Win a FREE copy of Cazwell’s debut mini-album “Get Into It” by sending an e-mail containing your name and mailing address in the body and the word “Caz” in the subject line to fdkent@outandaboutnewspaper.com. Winners will be drawn at random from all entries and notified via e-mail. Prizes will be shipped via U.S. Postal Service. Deadline for entry is December 15, 2006.
No matter what you may think you know about white boys rapping, take my advice and forget it all. Emenem who? Auntie Em might have made serious inroads into the world of hip-hop, but that world is about as far away from the set sights of New York’s foul-mouthed out rhymer Cazwell.
“I don’t see myself as hip-hop,” said the perpetually walking Cazwell during a recent conversation with “O&AN.” “Since I’ve been in New York I’ve learned that no matter how talented I am or how good my stage show is that most people in hip-hop don’t wanna roll with gay people and I accept that. If I were trying to be hip-hop I couldn’t live by the rules of the game in hip-hop and be out of the closet so I’m really trying instead to make my own space and allow people to judge me by my work instead of a label. I’m an artist who uses rhymes. It’s more about rapping to make my point. I’m definitely not trying to fit the mold of the straight world. I want to be who I am. I’m a colorful artist and hopefully I will be able to open doors for other artists with my work.”
Cazwell’s funky booty shakin’ straightforward and often laugh-out-loud rhymes (e.g.: “I don’t care if you think I’m dirty. I am dirty. Learn me.”) are the non-stop party featured on his first solo album “Get Into It” which evokes everything from “Paul’s Boutique” era Beastie Boys to 2 Live Crew to Peaches and Avenue D while maintaining a sticky- spunky mystique that is uniquely Cazwell.
Released on Peace Bisquit/ West End XPRS, a label collaboration that includes the house mother of all disco labels — West End. “It’s been a real honor to be able to work with West End,” said Cazwell, “It happened at the right time for the right reasons. The great thing about working with West End is I have access to their catalogue and I get to draw some of my beats from them. It’s a very raw kind of disco that is different from any other kind. It’s very New York and immediately reminds you of that era of the Late ’70s and early ’80s here when crime was at an all-time high and everyone was doing coke and going to discos and there was loads of debauchery.”
Cazwell shows his love for the debauched in spades on the first single from the album “All Over Your Face” the video for which Logo declined to air because of the content.
“It is what it is,” said Cazwell with a chuckle, “No matter how I clean it up it’s still a dirty song. I can’t blame Logo for not wanting to air the video. To really clean it up would require erasing pretty much the whole song.”
Despite the initial l setback, Cazwell remains optimistic for future airplay.
“The next single ‘Watch My Mouth’ is fun for the whole family and should be getting on television with no problem. Thank God the filming is finally over! It was really stressful because it’s not a situation where we were able to even hire a crew. One of my friends is the director and my other friend is the art director. For two weeks we’ve tried to make a million dollar video on a hundred bucks!”
For more information on Cazwell check out www.cazwell.com or www.myspace.com/cazwellnyc. For more information on West End Records or Peace BisQuit visit www.peacebisquit.com and www.westendrecords.com.
