As one third of a diverse trio from Oakland, California, Kaz has always been a Team player. But this time around he's about to flex his leadership skills, and come out only like a Go-Fessional can. West Coast Rydaz caught up with Kaz for a brief interview. Out for download is the 19 track Go-Fessional mixtape exclusively at BigVon.com so take advantage and download it while you can.
Check out the 12 minute interview in audio or read the transcript below. Kaz gets into the future of The Team, his upcoming solo venture, and much more in this exclusive interview. Also be on the look out for the Hyphy Juice Girls model search and some upcoming contests from Hyphy Juice and WCR.
http://www.West Coast Ridas.com/features/audio/kaz_kyzah_interview.mp3
West Coast Ridas.com: Talk about anything you got going on at the moment. You have this Go-Fessional mixtape out now. What can people expect on there?
Kaz Kyzah: Basically it's alot of Go music. You gonna get alot of high energy stuff. I put alot of work into it. I'm working on my album at the same time, but I wanted to do something to hold the fans down for a minute while they wait for it. Von just did the Hyphy Juice mixtape and I was locked up for a minute. When I was on house arrest I did alot of songs. So I was like "What am I gonna do with these songs, I'm not gonna put em on my album." I didn't wanna let them sit so I was like why not come out with the Go-Fessional. I'm working on a project with the Mekanix called the Go Boyz too. Just really pushing this Go movement.
West Coast Ridas.com: Talk about that for a minute. What does it mean to be a Gofessional. That's really a term you coined, "this song goes", "Lets go".
Kaz Kyzah: It's just everyday language for me and my squad or whoever I be around. If something is fly, something is tight, we say it go. You got a bad chick, she go. She got a nice fit on, she go. I don't know if you remember we did the Go Music mixtape along time ago, so we been on that. The world is finally getting hip to the whole hyphy and going dumb but it's like we don't really use that terminology. They just finding out about it so it's something new to the world. But at the same time, when you just go, it encompasses all of that in one.
West Coast Ridas.com: Would you describe yourself and The Team as one type of genre what would it be? Hyphy, Bay Area, Hip Hop?
Kaz Kyzah: You know my whole thing is, I was new to just making music. I started rapping in like 2001. I was a fan, before anything, of just music. I listen to all types of music. I always wanted to incorporate that into my music. I don't wanna be categorized into just making hyphy music. I don't wanna be categorized as just making Go music either. I just like to make hot music. So I just like to be in the studio and vibe and create with whoever it is. We done songs with Keak Da Sneak with songs to Goapele.
West Coast Ridas.com: You guys are real diverse with it.
Kaz Kyzah: You gotta be. Even with what you listen to, you gotta have an open mind. It shows in your music.
West Coast Ridas.com: So Clyde is rolling with Black Wallstreet, Game. Where does that put the Team. Will you continue as a group or are things on the back burner. Will everyone just focus on solo stuff for now?
Kaz Kyzah: We always felt like you gotta play it like a chess game. All of us under one umbrella wouldn't be the smartest move. If you wanna take over and conquer something you gotta spread out and hit seperate cities and come back together and it's all more powerful. We feel like, I got deals on line and on the table and I'm just really sorting out my options. I came home and I'm really getting in the mix again. I gotta find out who's who and what's what. This mixtape is really something just to throw out and let people get a taste of me. I never really had a solo song out on the radio. I do alot of solo work, writing other people's songs, R&B, all that. Clyde is already been in his movement for what he's doing. Like alot of people out there throwing rumors out, "The Team broke up." For one, we family. Alot of people don't know we blood. We can never break up. We all gotta go out and make our mark and then come back together and kill them. No matter who he signs with, I'm gonna support him. Same with me, no matter who I sign with it's always gonna be Team. They names tatted on me same way my names tatted on them.
Look out for Maine too, he got his mixtape coming and deals on the line. We wanted to spread it. Same way Wu did it back in the day, same way Dips is doing it now.
West Coast Ridas.com: Once you guys get your solo grind out there it's gonna make the next Team album that much bigger.
