About Me
Casanova's Biography
It's Evident that the Hiphop movement in the "Land Down Under" is in full swing. Rappers are now becoming celebrities with the emergence of producer/rappers like J-Wess and R&B pop stars like Selwyn. But with the growing popularity of Rap and R&B, there is also a price to be paid. Every artist that recieves any attention sounds like a horribly over glossified imitation of the American and British pop urban scene. New Zealand managed to break up the monotony with hiphop artist Scribe, who has seen moderate commercial sucess, but Hiphop in the Tasman region seems destine for a comercial pitfall. That's where Casanova is planning to step in.
This destiny changing artist who's name is pronouced (Cas-a-no-va), is just what the urban scene in Australia needs for balance. With the slick metaphors,punchlines, and commercial appeal of Fabolous, the grimy word slinging, gangsta mentality of Lloyd Banks and the narrative,deep, but catchy street story rhymes that fans of Nas and the late Notorious B.I.G. are familiar with,Casanova plans to put the missing piece into the puzzle that plagues the Australian music scene."Fans of Hiphop in general are always telling me that, the commercial acts here try to much to sound American, and that the Hiphop acts are too underground and grassroots to be heard on the radio as a constant top 40 hit. Im trying to do both. I listen to Nas and Fabolous,'Biggie and Ludacris, 'Pac and Jay-Z and I also listen to Australian and New Zealand acts like Scribe,Hilltop Hoods, Lyrical Comission, Con Psy, and PNC. Most of these cats are legends and when you listen to legends you have no choice, but to put out hot material", Casanova says during an interview with Besa from urban magazine 'Hitz from the Streets'. " I wanna have people dancin' in the clubs,girls feelin' my music, hiphop heads agreeing with what im sayin' and gangsta's vibin' wit my shit."
Casanova who also goes by the moniker(s) El Rey or Fidel Cazhflow aka Casanova started rapping at the age of 15 while in class with some of his homies that would later form the 4 member group Imperial. " I was sittin in class and my boy Neo aka Panama was writin sumthin and I was like 'Yo I rap too' and he turned and was like 'Spit then, let me see what you got'. That short 8 bar rhyme is what got the wheels turning for the young producer/rapper. "No one outta group knew how to make beats, so I decided that I would be the one to learn". A avid self proclaimed perfectionist, he reportedly re-wrote,produced,and recorded his debut album 10 times as his skills increased over the years. Says Casanova, "I would get done with an album about to get it mastered and everything then I would be like let me re- write a song or re-do a beat and it would turn out that I would re-do the whole album.Over and over again.It was crazy. I just wanted people to hear me at my best".
After perfecting his craft, Casanova began to start hooking up with many producers around his age in the country and they began to network back and forth.After forming another group,Young Fame, in his hometown Orlando, Florida; Cazh began to look elsewhere to begin his music career as the U.S. market was being saturated with new artists. After visiting Australia for 3 months in the Summer of 2003, he decided he wanted to release his material overseas. Over the next year Casanova began to build connections in Oz untill one day he met up with aspiring rapper Zachariah aka X-Sample. The two immeadiately hit it off and decided they would like to go into business together. When Casanova returned to Australia in June 2004, they began planning a takeover of the industry.After performing sucessful shows together, the two became sure that this match would be a good one and decided to go full ahead with the partnership.
After singning a demo deal with a major label,Casanova returned home to America to finish recording his debut album "El Rey" which is expected to drop sometime in mid 2008. Songs like "Uh Huh", "Fuego", "Love Letter", "Over Your Heads", and "C.A.S.A.N.O.V.A.", are sure fire top of the chart singles.
" I tried to make my album like 50 Cent's in the way that, every song was a potential single and you can play in the whole way through. Im mean come on, the guy sold over 800,000 his first week on his debut, and on his sophmore album sold 1.1 million in 4 days. He has a winning formula and Im trying to adapt that stratgey to fit me". Casanova also is debuting his record label Block Family which will feature Feezable, Pulse, Joel Kastiel, and Zachariah. We can expect big things coming from him this year.
