You could say Cakeswagg’s new homage to her past revolves around Destynie.
There’s a girl perched atop a picnic table at the beginning of the Boston rapper’s new video “J-Money,” a ’90s nostalgia trip that dropped last week (June 2). “Hold on, hold on,” Cakeswagg says as she approaches the girl with skepticism. “Who are you supposed to be?”
“I’m you!” she fires back. Most days, the young actress — who happens to be Cakeswagg’s niece — is called Destynie. But that afternoon, she was J-Money, the embodiment of Cakeswagg’s first rap persona.
“I honestly didn’t take myself seriously at all, and because I was actually broke — not even old enough to hold a job yet — J-Money was an ironic rap name to have,” she tells Vanyaland.
Cakeswagg’s new single and video guide fans through an idyllic day in the late 1990s, when Missy Elliot music videos and snarky “It’s Happy Bunny” merch reigned supreme. Destynie embraces her role as an adolescent version of her aunt, as she struts alongside a posse of kids who appeared in Cakeswagg’s “Ice Cream” music video.
“I always knew I had a purpose / It just weighed on me,” Cakeswagg raps as she watches the mini crew recreate her budding passion of hip-hop. Coupled with the track’s effortlessly suave beat — created by Boston producer Jon Glass — the spirit of “J-Money” is enough to make anyone fall in love with the genre all over again.
“When Jon Glass was making the beat, I instantly was overwhelmed with nostalgia from my childhood, and whenever I think about being that young, my nieces and nephews always come to mind,” Cakeswagg adds. “They remind me of how me and my cousins used to be with each other at that age. They’re also my biggest fans, and I don’t always have material that I can incorporate them in, so when I have opportunities like ‘J-Money,’ they’re the first to come to mind.”
Stroll down memory lane with “J-Money” below.
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