MUSIC
C-Rayz Walz is Made
Seth Saltzman
Click here to listen to a track from C-Rayz's new album.
After his last album, the critically acclaimed “Ravipops,” C-Rayz Walz went into a creative hibernation. Now, after a year and a half, C-Rayz has emerged bigger, better, and more destined for success then ever before. His new album, “Year of the Beast,” is his self-proclaimed “most powerful musical release” that he has ever dropped. And with a statement like that, naturally questions follow.
How was your experience on MTV’s made?
C-Rayz: MTV was actually a soul experience that uplifted me. It broke past the boundaries of skin, region and all that. It’s really about being true with yourself and being able to express what’s going on outside in the world.
What was the premise?
C-Rayz: The premise was to teach [the kid] to be a freestyle artist. But while most people would really teach him how to rhyme, I actually taught him to be himself and become who he is, and as a result he became a dope emcee.
So it worked out good?
C-Rayz: Yea, we about to run with it. I’m about to take him on tour with me, I gotta talk to his mom and pops, make sure its okay to give him the experience and try and have him run with a full album next year. And MTV is still doing like 3 more episodes.
How were you selected to be the coach of the episode?
C-Rayz: How was I selected? I would actually have to say I was already selected before they started selecting people. I just happened to walk into the building and be like “yea, I’ll talk into the camera for a minute”. You know what I’m saying? It’s chosen like god son. It was mine. There aint nobody that could’ve did this job really. It wasn’t a job; it was just a life experience. I came and I touched the whole family, the whole town, everybody that came around this experience. Snoop Dogg Ghost Face, everybody that came around got caught up in the sun cycle.
Do you consider being on MTV selling out to all of your underground fans?
C-Rayz: Tha-that’s preposterous! That’s like saying you see eight rinosoraus on the elevator bathroom, man. How is being on TV, doing something positive for the world on TV selling out? Some people just have a warped sense of these things. But it was…I thought white people were selling out because they had money so I was robbing them. But that was just my perception.
How has Definitive Jux been to you as a label?
C-Rayz: Def Jux completely is, 100% in supporting me. They doing the best that they can. It’s a working relationship. It’s not the prettiest girl I been with, she aint got the finest body, but she’s the best all around. Everything is good, ya know? I can be like “El-P – you a jerk, alright?!” then I can go to his house and eat dinner later on, know what I mean? I can’t give Lyor Cohen the finger and shit would be cool. So its family, that’s why I signed here, na’mean?
So, are you where you want to be in your career at this point?
C-Rayz: I’m where I want to be in life. I’m actually where I want to be. Where I am at is actually where I put myself and I’ve allowed myself to go where I’ve projected, so I’m defiantly right there. I only leave room to just move ahead.
How’d you actually get into rapping and producing?
C-Rayz: Well, I got into producing messing with 4th pyramid, he’s a genius. And umm, I just started stealing his style, you know, see how he be breaking it down on his magic box. I’m pretty knowledge in beat making, I’m fronitn’. I’m a genius. If I did it for two months I’d be great. But as far as rhyming, you know, my mom is an English teacher. I used to have to read books for punishment, fall asleep behind the couch. Only class that I used to pay attention to was reading and all of that. So being in the Bronx, hip hop was around me like gang violence. So it wasn’t really nothing to go outside and go into a park jam when I was like, know what I’m saying, 7 years old with Kool Hercs spitting and Zulu Nation. The first, the first crazy jam I went to, I was proably like 8. It was a mad jam in the park, crazy. I stayed out till like 1 o’clock or something and my moms came down the hill and beat my ass back up the hill, I remember that. That was hip-hop; it was the Bronx, originality. I rhymed for busy bee when I was like 8 years old in the park. He gave me 10 dollars. That’s my claim to fame story right there. He probably won’t even remember. It was hip-hop, creativity. I been running around the house with capes on and outfits before mf doom knew about it, na’mean? I bought gold teeth before Flava Flav. I was wearing my headbands. I just did this, I’m here. Bx is where it started, so basically I just kept it going. I was at the boondocks when I was 8 years old, slinging’. I been robbing trains since I was eight. By the time I was 9-10, I was placed on a train where I wasn’t supposed to be, know what I’m saying?
Do you think Year of the Beast has topped “Ravipops?”
C-Rayz: I know year of the beast is the most powerful musical release that I’ve dropped in a concentrated form from A to Z in my career as an artist so far because it was done without no rhyme books. My manager challenged me because I got so many rhymes that I can just go into my books and lay three albums right now. So he challenged me to score a new thought, but I aint really want to do that because I think people need to hear my old thoughts, they be so futuristic. I just released it, na’mean? I had a lot of pent-up anger in me, a lot of sadness, a lot of different human emotions that in my spiritual time hit curves a little bit difficult. So I just had to tune in and let all that go out on paper, let that go. Give it to the world, na’mean? Freedom boxes. They’re the pieces unequivocally what I think is what is critical. It’s either you like it or you don’t like it. It aint nothing about “this song” or “this beat” or “this quote.”
What were your thoughts actually going into the album and into how you were going to craft the album?
C-Rayz: I think my thoughts was really just to really not be judged on this one from a hip-hop standpoint. Like, the judgment that you can have on me on this album it gotta be like spiritual concepts. Like have an hour conversation about this song because I said a something in it that got to you. But you cant say nothing about hip-hop and beats and all of that. I’m happy with every song. Even with the songs I didn’t get to do, like my illest drops, I’m happy with that. Because even that played a position. Everything happened magically, the beats are blending with each other. It’s beautiful yo, I love this album. I went in there saying I’m gonna make an album that was cohesive and that I would love every song and I would have no regrets whatsoever, and that’s what I got. I got a joint that I could perform that’s real visual. I could make a video for like almost every song on the album. It feels great, man. It was an album that I wanted to be able to play for my mother and play for little children.
How do you incorporate your personal life into your rhymes?
C-Rayz: I fully incorporate my personal life into my rhymes. It’s completely, completely encompassed in my music. It’s not a bit imaginary. When I took my AIDS test, I was like “Oh shit”…the condom popped 3 times and shit. It was some serious shit. Everything on here is a part of my life.
What’s the movie going to be about?
C-Rayz: It’s about my mentality in the hood and basically the concealing. I’m not talking about the hood, as far as the neighborhood, I’m talking about the hood as far as the veil and how you cover thoughts and ideas and concepts. I mean, we’ll be in the urban community where the income’s low and the police presence is high, but it’s all about the mind’s eye. It covers everything – from the kids in the ‘burbs to the dudes in the office. Everybody will be able to understand it.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
C-Rayz: If you would’ve asked me that five years ago, I would’ve said I’m just free flowing, learning, like I have. But now, I’ve put together a plan in the next five years I’m gonna develop this organization to inform women about having a baby and how sacred and special of an event that is. In America having a baby is actually an act of terrorism. They basically rip this baby out your vagina, then flash interrogation lights, then slap your kid around, and then put your kid in an incubator while your high on drugs. That’s not what going from a woman to a mother is about. Women have been making it for thousands of years. So with that imam write a couple of books, I’m gonna finish my movie this year. I’m writing children’s books, I want to get heavy into directing other artists videos, and I defiantly want to have some more children in the next 5 years. Another child, video directing, and I’m gonna just continue to get healthy and stronger and become younger as I get older.