Kaz Kyzah: Exactly, my fans are his fans, his fans are my fans.
West Coast Ridas.com: So about Maine. We're really gonna be hearing alot more from him?
Kaz Kyzah: Maine is on my mixtape. He got two bangers on my mixtape. If anybody know Maine, they'd probably say he's not on alot of songs. The reason for that is not cause we don't decide to put him on songs. Alot of times Maine isn't there, alot of time he's going his own thing. And at the same time, Maine writes totally different from us. Me and Clyde tend to write at the studio, at the spot. Alot of the songs you hear from Just Go to It's Gettin Hot were made in like 30 minutes. Maine on the other hand, he takes stuff home, he studies on it. His patterns are just real intricate and fly. But when he comes back with what he spits it's damn! So the songs he got that's on my mixtape Runnin and Follow Instructions. Hot as fuck! Probably one of the hottest joints on there.
West Coast Ridas.com: Some people say you and Clyde sound alot alike. What would you say seperates you and Clyde's styles?
Kaz Kyzah: I think it's just cause of our tone. People who know Team and listen to Team can tell us apart. My voice is alot deeper as you can hear right now. His tone is a little lower. I guess it just comes from us rocking so much together. We sort of create the same way we get down the same way as far as the music goes. You not the first to tell me that, alot of people have told me that. I think that's why Maine comes in so clean, he comes in and adds a little cut to it. He evens it out a little.
West Coast Ridas.com: Both of you got that smooth flow.
He just comes out of nowhere.
West Coast Ridas.com: Who are some of the producers your going to be working with on your solo?
Kaz Kyzah: I like to create with the producer, I don't like to just sit there and pick a beat. I like to sit there and create from scratch. I got Bedrock, he did a few joints on The Team album and he's helping Carson on his album right now. I got a dude I signed to my production company by the name of RV, he did alot of joints on the Go-Fessional. I just kind of wanted to put him out there, so people can see what he working with. I got alot of young dudes that's in the hood that's hot and never been heard. I get beat CDs everday. So I got little 18 year old dudes that's hot, sort of how Shonuff was back in the day.
I Kind of want them to shine and put them on. At the same time work on some dudes, it depends on what sound I'm looking for, what kind of banger I need, I know who to go to for.
West Coast Ridas.com: What's your opinion on Bay Area rap scene right about now.
Kaz Kyzah: I'm so happy about it cause you gotta think about where it came from. Alot of people don't sit back and think about it. A minute ago we went from not being able to have songs played on the radio. No bay area music was getting played on the radio. Then it went to, okay we got a little couple of hours they play. Von really kicked that off -- playing bay area music. He opened the door up. Then we got videos being shown now. In reality it isn't a big deal but for us it is! To have on MTV Jams, Bailey's video, you see a whole bunch of cats from the bay on there finally. That shit is wonderful. For us to come that far feel me. I feel like it really hasn't been opened up to it's full capacity. I see next year being the year when the bay is at it's top echelon shining. It's wonderful cause I was there when it was all bad! When you couldn't get nothing played and nobody was checking for what we was doing. Now I go out and do a show in LA, I come out the club and it look like East Oakland! Mothafuckas is ghost riding whips and all types of shit! It fucked my tree off a little bit. That just shows how our culture is something that can gravitate to somewhere else and people can accept it and love it. Actually wanna get down like that. I want it to open all the way up. We at a good 72% right now, as far as opening up the whole culture and style all the way.
The wonderful thing is, like how you was talkin do I consider myself hyphy and this and that. It's really the whole culture of the bay is just having your own. You got Heiroglyphics out here, you got E-40, you got Keaks, you got Federations and you got Teams. It's not like everybody sounds the same out here. You got different types of styles and that's what makes us fly. I just love the fact that everybody's getting a chance to be seen. Short was talking about, just make sure that hate don't come into the game and that's the only thing that I could see killing us off. It's alot of money out here that's waiting for us. We gotta put the egos to the site sometimes. That's kind of what the rap game is built upon. Put that to the side and let's get money.
