JORDAN, Minn. — Maybe it was because Cashinova went on tour with Prof. After all, the Minnesota-based music artists made stops in California.
Regardless, Cashinova's song, "Flawless," is now played weekly during Thursday Night Football - even though he released the track back in 2020.
"Before the commercial, if you would ask me, like, 'Do you like the song 'Flawless?'' I probably would have said, 'No.' I probably would have been like, 'I'm kind of tired of that song now,'" Cashinova said. "But no, now, that's my most favorite song. For sure."
Everything changed this fall, when California-based ad agency, 72andSunny, sent him an email with an offer.
"Their words were, 'Our client, Wingstop, really likes your song, 'Flawless,' and they would like to use it in their new commercial," Cashinova said. "At first, I thought it was a scam because I'm like, 'What? They're talking big numbers.'"
The contract was real, and he signed it. Now, "Flawless" can be heard every Thursday on Amazon Prime Video and local TV stations in a commercial featuring former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman of the Buccaneers, 49ers and Seahawks.
Since the ad's worldwide debut, Cashinova says the song has grown from around 800 to more than 4,000 Shazam searches. Although streaming generally doesn't pay artists well, pay from the Wingstop deal was life-changing.
"My parents came here as refugees ... if you know anything about refugees, when they come here, we're usually placed in really low income communities. So when I say I'm from the west side of St. Paul or the east side of St. Paul, it's the very poor sides of town," Cashinova said. "So yeah now with the Wingstop situation, and they paid me a hefty check, I was able to put it down on a new home. I'm now here in the cornfields of Jordan, Minnesota. So from the killing fields of Vietnam and Cambodia to the cornfields of America, it's really an American dream, sort of, and it's all from rap music, you know what I mean? Which is really cool."
Cashinova's brand new home was built in 2024 complete with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. He and his fiancé live there with their four children.
"To the young kids out there who have dreams and who are doing the music thing, just keep going," he said. "You never know if that song from four years ago will be the one."