Tomas Tammemets (born 18 November 1991), known professionally as Tommy Cash (stylised as TOMM¥ €A$H), is an Estonian rapper, singer, dancer, and visual artist. He usually performs in English with a distinct non-native accent, and is known for sexually explicit lyrical themes and provocative music videos. He in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "Espresso Macchiato", where he finished in third place overall with 356 points.
Early life and education
Tammemets was born and raised in Estonia, in Kopli, a subdistrict of Tallinn, the capital. In interviews, Tammemets mentioned his mixed immigrant "Ukrainian-Kazakh-Russian-Estonian" ancestry. He described in detail his mixed roots from his grandparents: Estonian, Ukrainian, Russian, and Kazakh. Tammemets went to Estonian school and he speaks Estonian as one of his mother languages. In one of his early interviews, he said that "not many even know I can speak Russian", that his parents talked to each other in Russian at home, and that he comes from the Kopli ghetto.See, e.g., the interview by Tommy Cash for the Russian music website https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVMo61_hz84, last accessed on 25 February 2025.
In childhood, Tammemets recounted running away from the police many times, and (his parents) then having to pay a fine for painting illegal graffiti. He said that his marijuana use led him to be "ejected" from schooling. Although his family spoke only Russian at home, he also learned the Estonian language early on in the local preschool, primary school and basic school.S. Karabut. 22 February 2015. Кэш see on? Interview with Tommy Cash in Postimees (in Russian) Accessed 19 March 2025 He never graduated from upper secondary school, despite sitting final exams, and later took up painting and dancing instead of formal education.
Music career
2012–2015: First releases In 2012, Tammemets released his first songs on SoundCloud including "Dusk", "Oldkool", and "Toxic". Using the stylised pseudonym TOMM¥ €A$H, his first live performance took place at Cafe Peterson in Tallinn, on 7 December 2012. In 2013, he released the soundtracks "Deep Purp" and "Oldkool" (which was used in video advertisements shown at the ERKI Fashion Show) and he performed at the Patarei Kultuuritolm festival in Tallinn. The weekly Eesti Ekspress remarked, "with his nasal voice and androgynous quacking he looked more like a cartoon character than the serious self-assertive macho rapper we are used to". During this year, he also released his first music video, "Guez Whoz Bak", directed by Janar Aronija. "Guez Whoz Bak" later received the Hit of the Year 2013 (R2 Aastahitt 2013) award from Estonian radio station Raadio 2.
Two of Tommy Cash's collaborations with Justicious and Ba., "MTWAH" and "Kongo Jungle" with TV Maskava, were released as part of the Baltic Trail Compilation (on vinyl). In December 2013, he performed at the Żubroffka Short Film Festival in Poland. In 2014, Tommy Cash released the single "Alien Tears". It was soon followed by C.R.E.A.M. EP, an extended play (EP) release including "Alien Tears", "No Afterparty Without You" and other previously released tracks. In September 2014, he released the music video for "Euroz Dollaz Yeniz", the first single from his upcoming studio album. On 1 November 2014, his first studio album, Euroz Dollaz Yeniz (2014), was released digitally. In January 2015, having lost annual awards in two categories (he had been nominated for Music Video of the Year and Hip Hop/Rap Album of the Year), Tommy Cash posted on Instagram: "Suck my balls Estonian Music Awards."
Tommy Cash was featured on the single "Flipperi" on Mäkki's studio album Habiturientti, released in January 2015. In 2015, he also released "Prorapsuperstar" and "Leave Me Alone" music videos. In September 2015, he collaborated with Ilya "Ilich" Prusikin and Alina Pyazok to produce a video for "Give Me Your Money", a song by the Russian punk-rave group Little Big. The video became part of the American Russians six-episode web series released on Youtube in September-October 2015. He was featured in the song and video "Volkswagen Passat" produced by Sergey Mezhentsev (DJ Oguretz) for the album Power, released in Moscow in October 2015.
2016–2017: Breakthrough with Winaloto In July 2016, Tommy Cash uploaded a new trap-pop single, titled "Winaloto", to SoundCloud. An accompanying music video was directed by Tommy Cash himself, produced by Ivan Nezhentsev (also known as stereoRYZE) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and premiered two weeks later on 19 July 2016. "Winaloto" received over 16 million views on YouTube as of February 2025. Maxim observed "it's a flesh-filled orgy not for the faint of heart, but if you're game to get a little weird, definitely watch it" Dazed reported that "the video ... pairs intricate choreography with deliberate gross-out moments." In October 2016, a ColorsxStudios show premiered Tommy Cash's performance of "Winaloto". He won the Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year (2016) for "Winaloto".
Also in 2016, Tommy Cash performed as a special guest at the official residence of the then President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves. In October 2016, he uploaded two new songs, "Orange Soda" and "Escalade" to SoundCloud. In January 2017, Tommy Cash performed in the Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, the Netherlands. On 16 March 2017, he released the music video for "Surf", produced by Anna-Lisa Himma and directed by Tommy Cash. He also performed on the 2017 Õllesummer pop music festival in Tallinn. In July 2017, he made a cameo appearance on Charli XCX's "Boys" music video. His new single, "Rawr", was first released in September 2017, and soon followed by the official remix featuring Joji. In October, Tommy Cash collaborated with Russian electronic music duo IC3PEAK on their song "Cry". In December 2017, Tommy Cash featured on Charli XCX's "Delicious" (Pop 2 mixtape), and on a remix of her "Out of My Head".
