The world’s leading gay rapper branches out from viral videos to TV shows and Snog
It was around the turn of the century when a blue-eyed, 20-something, club-crazed ingénue from Massachusetts came to New York by way of Boston—doing so because he "just wanted to dance." Craving the NYC nightlife with lesbian best-ie in tow, he worked serving cocktails in a drag bar while he and his BFF founded the popular, LGBT electro-clash duo Morplay. Yet circa 2004, when Morplay's girl-gay half moved to Seattle, Luke Caswell dropped a z into his surname, went solo and got signed by Peace Bisquit's [sic] record label. The firm's sample catalogue—combined with his distinctive brand of rhythm and rhyme—soon found Cazwell claiming fame as arguably the world's foremost, leading figure of "gay" rap, setting the tone of his public popularity via exploitative homosexual-cable network restricted tracks like "All of Your Face."
"I kind of just rapped and wrote," Cazwell says of his pre-Peace Bisquit work. "And then [after being signed] I learned how to structure songs, and write them to music."
Some six years later in the summer of 2010, Cazwell's exploitive popularity prevailed in kind with "Ice Cream Truck," the lyrics of its catchy chorus requesting to lick up an "eye-gleaming" Drumstick before it drips on the floor. In review of the aforementioned tracks, it might be easy to deem Cazwell's unique style as somewhat "phallus-focused." It's a term to which Cazwell enjoyed being introduced admitting, "Sex, food and money always comes out in my work." However, he does take a degree of umbrage to the concept, citing songs like "I Seen Beyoncé At Burger King" and the most recent release of "Get My Money Back" as tracks that are evident of his versatility. The latter perhaps the most so as Cazwell accounts his inspiration for "Get My Money Back" on Fight Club, the current economy's influence on NYC dance culture and on the hyper-homosexual social practices of central Africa's Bonobo primates (visually referenced in the song's music video).
"I thought it was cool," Cazwell says of his great-ape idea twisted into a gang of Brooklyn-based gay monkeys. Referencing the costumes adorned by the dancers and him in the song's video he adds, "I sewed all those tails."
Yet Cazwell's versatility doesn't end with music production the tailoring of monkey tails, as his new here! [sic] television show, Boombox, can attest. There Cazwell plays host to a biweekly music-video program, a la 1980s MTV, where, according to here!: "Each episode features the latest from New York's downtown music scene, Cazwell's personal music vault, special appearances and surprise backstage interviews with the hottest music talent today." As of press time, two episodes of season one are posted to www.heretv.com/boombox.
"It's an intimate video show," Cazwell says of Boombox, "[featuring] all kinds of dance, alternative rock, rap too—music that has no category by artists that I love and I'd post on my facebook."
Production/planning of Boombox continues to take place even as Cazwell lives out his role in the UK-based marketing of Snog Yogurt, where Cazwell rewrote "Meet me at the ice cream truck," to "meet me at the Snog shop."
"It's a really tasty frozen yogurt," he says.
After which, Cazwell plans to focus on the fall re-release of the Watch My Mouth album, featuring new remixes of his most popular tracks while performing on his summer concert tour. The individual locations of which aren't known for being very large venues. Yet Cazwell seems to prefer the nightclub stage over that of the auditorium saying," I do enjoy intimate settings, and I can work with anything. I'm pretty good."
Cazwell's summer 2011 tour includes Chicago's Hydrate Nightclub on Saturday, August 6. The full tour schedule is posted to his website, www.cazwell.com.
"I kind of just rapped and wrote," Cazwell says of his pre-Peace Bisquit work. "And then [after being signed] I learned how to structure songs, and write them to music."
Some six years later in the summer of 2010, Cazwell's exploitive popularity prevailed in kind with "Ice Cream Truck," the lyrics of its catchy chorus requesting to lick up an "eye-gleaming" Drumstick before it drips on the floor. In review of the aforementioned tracks, it might be easy to deem Cazwell's unique style as somewhat "phallus-focused." It's a term to which Cazwell enjoyed being introduced admitting, "Sex, food and money always comes out in my work." However, he does take a degree of umbrage to the concept, citing songs like "I Seen Beyoncé At Burger King" and the most recent release of "Get My Money Back" as tracks that are evident of his versatility. The latter perhaps the most so as Cazwell accounts his inspiration for "Get My Money Back" on Fight Club, the current economy's influence on NYC dance culture and on the hyper-homosexual social practices of central Africa's Bonobo primates (visually referenced in the song's music video).
"I thought it was cool," Cazwell says of his great-ape idea twisted into a gang of Brooklyn-based gay monkeys. Referencing the costumes adorned by the dancers and him in the song's video he adds, "I sewed all those tails."
Yet Cazwell's versatility doesn't end with music production the tailoring of monkey tails, as his new here! [sic] television show, Boombox, can attest. There Cazwell plays host to a biweekly music-video program, a la 1980s MTV, where, according to here!: "Each episode features the latest from New York's downtown music scene, Cazwell's personal music vault, special appearances and surprise backstage interviews with the hottest music talent today." As of press time, two episodes of season one are posted to www.heretv.com/boombox.
"It's an intimate video show," Cazwell says of Boombox, "[featuring] all kinds of dance, alternative rock, rap too—music that has no category by artists that I love and I'd post on my facebook."
Production/planning of Boombox continues to take place even as Cazwell lives out his role in the UK-based marketing of Snog Yogurt, where Cazwell rewrote "Meet me at the ice cream truck," to "meet me at the Snog shop."
"It's a really tasty frozen yogurt," he says.
After which, Cazwell plans to focus on the fall re-release of the Watch My Mouth album, featuring new remixes of his most popular tracks while performing on his summer concert tour. The individual locations of which aren't known for being very large venues. Yet Cazwell seems to prefer the nightclub stage over that of the auditorium saying," I do enjoy intimate settings, and I can work with anything. I'm pretty good."
Cazwell's summer 2011 tour includes Chicago's Hydrate Nightclub on Saturday, August 6. The full tour schedule is posted to his website, www.cazwell.com.
