New York City is responsible for many, many things. From Sex & The City singles to those camp as ‘I ? NY’ t-shirts, New York City is at the forefront of contributing to popular culture more than any other city in the world. And now it offers something more unique than before in the form of Cazwell, an openly gay white rapper with more sass than a Carrie Bradshaw outfit and the same twang you’d expect from such natives.
He burst onto the New York club scene several years back but cemented his path to fame with the release of his 2006 album, Get Into It. Now he’s on his way, totally. He makes music with his BFF, the super iconic Amanda Lepore. He’s hung with RuPaul on the set of her Drag Race TV show. He’s even worked with By George and David Lachapelle. He’s a DJ and a producer and an all-round party boy, one who fuses goof ball sounds with sharp lyrics that are equal parts sexualised, fierce and in your face. So… what does Cazwell thinks makes a good rapper?
‘What makes a good rapper are the words that you choose,’ Cazwell explained down the line from his pad in New York City. ‘And if you can choose a word that creates an image in someone’s head when they hear it, then it’s 10 times more powerful. Try to stay away from adjectives. If I say that something is ‘sticky’, people can’t say that when they hear the word. They just see the word. But if you say something like, you know, ‘it was sticking to me like peanut butter and jelly’ then the words work with the story and create something 10 times more powerful than not.
‘When I start writing a song I write down words and phrases that I want to use and it’ll all stick together eventually. I think ultimately the secret is to have something that you want to say. If you can stick to a topic that really helps, but just choose words that help create an image, or refer to something that creates an image. And being an MC that has something to say will put you ahead of the game.’
Cazwell grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts. He kicked off his rapping career by rapping along to house tapes, which he used to procure on regulars jaunts up to New York City. His partner in crime at the time was a young woman called Crasta Yo, with whom he used to do birthday mixtapes. These mixtapes found their way on to radio and eventually into the hands of producers. The rest is history.
‘Basically I started rapping because I can’t sing and the more I started rapping the more I realised I had something to say,’ Cazwell confessed. ‘It was a good outlet for me to have. And the girl I used to rap with, we were really competitive. She knew a lot of big words. The reason she was so good was because she’d read all the time. It’s just like eating food: the more that you eat the more you’ll shit out. And I know that’s true because when I went to college I was writing 10 times more rhymes because I was taking sociology classes.’
Cazwell’s new album, Watch My Mouth, features a swathe of hits, including the catchy as hell I Seen Beyonce At Burger King. It also features upcoming singles Tonight – which is being praised for the critics and features a sample from Give Me Tonight by Shannon – plus Get Into It, which features the world’s hottest transsexual, Amanda Lepore. Cazwell’s personal highlight on the album is Get My Money Back, a recession influenced dance number which explores the downfall of NY club life.
‘This album is very dance influenced, but there’s also more variety. There are a lot of songs that are very indie electro and there’s some rockish stuff on it too. But most of them are dance floor friendly. I’m a full time DJ too which has definitely changed the perspective of what I want on my album because I want DJs to play it.’
So what advice does Cazwell have for any aspiring rappers out there on the scene? ‘If they want to make it big my suggestion is to a) learn to DJ. You’ll learn a lot more about music and you’ll learn a lot about what turns people on. I think everyone involved in music, especially people who want their music in clubs, should learn to DJ. They’re very music conscious people and very musically aware and they also can’t help but know the new stuff that comes out.
‘And then b) do it for the music,’ Cazwell concluded. ‘Something I think that separates me from other gay rappers is that a lot of them tend to just make their whole schtick about being gay, and if you do that you’ll only go as far as the next gay rag. Just focus on the music. If you write about being gay like it’s a problem than you’ll always be one. But if you take it from the point of view that it doesn’t really matter then it won’t matter.’
Cazwell’s new album, Watch My Mouth, is out this July. For more Cazwell information check him out online either at www.cazwell.com or www.myspace.com/cazwellnyc.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