2018–2020: "Pussy Money Weed", "Little Molly", and ¥€$
At the 20th Estonian Music Awards on 25 January 2018, Tommy Cash's "Surf" won the award for Music Video of the Year. In the beginning 2018, he released a single titled "Pussy Money Weed", alongside the music video, which was described as "a hymn to diversity" by Giulia Pacciardi of Collater.Al Italy. At the EFTA Awards on 2 April 2018, Tommy Cash performed his new song "Little Molly". On 30 May 2018, he released "Little Molly" as a new single, alongside the music video, directed by Anna-Lisa Himma and himself. As of July 2024, "Pussy Money Weed", and "Little Molly" music videos received over 15 and 17 million views on YouTube, respectively.
In October 2018, Tommy Cash collaborated with Little Big to release "Follow Me" for Little Big's fourth studio album Antipositive, Pt. 2. It marked the second collaboration between him and the Russian punk-rave group following their 2015 single "Give Me Your Money". In November 2018, Tommy Cash released a song and video, "X-Ray", and it was then set as the lead single of his second studio album ¥€$ (2018). The album features vocal performances from MC Bin Laden, Charli XCX, Rick Owens and Caroline Polachek; it was co-produced by Danny L Harle, A. G. Cook, Amnesia Scanner, and Boys Noize. The concert tour to support the ¥€$ album was announced in December 2018. The tour was to encompass 33 shows and 17 countries. Charli XCX joined Tommy Cash to perform "Cool 3D World" and "Delicious" during his concert in Tallinn in December 2018.
At the 2019 Tomorrowland festival, Tommy Cash was joined by Bosnian-Swedish DJ Salvatore Ganacci to perform "Heartbass" and "X-Ray". Also in 2019, he toured as a special guest at Oliver Tree's concerts on the Goodbye, Farewell Tour, in over 20 shows in the US and Canada. In December 2019, he released the "Sdubid" music video. On 30 January 2020, Tommy Cash unveiled his first official tour in the United States, starting on 22 March. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the tour was rescheduled for 2022. In 2020, Cash also appeared in the music video for "S*ck My D*ck 2020" by the Russian rave band Little Big.
2021–2024: Moneysutra
In April 2021, Tommy Cash released the single "Zuccenberg", in collaboration with Suicideboys and Diplo. A five-song Moneysutra EP was released on 9 April 2021, with guest appearances from Suicideboys, Diplo, Riff Raff, Bones, and Alexey Uzenyuk (also known as Eldzhey). In the summer of 2021, Tommy Cash released a song and video "Benz-Dealer" in collaboration with Quebonafide. He was also featured on Boys Noize's track "Nude".
In September 2021, Tommy Cash collaborated with Oliver Tree and Little Big on the track and video "Turn It Up", from their collaborative Welcome to the Internet EP, which was released on the same month. The following month, he was the featured part in Umru's "Check1", the lead single from the Estonian-American producer's first studio album, Comfort Noise (2022), along with a music video.
In December 2021, new tour dates with additional venues in North America and Europe were announced. The Biggest and Strongest World Tour (2022), began on 10 February 2022, in San Francisco, and was originally to have 19 shows in North America and 28 shows in Europe, ending on 6 May 2022 in Tallinn. In April 2022, the three Australian dates were confirmed. The show in Perth was added later.
March 2022 saw the release of Tommy Cash's collaboration with Kazakhstani record producer Imanbek, a bass-heavy trap track "Baby Shock". In August 2022, via his Facebook account, Tommy Cash announced the "Autobahn Tour (2022)", with ten gigs in Germany and Poland. His "The Amerika 2 Tour (2022)", which was to consist of ten shows in the US and Canada, was postponed as his team were denied entry visas.
During Käärijä's 19 August 2023 concert in Helsinki, Tommy Cash joined him on stage to perform "It's Crazy It's Party". Later in 2023, he joined Oliver Tree's world tour. In January 2024, Tommy Cash released the single "Tango", featuring Canadian rapper bbno$. He was featured in a music video by Salvatore Ganacci titled "Ass & Titties", released in July 2024. The third EP released by Tommy Cash, High Fashion (2024), contains production from A. G. Cook, IC3PEAK, and Umru.
2024–present: Eurovision Song Contest and controversies
On 6 November 2024, Tommy Cash was announced as one of the participants in Eesti Laul 2025, 's selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, with the song "". The song was released on 7 December 2024.
"" went on to win Eesti Laul and thus became the Estonian entry for the Eurovision contest in Basel. His Eurovision participation sparked controversy, both with "" receiving backlash by some Italian media outlets and politicians for stereotyping Italians and Italian culture, as well as his own history of performing in Russia and collaborating with Russian artists. Shortly after winning Eesti Laul, Tommy Cash released the single "United by Music", a collaboration with former Dutch Eurovision representative Joost Klein, in which they voiced discontent with the European Broadcasting Union; Klein was disqualified on the eve of the Eurovision final the year prior.
On 9 May, Tommy Cash published a remix of "Espresso Macchiato" together with the Italian rapper Tony Effe. On 13 May, he performed "Espresso Macchiato" in the first semi-final of Eurovision and earned 113 points, placing fifth and qualifying for the grand final. After his performance in the grand final on 17 May, he earned 356 points and placed third, behind and . After the contest, the song charted across Europe and managed to debut at number 93 on Billboard Global 200 singles chart.
Artistry