Every week, Milwaukee Music Premiere connects the city’s artists with our listening audience. If you’re an artist with a track you’d like us to debut exclusively on Radio Milwaukee, head over to ourMusic Submission page to learn how.
There’s a decade-bridging quality to the new Eli Ca$h single getting the premiere treatment today. “I Need Space” has that ’90s rap sound Ca$h likes to lean on, but there’s a lyrical vulnerability to it that feels very right now.
Written toward the end of last year, the track delves into a particularly difficult stretch of Ca$h’s personal life that left him feeling betrayed by those close to him. He addresses it head-on, along with the desolate middle ground he operates in as a result of the music he loves.
Well I never was accepted by the punk kids
And I’ve never been accepted by the rap kids
Guess I’m an outsider for life, and that’s it
But I really stopped caring when I had kids
I s’pose I shouldn’t be surprised when I get rejected
But I can’t get the wound to heal, it just gets infected
I’m always hoping I’ll get through it and get reconnected
Until they kick me when I’m down and get reckless
“As a white man, I recognize the way others like me have appropriated rap for their own financial gain,” Ca$h explained. “I am not that guy. I do it for the love of it, and the art of it. … I know I don't fit in with trends, nor do I try to. I'm just me.”
It’s not just him on the single, though, as Ca$h brought along some heavy company in the form of fellow Milwaukee rapper Yo Dot. Ca$h noted it was his first collaboration in a while, but it elevates the final product courtesy of Yo Dot’s smooth-but-snarling second verse he wraps with a flourish:
Look at that extent they stretch
I’m a born legacy, they invent they quest
People talk a lot of ish, they need to rinse they breath
I’m convinced they press, in the end say less
I’m gone
Listen to the new track using the player at the top of the page and find it on all streaming platforms this Friday, April 7.
