had a thought like, “I don’t wanna do this anymore”. The whole sneaking around trying not to get caught and just feeling like “I don’t wanna live my life like this”. So I told them “I’m gonna make music again”. Granted, the first time I ever made a song was in 6th grade. Me and one of my best friends. We had some experience from back then. An old HP laptop with a microphone on the monitor, mixcraft. Simple times. People thought the music we made was alright so I was just thinking that maybe so should try again. Probably a week after I said I would make music again I rode my bike up to the Chase Bank. Not even any air in the tires just trying to get there because I had another friend named Mohammed from my senior year, he seen me trying to make beats on my iPad and I guess he had faith in me when I told him I was really gonna try to make music. He gave me some money so I could record my first song. I’ll never forget it. Made the song the same day but I had wrote it some days prior so I could already know what I’m saying and how I’m gonna say it before I actually record. I knew it was gonna be a big turning point for me but I didn’t know how much of an impact it was gonna have on my life going further.
After I made that song, I remember dropping it and people listened. Had around 500 plays in a day. And back then, I had no idea how SoundCloud worked so I didn’t know if it was good or bad but the reactions I was getting on social media gave me some more confidence. So from then on, I just kept making more songs. The support for my next five songs wasn’t there as much as it was for the first one. I guess people didn’t expect me to keep going with it, like a little joke or something. But either way, I knew that if it was something I wanted to do I was gonna have to keep going whether people were supporting me or not. Fast forward a year to 2017 and I had a really good group of people around me. My friends in the same neighborhood as me started a YouTube channel and we helped each other. I dropped two songs late. Like 1 in August and the other in October. Both with the help of my buddies and they exploded. My name was getting circulated and the views/plays kept coming in. So that’s when I was telling myself, “Okay, you gotta do this for real now.” I started to drop music videos and travel and promote myself. More projects and more songs. Eventually, the time went by and I didn’t really go as far as I thought I was gonna go. I’m still not where I wanna be but the strides I’ve taken with the group of people around me have been tremendous. I feel like even though I’m still not where I wanna be right now, the things I’ve accomplished has been more than expected. And I plan on continuing to break boundaries and go further than I or anybody else thought. I feel so alienated because I’ve never fit in anywhere because all the movement. Nothing is ever comforting and I’m never content. But one day, I hope this all turns out to be bigger than just me as CashOutJony or this group called Camp Ca$h.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t been one ounce of easy. It’s a mental battle you gotta face every day. You gotta deal with your own ego and the opinions of other people constantly. It’s gonna be criticism and everybody isn’t gonna like you. It’s all a mental hurdle. You can make it easier on yourself by sticking to the plan and not caring what other people think. Your success is determined by you. The moment you give up is the moment you lose all the potential. And it’s been plenty of times I wanted to give up and still do sometimes, but I know end the end, my efforts are gonna pay off and this big picture is gonna be full of greatness.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
This all came from my creative mindset. I always liked to draw and I loved music. When I was a kid, my imagination just ran wild. Drawing, playing instruments, making beats, making cover art, fashion, design. I’m really good with my hands and I still have really good imagination. On top of all that, I’m really smart. So I just loop everything together. I feel like me being me is what sets me apart from the world as a whole.
How do you think about happiness?
I don’t know what happiness is. I feel like I’m ordered to be truly happy is to feel comfortable and content. And those are two things I’ve never really had the luxury of feeling. But I do feel joy when I’m around people that have a like-minded mindset or just in an environment with a person/people that make me feel at home.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/cashoutjony
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ccvstheworld
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHBQMkatWx4BgvqkM8QLzxg
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/cashoutjonycc
Image Credits:
Karl Hibbert
