Any J. Cole fan knows how significant the city of New York is to him, which is why it makes total sense that the final installment of his Dreamville Festival kicked off with a pair of emcees who live, breathe and sleep hip-hop as it pertains to their hometown of NYC.

Kai Ca$h, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and Niko Brim, a Mount Vernon, New York, native, have had an affinity for making music from an early age, and their performance as the first act to grace the stage at this year’s Dreamville Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina, is proof.

“He’s running around this field,” Ca$h said of how his younger self feels after representing for his city on the festival’s Shine Stage. “Baby Kai is doing backwards flips. I never knew how to backflip in my life until today. My heart is full.”

“I would probably be right here on this yard with him, yelling, jumping, screaming,” Brim added. “It’s a dream come true for real. We can’t overstate it enough, like we’re thankful to be a part of hip-hop. We’re thankful to be a part of hip-hop this year at the last Dreamville. For us to also represent New York … it don’t get no better than this.”

It runs in the family

It’s no wonder the synergy between the pair on stage was so good. Ca$h and Brim are cousins, and as the son of legendary hip-hop fashion stylist Misa Hylton and music executive Jojo Brim, a music career was almost inevitable.

“I was born in hip-hop, you know what I’m saying? There’s a picture of me when I was 3 months old at video shoots for my mother, being in the studio with my father. So I don’t have that ‘moment,’” Brim said when asked when he first fell in love with the genre. “It’s like loving your mom. You just know from the beginning; it was always there. But I’ll say, there was a moment when I became a student, and the moment I became a student was when I heard Illmatic for the first time. Shoutout to UK, if you know, you know, you know; UK put me on Illmatic. We listened to it from top to bottom, and that changed my life, and it made me want to be a rapper.”

Ca$h said, “My upbringing made me want to be a rapper. I used to be with Lil’ Kim, Lil’ Cease, and Junior M.A.F.I.A. in the studio, at the video shoots. So, everything I seen was top-tier rap level, high-class. For me, it was just like, what is this? I love this. And then, I’m a music lover like my mom. Every weekend she’d be cleaning the house, the playlist [was] immaculate, and I just always had the ear because of her. So it’s just like, I feel him. I don’t know when I fell in love [with hip-hop], just out the womb, I was born and bred in it.”

Brim’s sister, Madison Star Brim, is also carving out her own lane in the music industry, as well as wearing many other hats. The Howard University graduate almost didn’t come to North Carolina for the festival, but thanks to some convincing from her brother, she did. It’s another example of how their family shows up as a sounding board for one another.

“I would say that we all inspire each other,” the “Work Daughta” emcee said. “We talk to each other about our ideas. We help each other genuinely build up and create our creative direction, our expression. I always play my music for my family to get their feedback. My mom is my stylist, whether I want her to be or not, so she has always given me invaluable feedback.”

She added, “Niko, too. Niko has been doing this for a long time. He started when he was 17. To see him make it to this stage is a dream come true. It just inspires me to keep going. It serves as an inspiration and motivation, but also great feedback to continue to grow and develop as an artist.”

Dreamville is just the beginning — their dreams are still being manifested

Kai Ca$h and Niko Brim said serving as the openers for the fifth and final installment of J. Cole’s Dreamville festival is a dream come true. The two also have their eyes on the future.

“My dream has come true today, but I got more dream,” Ca$h said. “I see myself touring the world alongside my brothers, and inspiring people through my arts. Those are my biggest dreams so I can lay back and be at peace with my wife when I’m 50.”

“I definitely would say [a] world tour for real,” Brim added. “I want Grammys, BET Awards, MTV. I would love that level of acknowledgement for the work that we got. I also see us elevating New York, and being able to help guide the next generation of creatives. Kai and I, we breathe this s**t every day. Those are the main things. To travel the world, some awards, and we want to make sure our community is straight.”

J. Cole’s fifth and final Dreamville Festival took place on April 5 and 6 in his home state of North Carolina. Along with Brim and Ca$h, the weekend was filled with performances from Wale, Tems, Keyshia Cole, Ludacris and a host of others before J. Cole closed out the event Sunday night.

Niko Brim

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