Interview w/C-Rayz Walz
By: Justin Rizzio

Ever meet someone who makes no sense and the most sense all in the same sentence? Well, meet C-Rayz Walz. Walz is a veteran battle MC who has been making his presence in hip hop known since the late 90’s. He started out with his crew, Stronghold, then moved on and more recently has been dropping albums on labels like Def Jux and Babygrande. (Fun fact: C-Rayz went to high school with Mobb Deep ). In 2005, Rayz also appeared on MTV’s Made, helping a young white kid how to live his dream of being a battle rapper. Now, with no record label to call home, this Bronx bred MC continues to put out quality material and refuses to give up his legendary status.

215hiphop: You’ve been putting out a lot of material lately on various labels. Are you signed to any specific label as of right now?

C-Rayz Walz: The last label I was on was Definitive Jux. Since then, I dropped Singular Plurals Vol. 2 and Best of the Beast. Something also came out on Uncle Howie Records called Return of the Beast. It was like Best of the Beast without the Def Jux songs on it. And I dropped part 1 of the Collectable Classics on SunCycle/Urchin Studies. I dropped The Dropping featuring a track with Matisyahu. I dropped part 2 of that, called Chorus Rhyme, which features the track “Chorus Collection”. It had 30 MC’s on it featuring Sean Price, Immortal Technique, Pumpkinhead, Kosha Dillz, Thirston Howl, mad cats was on there. And Monster Maker came out on Babygrande Records. It’s kind of a rock, electro, hip hop joint. I’m holding off on part 3 of the Collectable Classics. First, I’m gonna hit ‘em with Original Recipes, a new joint from C-Rayz. It features 15 new joints with Reef the Lost Cauze, Breeze Evahflowin’, Cappadonna, Vast Aire, alot of collabos. It’s a good hip hop record.

215: What were the reasons behind you leaving the Def Jux label?

C-Rayz Walz: It’s an intricate story I can’t really cover in one interview. It was just time for me to grow as an artist. I want to do a lot of things the way I want to do it, every time. Even independent labels got their opinions on your project. I allowed an opinion to be really flexed on, on my last project with them. It kind of made me feel like I compromised myself as an artist. So I had to move on out of that compromising situation into a new one with more freedom.

215: Def Jux, along with a few other indie labels, get the “hipster/emo rap” tag by alot of hip hop fans. Do you have an opinion on that?

C-Rayz Walz: That shit ain’t me. Ain’t nobody poppin’ off shit on my block, or no real hip hop cats really runnin’ with that whole look. At the same time, if cats think they growing or expanding by adopting different looks and hanging with a different crowd of people, I guess to each his own. I represent hip hop. I represent the hip hop culture. That shit is hoodies, baggy jeans, skullies, caps, tattoos, any clothes you wanna wear. But really there’s a certain look that goes with hip hop. You can tell. It’s a certain aura and a certain vibe. It’s not stereotypical, but, at the same time it is. And this emo shit…dressing like the 80’s with your hair waved to the side and tight jeans and shit…I think it’s a fad. It’s definitely something that was already done before. It’s just coming back for the people who weren’t part of those eras. It’s like the kid from the burbs that wears Ecko hoodies and Akademiks jeans and Nike Airs and crazy flavors with illest fitted hats. He ain’t have to go through the struggles to get your money up to buy that. His parents just gave him a fashion budget. So, a lot of these kids get to be cool just because they got a nice 80’s shirt with a Star Wars Darth Vader belt buckle. You got a few Nintendo cartridges that you bought from a swap meet or some shit. That shit ain’t really hip hop. To each his own. For instance, Cage got a new look, but, his music is mostly still Cage. It’s less of the Cage Kennylz that everybody knew. He was Alex, Agent Orange that the fans loved. Sometimes you change and you don’t change with the fans, you change against the fans. That’s the risk when you go your own way. Me, personally, I just keep it consistent. I just keep trying to improve at what I’m already good at…hip hop.

215: Do you still have any type of relationship with anyone at Def Jux?

C-Rayz Walz: Honestly, shit is real slow. I call Aesop here and there. I don’t think anybody is in a rush to get back to me when I reach out. El-P’s the leader, and by me having problems with him, might lead to the way other people treat me. I know Murs is not a Def Jux artist and Murs is always good. If I email Murs, he’ll hit me back tomorrow night. Me and Cage always been cool, but never had that crazy communication, so nothing changed. Things got distant with me and El. Me and Lif were never close. Akrobatik and those cats…we just kind of knew each other. Definitely a distance, but, that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t want to be a Def Jux artist anymore. It wasn’t a family structure. I didn’t feel it, so I kept it movin’.

