Review: Cazwell, Get Into It

Cazwell’s mini-album is the queer-eyed rap cousin to Justin Timberlake’s blue-eyed soul.

Cazwell, Get Into ItCazwell’s mini-album Get Into It, which gives new meaning to the phrase “put your ass into it,” is the queer-eyed rap cousin to Justin Timberlake’s blue-eyed soul. Putting a twist on hip-hop’s decades-long marriage to misogyny, the Massachusetts-to-NYC transplant talks up his predilection for ass (“The Sex That I Need,” featuring Avenue D of “Do I Look Like A Slut?” fame, espousing the pleasures of foreskin and poppers) and his distaste for strings (“Do You Wanna Break Up?”) and scrubs (“Gettin’ Over”). The fact that he proves himself to be an equal opportunity fucker by objectifying not just boys, but former boys, might soften the, uh, blow for potential straight guys or mainstream hip-hop fans who happen to stumble across Cazwell’s records, but it’s unlikely. And lest you think he’s a cut-rate slut, he offers, “That hotel was so cheap/I shoulda brought my own sheets” on the electro-pop standout “All Over Your Face,” which samples the 1980 Loose Joints track “Is It All Over My Face.” (The album features no less than seven—probably unnecessary—remixes of the single.) Cazwell isn’t the greatest lyricist (he’s capable of writing very lazy couplets, rhyming “speedo” with “Cheeto”) but he’s got definite presence. At his best, he evokes Eminem; at his worst, Marky Mark. More surprising: Amanda Lepore, “the #1 transexual on the planet” (and that’s not really an overstatement), takes the mic on the title track and it isn’t dreadful. Of course, much is owed to the production, as tracks like “Watch My Mouth” draw heavily on the funkiness of Paradise Garage hits like Taana Gardner’s classic “Heartbeat.” Back then AIDS was only weeks away from being officially recognized, but aside from a few references to “rubbers,” Cazwell manages to recapture the uninhibited sexuality and blissful ignorance of the era without being depressing.

Score: 
 Label: Peace Bisquit/West End  Release Date: November 14, 2006  Buy: Amazon

Sal Cinquemani

Sal Cinquemani is the co-founder and co-editor of Slant Magazine. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Village Voice, and others. He is also an award-winning screenwriter/director and festival programmer.

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