Coolzey: The Satirical Hip-Hop & Pop Punk Artist

Los Angeles based hip-hop artist Coolzey (Cool-zee) was one of the four hip-hop artists at CWM. His set appeared to be satirical, cracking jokes in between tracks. I sat down with him for a minute to see what he was about.How did you first become involved in the hip-hop scene?  It appealed to me from a very early age, while growing up in Iowa. I listened to mainly hip hop and Weird Al Yankovic from fourth grade to junior year of high school. Later, ultimately my taste branched out to other genres.Who are some of your major influences? Public enemy as a kid, Wu Tang in high school and college. East coast rock was a major influence too. I really like Kanye but  don’t care about his politics. People Under The Stars are an influence too, but I have an interest in all genres. I got away from Grime due to homophobia and misogyny.Discuss your Indie label Public School Records? Public School Records began as an outlet to put out friends' albums.  It's a cross genre and indie label. PSR recently got distribution worldwide from Fake Four - a distributor based in CT. The label is putting out Ohio artist Copyright and he's on tour next week.  His album, Blood Bath Beyond is going to be the first big release from the label. It is set for release May 6th.What can fans expect from you in the future? Tours, one with Dead Milkmen and Joe Jack Talcum. Two punk tapes. Kilzey is going to be a collaboration album with Toronto based beat masher Fresh Kils . An Arguing with Idiots project. 7 inch will be a 4 song compilation.  My drag alter-ego Bitch Little will have a Pop Punk project coming later this year.Any advice to aspiring hip-hop artists? Don’t be precious with your content, keep putting material out. Keep creating music. Learn mic dynamics - ex. don’t cuff the mic. Perform a lot and get out of your town — it will help shape your career.