Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Cruzmatik - Music



Cruzmatik - Music


By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist


Spin Rich Records TM


     Cruzmatik
Dynamite Duo Making Their Mark

Photos by Tim Cattera


Crusmatik (L)  JWillz  (R) FMZ
     Two life long friends came together to forge a musical duo that has created a fresh new sound and the music world has begun to take note. “Cruzmatik” is a new duo created by two music veterans. The first member is rapper/producer Reggie Stephens who also goes by the name Famouz or FMZ. Stephens is a former player for the NFL New York Giants and the Arena Football League’s Nashville Kats.



Reggie Stephens aka FMZ



 FMZ gained notoriety for being the first person to legally sample a Jon Bon Jovi song on a hip-hop track (“Bad Name,” and get clearance for David Bowies (“FAME “) from his debut album, Ghetto Passport).  In addition to Bon Jovi, FMZ has worked with the likes of E-40, Bun B, DJ Unk, and Rankin Scroo.



Jason Williams aka JWillz
     The second member is singer/songwriter Jason Williams aka JWillz. Williams was been the lead singer for the group Ribsy’s Nickel for 12 years.  Growing up in one of California's premiere surf towns (Santa Cruz), JWillz and Ribsy’s have been playing their catchy surf/reggae/rock music up and down the California coast for close to 12 years, sharing the stage with bands like Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, The Expendables, Fishbone, Travis Larson Band and The Chop Tops. After having done their separate things, the two friends decided to join forces and go into the studio. Their first single “Not Gone Wur Bout It,” was the result and it started to catch on big time via them performing it on live shows. The duo has a new album that will drop soon.




JWillz & FMZ  Cruzmatik
     So what is the concept of the cruzmatik sound? FMZ explains, “We’re going for the main stream market basically. As you get more into our music, we are all about positive energy and good vibes. We aren’t trying to bring no negativity to the situation. So that’s kind of like where we stand. Our whole thing is having fun. If you ever watch both of our videos it’s like having a good time and having fun with friends and family. So that’s the direction we’re going, on a positive note, that’s what we’re trying to do.”



         There is an abundance of negativity and self hate surrounding hip hop that is being marketed and pushed to our youth. Does Cruzmatik find a tug and pull with their audience because of this? JWillz responds, “Sometimes it is like that and the negativity does come from all angles when you’re doing this music. Even though we are a positive group it still affects us because there is a lot of negative out there that people try to bring you down or whatever. The main thing with me, FMZ and this group its always been like you can’t pay attention to it. When people try to get personal with you, you really can’t take it that personal. I don’t know a lot of people that are on Twitter. I don’t try to get caught up with it. I’m trying to stay in a positive way. If you really stay focused and don’t get caught up in all of this negative energy it’s not going to affect you and its  been working every since we started this group. Since we began in the bay area and our success started to grow more, a lot of people have been throwing that negative hate around and it doesn’t affect us. Why should it affect us? We know where we want to go so we block it out and that’s a good thing to do.”

FMZ    JWillz       Cruzmatik
  

   Cruzmatik has taken off like a wildfire without the usual methodology associated with promoting a group. What have been the key elements to their rapid rise? FMZ elaborates, “Everything that we’ve gained has been organic. We have no radio play, we’ve worked the social media like crazy and people see what we’re doing. We work with a charity called “Grind Out Hunger” where we help feed kids who don’t have any food. Everything that we do is positive. People are looking for something different to tell you the truth. They're looking for something different from the same old stuff that these artists have been doing. You see these videos and all you see is jewelry etc., and I don’t hate on that or dislike that. They do what they do but where the times are with the economy and everything that is going on, people want to be happy when they look at stuff. They don’t want to be looking at the same thing, going down that same road. So that’s how we look at it and I think that’s where the fan base and the support comes from especially in the bay area. Check out the Curzmatik videos:
  


E-mail: cruzmatik@gmail.com; Facebook and Twitter 


 © 2012 Rych McCain Media/Syndication tm 
(You DID Hear It From Me!)