I’d never met Estonian rapper Tommy Cash before this interview, but based on his new single with bbno$ (“Tango,” releasing January 12) I knew he probably had a pretty “unique” sense of humor.
“I think we would totally be together if I [didn’t] have a girlfriend,” he says, about his first time meeting bbno$ (whose real name is Alexander Gumuchian). “I picked him up in a small two-seater Porsche in Tallinn [Estonia] and I was speeding, top down, while drinking coffee in one hand.” Once they’d survived the drive, Tommy took bbno$ to a Ukrainian restaurant “where he tried world’s best Kiev cutlet.” And the rest is hip-hop history.
So…what happens when provocateur meets provocateur? Well, you get “Tango,” an addictive new song with a curious video of superimposed faces, confusing contortionists, and Tommy and bbno$ dressed like nuns (and so, so much more).
We caught up with Tommy “from the cold Estonia, where winds blow and it was just minus 23 degrees” to talk all things “Tango.”
A “Normal” Day for Tommy Cash
I wake up, I work, I play, I do my mission, and return to base. I try to make it look normal when usually it’s all crazy.
Making “Tango” With bbno$
Back and forth — brainstorming and everything. We put some work in! Especially the video…it took timeeee.
The Deeper Meaning of “Tango”
I guess we all cha-cha and tango through this thing, don’t we?
The “Tango” Video
So, I guess…as I think Alex [bbno$] sounds in his tracks…its worry free…so after writing up many concepts for this video (that didn’t work for me) I kinda pulled myself back and told [myself], Look you have to be like Alex. Don’t be so tense with [your] ideas.
With this script, I wanted to flow with the concept and give myself the freedom of not caring like the balance between caring and not, so the magic could happen! And I think it did. Everyone had fun on the set and many people did things they never usually do. There is CGI face swap, AI-generated faces — many techniques mixed into one!
Video BTS
Funny thing is…where the kids dance, it’s my school. I spent my first four classes in that building, and that tram line…I used to ride it every day. And [that’s] the beach I went to with my grandma! Where the girl is in the mud pool…this came to me spontaneously…and the white trucks in the back are our crew vans, so it was just so random and hot — we had to do it.
What the World Needs Now: More Tango
I think we are too over-programmed…everything is too strategized. Not enough not caring in a caring way.