That's what we trying to do with the Hyphy Juice, and that's what everyone in my Team trying to do, go out and put his foot in.
Make sure to hit up Kaz himself at myspace.com/kazkyzah.
Check out the 12 minute interview in audio or read the transcript below. Kaz gets into the future of The Team, his upcoming solo venture, and much more in this exclusive interview. Also be on the look out for the Hyphy Juice Girls model search and some upcoming contests from Hyphy Juice and WCR.
http://www.West Coast Ridas.com/features/audio/kaz_kyzah_interview.mp3
West Coast Ridas.com: Talk about anything you got going on at the moment. You have this Go-Fessional mixtape out now. What can people expect on there?
Kaz Kyzah: Basically it's alot of Go music. You gonna get alot of high energy stuff. I put alot of work into it. I'm working on my album at the same time, but I wanted to do something to hold the fans down for a minute while they wait for it. Von just did the Hyphy Juice mixtape and I was locked up for a minute. When I was on house arrest I did alot of songs. So I was like "What am I gonna do with these songs, I'm not gonna put em on my album." I didn't wanna let them sit so I was like why not come out with the Go-Fessional. I'm working on a project with the Mekanix called the Go Boyz too. Just really pushing this Go movement.
West Coast Ridas.com: Talk about that for a minute. What does it mean to be a Gofessional. That's really a term you coined, "this song goes", "Lets go".
Kaz Kyzah: It's just everyday language for me and my squad or whoever I be around. If something is fly, something is tight, we say it go. You got a bad chick, she go. She got a nice fit on, she go. I don't know if you remember we did the Go Music mixtape along time ago, so we been on that. The world is finally getting hip to the whole hyphy and going dumb but it's like we don't really use that terminology. They just finding out about it so it's something new to the world. But at the same time, when you just go, it encompasses all of that in one.
West Coast Ridas.com: Would you describe yourself and The Team as one type of genre what would it be? Hyphy, Bay Area, Hip Hop?
Kaz Kyzah: You know my whole thing is, I was new to just making music. I started rapping in like 2001. I was a fan, before anything, of just music. I listen to all types of music. I always wanted to incorporate that into my music. I don't wanna be categorized into just making hyphy music. I don't wanna be categorized as just making Go music either. I just like to make hot music. So I just like to be in the studio and vibe and create with whoever it is. We done songs with Keak Da Sneak with songs to Goapele.
West Coast Ridas.com: You guys are real diverse with it.
Kaz Kyzah: You gotta be. Even with what you listen to, you gotta have an open mind. It shows in your music.
West Coast Ridas.com: So Clyde is rolling with Black Wallstreet, Game. Where does that put the Team. Will you continue as a group or are things on the back burner. Will everyone just focus on solo stuff for now?
Kaz Kyzah: We always felt like you gotta play it like a chess game. All of us under one umbrella wouldn't be the smartest move. If you wanna take over and conquer something you gotta spread out and hit seperate cities and come back together and it's all more powerful. We feel like, I got deals on line and on the table and I'm just really sorting out my options. I came home and I'm really getting in the mix again. I gotta find out who's who and what's what. This mixtape is really something just to throw out and let people get a taste of me. I never really had a solo song out on the radio. I do alot of solo work, writing other people's songs, R&B, all that. Clyde is already been in his movement for what he's doing. Like alot of people out there throwing rumors out, "The Team broke up." For one, we family. Alot of people don't know we blood. We can never break up. We all gotta go out and make our mark and then come back together and kill them. No matter who he signs with, I'm gonna support him. Same with me, no matter who I sign with it's always gonna be Team. They names tatted on me same way my names tatted on them.
Look out for Maine too, he got his mixtape coming and deals on the line. We wanted to spread it. Same way Wu did it back in the day, same way Dips is doing it now.
West Coast Ridas.com: Once you guys get your solo grind out there it's gonna make the next Team album that much bigger.
Kaz Kyzah: Exactly, my fans are his fans, his fans are my fans.
West Coast Ridas.com: So about Maine. We're really gonna be hearing alot more from him?
