Rock the Cazwell

Imagine Eminem’s slutty cousin and Justin Timberlake's slutty cousin producing a baby and you might get something like Cazwell. Very white, very bald and very dirrrrty (that’s right Christina, I’m giving him 4 r’s), the Worcester, MA-born rapper is making a name for himself as the party-loving, powder-blue-running-shorts-wearing, NY-club-scene-regular, gay white rapper.

To say Cazwell is a unique addition to the pop landscape would be an understatement. Sure, there are other gay rappers vying for attention (Phudge Packerz, anyone?), but only Cazwell (first name Luke) mixes disco with hip-hop, trash with glam, homo with hetero and urban sleaze with positivity.

On his 2006 debut EP, Get Into It, the rapper doesn’t introduce us to him so much as he introduces us to his scene: NY’s 70’s & 80’s (read: pre-AIDS) sexual freedom, where sexy was dirty and sleazy and fun all at the same time. Maybe it’s because Cazwell didn’t actually live in NY during this time that allows him to be so nostalgiac for it, but his infectious beats and freaky humor more than make up for his lack of experience.

The opener, “I Buy My Socks on 14th Street,” pretends to be about his day-to-day life, but the lyrics - like “Why is everyone always looking at me?/Is it ‘cause I jerk off on my webcam for free?” – pretty much obfuscate any credibility. Maybe he has a webcam, but hours and hours of trolling the internet – I mean, research – has produced nothing. Why, Cazwell, must you tease us? The chorus pretty much confirms my frustrations with “You don’t know me/and I don’t know you.” Just when you think you know a faux-public-masturbating exhibitionist, they turn on you.

It’s not until “The Sex That I Need” that he starts flirting with his flip-flopping sexual persona. In this number, he describes being with a male hustler, than the pronouns turn to “she,” then he’s back to cheating on his bf with his bf’s brother. His use of 70’s porn guitar riffs seems especially appropriate here. On “Do You Wanna Break Up?” he brags “I scandalize girls that used to be guys.” By “Getting’ Over,” he’s back to men.

“All Over Your Face,” which samples the underground disco classic “Is It All Over Your Face” by Loose Joints, is the lead single and one of the most downloaded videos on YouTube, no doubt assisted by a cameo from NY club icon and girl-that-used-to-be-a-guy Amanda Lepore (pictured here), who also guest raps on the CD’s title song. It’s also where he drops all pretense of autobiography and becomes what is normally lacking in ego-driven hip-hop: the anonymous narrator. He’s playing the part of a horny club kid, taking us through a sex-soaked New York escapade, hooking up with ho’s (“That hotel was so cheap/I should have brought my own sheets”) and getting even freakier than he’s allowed himself to be on any other track, referencing bukkake, kinky duct tape applications, and his own enthusiastic skills (“I eat that ass like a cannibal!”).

It’s ironic that the song with Cazwell’s most exaggerated sense of personality – he’s admitted that he’s not anywhere near the nympho he plays on his songs – is the one that is garnering all the attention, even if it won’t be played on any major music outlet, including gay network Logo. When do we get to know him? Is he just a good-time novelty act, a one-night fling that we’ll forget once the dance club high (read: ectasy) wears off? The fact that Get Into It comes with eight remixes and three videos seems to suggest this. Even publicity shots seem to portray him as both a genuinely sexy, albeit quirky, good-looking guy and a self-parodying white-trash slezeball.

But he’s also stated that his next step is where he’ll really reveal himself, likening it to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Since he’s playing with a certain sound now (he asked Queerty: “if anyone's going to rap to disco, shouldn't it be a gay guy?”), it will be interesting to see how he develops it over the course of a full-length album while combining humor with the maturity he’s hinted is underneath. The temptation to remain a gay club novelty act must be sharp as he knows not to expect recognition from the hip-hop community. “There are rules in hip-hop,” he has said. “And one is that you can't be a fag.”

But if he wants to last, he’s going to have to develop a musical persona beyond being the Notorious G.W.R (Gay White Rapper). Besides, that gimmick will only work for so long. I can just imagine the next much-hyped rapper coming up on the scene á la Amy Poehler’s imitation of reality show contestants on SNL: “I’m white and gay and I only got one leg. Jealous?”

Although I'm sure if Cazwell only had one leg, he'd make sure it was the sexiest, kinkiest, dirrrrrtiest leg ever. That's right, even his one leg gets 5 r's. Now that's freaky.

Also check out: Kings, Queens and Norah Vincent.
And: Scissor Sisters: Filthy and Gorgeous.