215: Do you regret getting the Def Jux fossil logo tattoo?

C-Rayz Walz: That’s my tattoo. That’s my logo. That ain’t a Jux logo. My man made that logo. El-P decided to use it for his company. I use it because that represents me. I’m timeless music. I’m a fossil. I’m something you’re gonna dig up later and find a jewel when you dust the bones off of my tracks. If you look at my arm, that’s my hip hop arm. (lifts up sleeve to show me his arm ) I got a spot reserved for Rhymesayers. I got the Stronghold logo. I’ll put the Detonator (Records) shit right there. (points to spots on his arm) I’ll put the SubVerse joint. It’s basically my whole hip hop career. Every label I fuck with that got a logo, they shit gonna go there. So it ain’t really nothin’ about me being stained or having a tattoo. That’s my tattoo. I took that shit. That’s mine.

215: A while back, there were rumors that you were signing to Rhymesayers. Any truth to that?

C-Rayz Walz: Me and Slug ( Atmosphere ) is mad cool. Slug always gives me good advice. He lets me know about choices in my career. He’s also one of the humans. He just calls and talks to me on some regular human shit. Not even no music shit. He just calls to give me a shout and make sure I’m alright. It’s fuckin’ Christmas ” Yo, you alright C-Rayz” ? Word, it’s Slug. “What up Sean”? Rhymesayers got a full roster. If a slot opened up and I could do some shit, I wouldn’t sleep on the opportunity. I got that shit ready. I would love to. That would complete my career, kinda.

215: Did you really burn all of your rhyme books?

C-Rayz Walz: I lost mad shit in storage and I burned a lot of shit as a sacrifice. I got mad rhyme books, so I didn’t burn all my shit. But I could afford to burn enough to make me write harder.

215: Is that why you did it, to force yourself to write new material?

C-Rayz Walz: I could go back to old rhyme books and my shit would sound futuristic right now. So, it ain’t nothin’. It’s easy for me to backtrack on that and not really have to write. When I write, I write timeless music that I can drop and release whenever. But, I definitely burned some shit.

215: You’ve been somewhat experimental with your music lately. Any specific reasons?

C-Rayz Walz: I guess it’s like the same as when I started fuckin’ with white girls in 2000. Like, before that shit was popular, I was fuckin’ with white girls. When mad God body cats was gettin’ at me, mad Muslim cats; you seen everybody with white girls sneaking into their hotel. I’m just quicker than the next artist to express myself. I’m quicker to talk about some personal shit. I already feel that I’m legendary. I’m 14 albums into the game. My track record speaks for itself. I done some phenomenal things. Right now I’m mad laid back and shit. My throat is all fucked up and shit, but once I get up on stage, I’ma really black out and not know why my throat don’t hurt all of a sudden. My shit’s connected to my earbone, my earbone connected to my brainbone, and my bainbone connected to my mental fuck shit up. I’ma do whatever comes at me, ’cause there’s no borders to my shit. I’m boom-bap. I just did an album with Clesma, a bunch of Jewish musicians. Fred Wesley, who was James Brown’s right hand man. I just did an album with this man. I’m just growin’. All my shit is always gonna be rooted in boom-bap though. Look at my blueprint, my rap, my cadence, or whatever.

215: Name an MC that would make you nervous, if you had to battle them.

C-Rayz Walz: I don’t know. I guess just the people I’m seein’. The kid Nocando is pretty hot. Iron Solomon carries the torch pretty well. The kid Franco came runnin’ up in the Scribble Jam battle. He’s pretty tight right now. I know when I was a battle MC, that’s all I was thinkin’ about all day. I’m here tonight to rock with Reef the Lost Cauze. He’s evolved into a creative artist making conceptual songs. These kids thinking about a battle all day, I don’t know if it’s straight up freestyle or they got a lot of premeditated shit all ready. I don’t think nobody could fuck with me freestyle. Whatever, I’ll always hold that torch. Nobody’s fuckin’ with me without premeditated rhymes. There’s nobody I really worry about. If Paul Robeson was an MC, I’d worry. He knew 10 languages. Other than that, the only person I’m scared of is Melle Mel.

