As I said before in my earlier posts I wanted to showcase on my site real independent artists who were passionate about their work and making quality music. My first pick is none other than my dear friend, Mr. Maac Cruiz from Charlotte, NC. Maac Cruiz released his first Mixtape “Cosa Nostra” two weeks ago and its been getting some good reviews so I wanted to share it with all of you hip hop fans out there. I decided to do a mini interview with him instead of doing a full blown boring biography.
Ladies & Gentleman get to know Maac Cruiz….
1. Who Are your musical influences?
Uhhh, I gotta say I have a lot of musical influences but the main ones are definitely AZ, DJ Quik, Curren$y, Masta Ace, & Charizma. But I’m influenced by A LOT of artists.
2. How did you come up with your stage name?
Well, back before my Grandmother passed away, she use to call me “Mack” often when I was much younger. She was illiterate so I’m not sure how she spelled it so I made it into an acronym MAAC (Mostly All American Chevys) (I have a LoveLust for Chevys) and AZ, being one of my biggest influences, I put “Cruiz” at the end. AZ’s last name is Cruz. I put the “i” in “Cruiz” because I think of my Life and Style as a Cruise. It has its Ups and Downs, Bumps and Rough Patches, but it’s mostly Smooth Sailing.
3. When did you start rapping? What made you want to become a rapper?
I started Rapping back in middle school, around the 8th Grade. What made me become a rapper was the fact that I wanted light to be Shined on my City, especially seeing that Charlotte doesn’t have any Hip Hop background whatsoever. I figured why not? Why not make History with the other talents in Charlotte to get our City the Respect it deserves. There isn’t 1 reason why Charlotte shouldn’t have been on as of 2010, none at all. I guess it takes time though.
4. What is your mixtape about? How did you come up with the name?
I wanted to hit the ground running with this by informing everyone that this is Who I am, this is how I chill, this is what I’ve been through, this is what I’m going through etc. etc. I wanted to stay as True and Relevant to myself as possible. It’s about “Our Thing” about steering our “Own” Lane in this Game. I came up with the name from my Grandfather (who passed away when I was 6). He use to tell me about different Mafias when he was still alive, Black and Italian Mafias in particular, so the Mafioso Style of Living grasped my attention. Cosa Nostra means “This Thing Of Ours”. I just wanted to let it be known before we continued. This is how we’re going to be doing things. Especially on how Mike Lovehall (My MGMT) and I have went about things. We wanted to refrain from most things Cliché. Cosa Nostra was done last year in 2011, but we decided on dropping it in 2012. We didn’t do Heavy promo on it. No promo at all, we just dropped it and whoever got it, got it. I’m glad we did everything that way. I felt like I had a whole year to Peep game on what others were doing and what we thought was the most Effective way to go about it.
5. What are your career goals?
Career wise, I mean, I just want to make Music. I really enjoy this. It was a Stress Reliever that turned into Productive Fun. Goal wise, I would love for Charlotte to be on through Music and other Talent that drowns my City. I want people to look at me and feel like ANYTHING is Possible. ANYTHING. A year ago, Cosa Nostra, this Music, everything was just Ink on Paper, then this year, we made things happened. We made moves. We talked less on it and sought through that everything we wrote down was fulfilled. There’s a Long list. A lot of Milestones to achieve, but something Strong tells me, those things on the List are getting crossed off before I’m 6 Feet Deep.
6. What kind of musical audience are you trying to reach?
Uhh well none in particular. No one was in mind when I made Cosa Nostra. I didn’t do it for anyone but myself and my friends so I doubt I will ever make a project for a particular audience. I feel like anyone can pick up any of my songs and play it. Smoke to it, Drink to it, Drive to it. Whatever it is that you do, you can do to my music. I’m not trying to satisfy a certain amount of people. You can’t please everybody. As long as I feel like I did every ounce of this I could do, I’ll put it out. Whoever is there to receive it, will receive it. I’m just going to keep it moving with the next. Hopefully, whoever’s on board then will Spread my Music to those who aren’t.
7. What is your contact Info?
You can contact me at maacdmm@yahoo.com anytime!
Go to this link to Check out this dope music!
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