GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

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September 11, 2009 www.GayPeoples Chronicle.com

Cazwell's latest puts a fun, danceable beat on homohop

by Anthony Glassman

If the mountain won't come to Mohammad, Mohammad must go to the mountain.

When, way back in the early 1980s, white people would not listen to hip-hop and rap music, rap came to white folk in the form of three Jewish guys from New York: the Beastie Boys.

Now that their seminal album Licensed

to Ill is almost 25 years old, the same phenomenon is happening in the world of homohop, queer hip-hop.

The title track on Watch My Mouth has some fun retro sounds on it, a cross between disco and early electro. The drawback is the cheesy backing vocals that could spur a murder spree.

"Tonight," the second track, is tailormade for club play, right after the DJ says he's going to put on something sexy for the lovers. It might try a little bit too hard, but its heart (or groin, perhaps) is in the right place. The star of the album is "All Over Your Face," both musically and lyrically. Again,

vocals. There's a nice bass line going through the song. It gives that retro song that contrasts nicely with the vocals

In "Limousine," however, he's got a great techno thing going, but the song seems to suffer when he's rapping, compared to when guest vocalist Risqué is singing. Remove him, and it might just be a seminal techno track.

His videos are readily available online, and the one for "All Over Your Face" is fantastic. Well, except for when Amanda Lepore is onscreen. Word is that she is a PEACE BISCUIT RECORDS (3)

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Cazwell

While Deadlee and the Deep Dickollective crews and myriad others are still at the forefront of queer rap, Cazwell is doing what the Beasties, and later Eminem, did-putting a fun face on rap music with danceable beats and witty lyrics.

Cazwell's latest album, Watch My Mouth, features guest vocals from some of his friends, like Lost Daze, Jonny Makeup, Amanda Lepore, Avenue D, the Ones, Risqué and other New York queer pseudo-celebrities.

CAZ

the Eminem touches are really evident, especially in lyrics like, "I masturbated/'til my KY faded/I'm exhausticated."

It's an infectious song, just begging your feet to hit the dance floor.

"I seen Beyoncé . . ." with Jonny Makeup, one of those kids famous for being famous (in an NYC homopseudo-fame sort of way) is the funniest song on the album. It's all Cazwell talking about Beyoncé borrowing money from him and act-

WATCH MY MOUTH

Cazwell has some skills on a microphone, and he uses them to full effect on the album. His one drawback, which may also be a major strength, is his apparent fixation on sounding like Eminem. Whether it's conscious or not, his flow and inflections seem a delayed response to decade-old fantasies about Marshall Mathers being gay.

ing the fool at not particularly highclass establishments like Burger King and J.C. Penney.

One almost suspects that, had Cazwell released the song five or six years ago, it would have been Whitney Houston serving as the target of his wit. It

seems more appro-▪ priate that the Bobby Brown-era Whitney should serve as his subject.

Another highlight of the album

is "I Buy My Socks on 14th

Street." It's one of those slice-of-life songs where he basically just talks about his life. It sounds good, though, and it's well-produced. It doesn't concern itself with being funny every second, although there is a haha here and there.

He brings the funk in "The Sex That I Need" with Avenue D providing guest

wonderful, kind, friendly person, but she has that Joan Rivers, overly-surgeried look that makes her look less like a transsexual and more like a transhuman. It's almost as if

Amanda and Cazwell

she was saved from a horrible plane crash by aliens who only had a passing knowledge of what humans were supposed to look like. She would be a great guest-star for the show Nip/Tuck.

Overall, a fun album by an amusing artist. Is it a classic? No, but then what is these days?