Kaz Kyzah: Maine is on my mixtape. He got two bangers on my mixtape. If anybody know Maine, they'd probably say he's not on alot of songs. The reason for that is not cause we don't decide to put him on songs. Alot of times Maine isn't there, alot of time he's going his own thing. And at the same time, Maine writes totally different from us. Me and Clyde tend to write at the studio, at the spot. Alot of the songs you hear from Just Go to It's Gettin Hot were made in like 30 minutes. Maine on the other hand, he takes stuff home, he studies on it. His patterns are just real intricate and fly. But when he comes back with what he spits it's damn! So the songs he got that's on my mixtape Runnin and Follow Instructions. Hot as fuck! Probably one of the hottest joints on there.
West Coast Ridas.com: Some people say you and Clyde sound alot alike. What would you say seperates you and Clyde's styles?
Kaz Kyzah: I think it's just cause of our tone. People who know Team and listen to Team can tell us apart. My voice is alot deeper as you can hear right now. His tone is a little lower. I guess it just comes from us rocking so much together. We sort of create the same way we get down the same way as far as the music goes. You not the first to tell me that, alot of people have told me that. I think that's why Maine comes in so clean, he comes in and adds a little cut to it. He evens it out a little.
West Coast Ridas.com: Both of you got that smooth flow.
He just comes out of nowhere.
West Coast Ridas.com: Who are some of the producers your going to be working with on your solo?
Kaz Kyzah: I like to create with the producer, I don't like to just sit there and pick a beat. I like to sit there and create from scratch. I got Bedrock, he did a few joints on The Team album and he's helping Carson on his album right now. I got a dude I signed to my production company by the name of RV, he did alot of joints on the Go-Fessional. I just kind of wanted to put him out there, so people can see what he working with. I got alot of young dudes that's in the hood that's hot and never been heard. I get beat CDs everday. So I got little 18 year old dudes that's hot, sort of how Shonuff was back in the day.
I Kind of want them to shine and put them on. At the same time work on some dudes, it depends on what sound I'm looking for, what kind of banger I need, I know who to go to for.
West Coast Ridas.com: What's your opinion on Bay Area rap scene right about now.
Kaz Kyzah: I'm so happy about it cause you gotta think about where it came from. Alot of people don't sit back and think about it. A minute ago we went from not being able to have songs played on the radio. No bay area music was getting played on the radio. Then it went to, okay we got a little couple of hours they play. Von really kicked that off -- playing bay area music. He opened the door up. Then we got videos being shown now. In reality it isn't a big deal but for us it is! To have on MTV Jams, Bailey's video, you see a whole bunch of cats from the bay on there finally. That shit is wonderful. For us to come that far feel me. I feel like it really hasn't been opened up to it's full capacity. I see next year being the year when the bay is at it's top echelon shining. It's wonderful cause I was there when it was all bad! When you couldn't get nothing played and nobody was checking for what we was doing. Now I go out and do a show in LA, I come out the club and it look like East Oakland! Mothafuckas is ghost riding whips and all types of shit! It fucked my tree off a little bit. That just shows how our culture is something that can gravitate to somewhere else and people can accept it and love it. Actually wanna get down like that. I want it to open all the way up. We at a good 72% right now, as far as opening up the whole culture and style all the way.
The wonderful thing is, like how you was talkin do I consider myself hyphy and this and that. It's really the whole culture of the bay is just having your own. You got Heiroglyphics out here, you got E-40, you got Keaks, you got Federations and you got Teams. It's not like everybody sounds the same out here. You got different types of styles and that's what makes us fly. I just love the fact that everybody's getting a chance to be seen. Short was talking about, just make sure that hate don't come into the game and that's the only thing that I could see killing us off. It's alot of money out here that's waiting for us. We gotta put the egos to the site sometimes. That's kind of what the rap game is built upon. Put that to the side and let's get money.
That's what we trying to do with the Hyphy Juice, and that's what everyone in my Team trying to do, go out and put his foot in.
Make sure to hit up Kaz himself at myspace.com/kazkyzah.