215: So what do you think of artists that use written rhymes as freestyles?

C-Rayz Walz: That’s why you check out my Sucka Free freestyle. A lot of cats are like, “Damn Rayz, you the only MC that spit a freestyle on Sucka Free freestyle”. It was supposed to be a freestyle, so I hit ‘em off. It is what it is. Nobody believe its freestyle when I freestyle. That’s why I feel so good about it.

215: You got some good exposure on MTV’s Made. How did that happen?

C-Rayz Walz: My publicist got at me and I went and did the interview. I beat out 100 people. It came down to me, Jean Grae and Saigon. C-Rayz Walz was the best choice, obviously. You can’t beat that. It was a good look. Three and a half million people saw me on TV doing somethin’ real. I couldn’t have paid for that. I didn’t make a lot of money, but, there’s nothin’ I coulda paid for that.

215: You have a very unique aura about you. How would you describe your style?

C-Rayz Walz: I think I’m fast-forward-rewind, recording while I play. Going up to come down, looking at what’s going around. Still life moving. I just appreciate the little things and strive for the big ones. I’m pretty famous, but quite legendary and unknown. I’m animated and I’m one of the shyest, serene people. I’m street and I’m nerdy. I think I just got a balance of it. I think I’m just open. And when you open, you make other people more comfortable in their life. That’s what I think this whole thing is about. They put us on different levels, so, I think I’m really succeeding in making people feel as one.

215: Over the years, you have worked with alot of different artists. The one that sticks out to me the most is Adrien Brody. A lot of the newer fans might not know that he produced on one of your albums early on in your career. How did that come about?

C-Rayz Walz: A Ranger. That was a little sneaky blow into there. I met him at my man’s house. Adrien Brody was at his house. We were eatin’ food and talkin’ and smokin’ and kickin’ it. I was freestylin’ next thing you know, he was like, “I produce”. Came by the studio, he gave me some beats. Next time he was in town we recorded two joints. Word. The last time I seen him he was kissin’ Halle Berry at some awards. I was like, “yo, I got a beat from son.” He kept blowin’ up from there, his number changed, and I ain’t seen him no more. Shout out to A Ranger. Where you at? Get at me.

215hiphop: You’ve been to Philly more than a few times now. What’s your take on the city?

C-Rayz Walz: I love Philly. Philly’s kind of a grimy spot. I’m mad my throat is fucked up ’cause I really wanted to yell and spaz out on my shit. I’ll do what I can without tellin’ the crowd my throat is fucked up. If my shit fucks up, it’ll just be the night that C-Rayz Walz sucked. But, yo son, my throat is fucked up. I’m not gonna give no waiver. I’m just gonna do what I gotta do. Even if I gotta get on some cool shit. But Philly is dope. One of my favorite MC’s of all time comes from Philly. That’s Chief Kamachi. That kid is fuckin’ crazy with it. Mad spiritual rap like no one else spittin’ in this time frame. He stand alone with that shit that he do. Philly’s a competition city. Everybody’s rappin’, makin beats, they nice with they tattoos, graffiti art. Cats is just into they styles in Philly. Actually, they say the City of Brotherly Love, but there’s so much hatred here from the police and the way the economy is set up with the housing. The people are striving. And when you got people striving to be happy, you got hip hop. So there’s a lot of hip hop culture out here. I love to come to Philly; it’s a place to strive at. I fucks with Philly. Reef the Lost Cauze, the most improved artist out of Philly. I like where that brother’s goin’. Check him out on my new album, Original Recipes, coming out in 2008 on SunCycle / Conquest Records. This is my dopest project again, once more. Until the next one, this is the dopest. Be aware of the Free C-Rayz Walz Fund. I’m tryin’ to stay out of jail from the racist cops in Indiana. I’m fightin’ this case. They’re will be more news of that to come on crayzwalz.com AND myspace.com/crayzwalz. I’ll let you know how you can donate and help me beat this case.

215: Last words?

C-Rayz Walz: Do onto others as you have them do onto you. What goes around comes around. Listen to your first thought, because that’s the mind of the most high. C-Rayz Walz is goin’ through changes right now. Change is the only thing in life that’s constant. So I’m happy that I get to Phoenix again. This time I’ll come back with some crazy hot shit, hot shit, hot shit.

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