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Her latest hit chirps about being “Single & Happy” but rapper Kash Doll, government name Arkeisha Knight, is seven-months pregnant spending her days nesting with her fellow rapper and boo Tracy T.
On the latest episode of “Renaissance Man” we had to drop a few “What up Doe” to each other which is an endearing hello in Detroit speak. We chopped it up about her Motown roots, her role on new Starz hit, “BMF,” impending motherhood and, of course, her brief but very lucrative career as an exotic dancer.
But since she’s about to give birth, and I am a family man after all, I kicked it off with more wholesome subjects. Like what is she having and what is she going to name her bundle of joy?
“I haven’t decided on a name yet because I don’t want to know what I am having just yet,” she told me. “So I have a few names that I’m just thinking, you know, but I don’t know exactly what I’m having. It’s baby Kash right now.”
Boy or girl, that is going to be one lucky child with a talented mama whose star is rising by the minute. Right now we see Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion burning up the charts and the entertainment world. I think KD is next to hit that stratosphere. She’s got catchy hooks, Motor City grit and a massive personality to match.
If you need evidence of that, she charmed 50 Cent without even meeting him in person. And we all know that Curtis Jackson is a very discerning man in both his business and personal dealings. Kash was actually the first person he cast in “BMF.” In it, she plays Monique, a paralegal and one of Big Meech’s lovers. Landing that role was a big deal because there are so many seasoned actors on the Starz show. He thought she was great match because she was from Detroit and had the chops to really make it as an actress.
“This is where God is good to me, I was grateful,” she said of that moment 50 Cent called her to break the news. But she didn’t meet the mogul in person until March 2021, when they were filming the show in Atlanta.
“He threw my birthday party. We couldn’t leave due to COVID. We had to be on set. He’d been around and he know how important it is for women and their birthday. Every year I throw this big party,” she said. He took the wheel and showed a lot of love for Kash Doll, throwing her a big party sponsored by Branson Cognac.
As an unapologetic patron and great supporter of adult entertainment venues, I was curious about her yearlong stint as a dancer around 2012. She worked at a joint in Detroit called the Sting, and it’s an establishment where I have been known to do some charity work out of the goodness of my own heart. But I was never there when Kash was dancing.
She decided to give the risque profession a shot because she was basically down on her luck. Her car was stolen, her home caught on fire, and she had to move in with her mother. Kash saw her friends moving into big condos, landing rich boyfriends and walking around with fancy little dogs.
“I tried it my first day … I was s–tting bricks … I walked out there just nervous as ever,” she said, adding that her friends came out to support her. Despite those nerves, Kash made $700 her very first shift, which I would hardly chalk up to beginner’s luck. She’s a born performer. “And ‘I’m like s–t. This is what I make in two weeks at Best Buy.”
Oh yeah, she was working at Best Buy wearing a blue polo shirt and khakis, which is quite a contrast. She had worked at Little Caesars, and the Better Made Chip factory. She babysat. She hustled in every retail and food job imaginable.
“So when I see that it was possible to make a check that I’d wait two weeks for … I’m doing all this labor and getting checks with like $500 every two weeks to $700 for hours in a day,” she told me. “Hmm. I said, ‘Oh, I’m about to stack this money up.’ I made $26,000 in one night.”
She said she made a quarter of a million dollars that year. And you can buy a lot of fancy fluffy dogs with that kind of dough.
“I just got so popular to the point that I was on flyers every week and I didn’t dance on the floor like the regular dancers,” she said. “They knew when I walked onstage … it just became a thing. I was like the highest paid dancer in Michigan. And it’s been that way for a long time and nobody really did it again.”
Then she added one very shocking detail: “I never took my bra off.”
Ironically, she made up for it on “BMF,” where she has a topless love scene, which made a lot of waves on the internet. On Instagram, she said she had to run to cover her mother’s eyes as they watched the episode. She also joked with fans about it, and I thought that attitude showed off her great sense of humor. Kash said doing a sex scene was the most surprising part of filming, but it is just another part of being a multifaceted artist.
As a kid, she “grew up on the dance floor.” And like any good Detroiter, she was always running around singing Anita Baker. But it wasn’t until she put a real effort in that she realized this could be a career.
“My first time actually getting inside of a studio, I think that was like 2013,” she said. And it’s been on ever since then … I just didn’t look back.”
As a heavily pregnant woman and lover of fashion, she is, however, looking forward to when she is no longer carrying a child and can start shopping for clothes again.
“I bought a lot of shoes and purses,” she said of her pregnancy, adding that she knew she wouldn’t outgrow them.
When we talked about the NBA, Kash Doll, a k a “Big KD,” had some choice words for Nets star Kevin Durant.
“I’m the real KD,” she told me, with a laugh. They’re good friends who enjoy busting each other’s chops. “That’s my dog,” she said.
Finally, I had to ask her where she would eat in Detroit if she’s only in town for one night? She said the wings at Sweetwater with sauce on the side and fries with extra seasoning. It’s a dish to match her: Kash Doll is extra seasoning in human form. And we love her for it.
Detroit native Jalen Rose is a member of the University of Michigan’s iconoclastic Fab Five, who shook up the college hoops world in the early ’90s. He played 13 seasons in the NBA, before transitioning into a media personality. Rose is currently an analyst for “NBA Countdown” and “Get Up,” and co-host of “Jalen & Jacoby.” He executive produced “The Fab Five” for ESPN’s “30 for 30” series, is the author of the best-selling book, “Got To Give the People What They Want,” a fashion tastemaker, and co-founded the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, a public charter school in his hometown.
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