Amir "Cash" Esmailian is an Iranian-Canadian talent manager, music executive, and record producer who is the manager and co-founder of the record label, XO Records, and the co-manager of The Weeknd. He has executively produced albums and songs for Nav and The Carters, among others. He is also the host of a Beats 1 radio show called, Memento Mori.
In 2002, Esmailian's friend and rapper, Belly, was signed to Wassim "Sal" Slaiby's Capital Prophets label. Slaiby also hired Esmailian as the head of street promotion for the label. At age 19 in 2003, Esmailian began traveling with rapper and friend, Juelz Santana, on his tours. In 2007, he started managing Belly, which took him to Florida in an effort to help his client break into the club scene. While living in Miami in 2011, Esmailian's friend, Hawk Marley, sent him some of The Weeknd's tracks when the artist was relatively unknown. Esmailian then drove to Toronto, Canada and began managing The Weeknd. In 2012, Esmailian and the Weeknd founded the XO record label as a joint venture with Republic Records. Through the XO and Republic partnership, the Weeknd released several albums in the following years, including Trilogy, Kiss Land, and Beauty Behind the Madness. The latter album would be honored with two Grammy Awards. Along with Slaiby, Esmailian was named to Billboards "40 Under 40: Music's Young Power Players" list in 2015. Esmailian was also pivotal in the 2016 release of Starboy, the Weeknd's third studio album that debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, received triple platinum certification and won Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards. On March 20, 2020, XO and Republic Records released the Weeknd's fourth studio album After Hours. The album peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and received platinum certification. In March 2020, After Hours broke the record for the most global pre-adds in Apple Music history, with over 1.02 million users. In 2016, Esmailian discovered the Toronto-based rapper and singer, Nav, signing him to XO and becoming his manager. In February 2017, Nav released his self-titled mixtape which reached number 24 on the Billboard 200. Esmailian was an executive producer on that project. He would go on to be an executive producer on Nav and Metro Boomin's Perfect Timing later that year and on Nav's debut studio album, Reckless in 2018. Also in 2018, Esmailian earned songwriting credits on The Carters' Everything is Love album with "Friends." He would again earn executive producer credits on Nav's second studio album, Bad Habits, which was released in March 2019 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On May 8, 2020, Esmailian, the Weeknd and Nav co-executive produced Nav's third album Good Intentions, that once again debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Esmailian is also credited as a producer for seven songs and a songwriter for nine songs on the album. In April 2019, Esmailian premiered 21 previously unreleased songs on the fifth episode of The Weeknd's Beats 1 radio show, Memento Mori. Tracks by Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Gunna, Nav, 21 Savage, Offset, Gucci Mane, Future, and others were played. In 2020, Esmailian launched a Champagne named Noirblanc, under the house name Xavier D’Orsenac.
