the spotlight on dustin cavazos is now archived. please hit the sidebar to get a hold of that page.

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It’s very fitting that I’m on the roof of a building in the middle of downtown Dallas as I sit down to interview hip-hop artist Dustin Cavazos by a rooftop pool on a warm Sunday afternoon. One listen to his debut full-length I Think In The Shower, I Dream On My Bike, and you’ll hear how deep his roots are planted in this city. The local emcee/producer/songwriter has built a strong local following that is growing nationally by the day through good old fashioned DIY ethics, and a little hip hop hustle.

Dustin’s career has always been intertwined with his personal touch. He makes it a point to be completely accessible to his fanbase, constantly answering questions and responding to comments via facebook, twitter, and tumblr. He also posts regular video blogs via his website.
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Jerome/Panda, WWM: As I was researching and writing questions for this interview, I realized that would be a daunting task given your level of accessibility.

Dustin Cavazos: I got serious about music in 2007, when i was producing for a friend named Moses Uvere. At that point in time, I wasn’t doing my own music, but more or less blogging about studio life. It all started from there. People would leave me comments and I would always write back to the point where it became a habit that I always kept up with. No matter how big this thing gets, I’ll always write back and keep in touch with the people that followed me.

WWM: Is that something you wish you saw more of with other artists?

DC: Honestly man, I think it’s good, because hopefully it means I’m doing something different. Because I didn’t always listen to music. I got really into it in high school and I always liked the bands that would make an effort to give something back to their fans, and it’ll always be something that I connect with. I knew that if I ever do anything in life, I’d want to make an effort to keep in touch with the people that supported me the whole time, even when I didn’t know I was gonna do music.

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There wasn’t always a musical connection in Dustin’s life. In high school, his first connection music was found in System of a Down, of all artists. This was a gateway into artists like Norma Jean, Thursday, and later on, Saves The Day and Glassjaw. Dustin’s lyrical connection to Chris Conley of Saves The Day was something I actually noticed early in listening to his music. The two seem to parallel, as they talk about minute things in a more ‘grand scheme’ kind of way, and that type of influence is few and far between when it comes to hip hop. His connection to music outside of hip hop is one area where I found myself relating to his music on a personal level.
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WWM: So you got into music in high school? who were some of the artists you started listening to?

DC: I’ve always felt like my writing style was similar to Chris Conley. I was always a writer growing up. Even as young as a second grader, I would write little poems that the teacher would find exceptional. I just figured ‘Ok, I’m good at this,’ and continued to write. When I started listening to Saves the Day, I was just kind of like ‘Whoa, we write similarly.’

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Dustin’s first full length, I Think In The Shower, I Dream On My Bike has been literally a dream in the making. Between realizing the concept of the album, recording and releasing two EPs [The Shelly EP and The Handgun Chronicles] prior to the album, and setting up release parties, Dustin has remained humble and positive throughout the experience. If there’s one thing you take away from a conversation with him, it’s his dedication. To both his people and his surroundings. Since the conception of his musical venture, Dustin has maintained tight-knit crew, whether it be musicians and performers, or his closest friends. Which in Dustin’s world, are all the same thing (an idea that extends to his love of his city).
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WWM: It seems like there has been so much steam building up to the album release. How does it feel to finally have the album out?

DC: When you listen to the album and the music, you know that I put so much into this, at least emotionally. The fact that people are getting it in their hands, writing me and telling me that they love it and are connecting with it is just a crazy feelings. The best way to describe it would be to think about how you work a job. I used to work at Big Lots and get a paycheck every week. All week, I was working and knew there would be something at the end [of the week], but for this album, it was working for a year and a half knowing that something’s gonna be waiting at the end. Now it’s reaching people beyond what I ever thought it would reach, and it’s an amazing feeling.

WWM: It seems like there would be a catharsis to that but at the same time, it’s just beginning.

DC: My team of people are starting to grow around me. For my next album, I can do anything production-wise. [I Think….] was produced entirely by me, and though the next one will be too, but I’ll have musicians and a top-notch studio. I’m just getting started. This is just the beginning.

WWM: One thing I’ve noticed about your blog videos is the talent you’ve surrounded yourself with. And these are people that are your friends.

DC: It’s crazy. I just feel like it’s God-ordained. I always tell my people, even before the cd release show. Everyone was like, ‘are you nervous?? are you?’, and i just kept saying ‘no!’ i have the easiest job. ‘You’re playing the guitar and you’re queuing the tracks, you’re doing all this stuff and I’m just having fun’. i really feel like if it wasn’t for my team, I wouldn’t be anything. I’d be nothing.

WWM: How does this extend into the songwriting process? What’s that like for you?

DC: The song writing process is the one thing I take all the control of. I always go to my keyboardist Abraham for reassurance, but the process has always been up to me. On the next album, I really want to utilize the guys to write something together. But it hasn’t gotten to that point yet because they’ve been digging the stuff I’ve been writing. But i know once we get into the studio that’ll be what happens. I hope that’s what happens.

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The feedback around Dustin’s debut album, both in his immediate circle and the online music community has boded well for the artist. With his musical roots and leanings being in a variety of genres, it may fare as an oddball release with certain fans of hip-hop. Dustin hopes for a bigger sense of “general appreciation” for his album, in the sense that he didn’t write the record to cater to a specific audience of hip-hop purists or fans of indie-rock or pop. Even his inner circle has been reinforcing his movement with nothing but positive feedback for the final product.
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WWM: How has the feedback been for the album so far? You know, beyond your fanbase.

DC: Within the hip-hop community, I didn’t really expect anybody to dig the album, mainly because I didn’t really grow up listening to hip-hop. I still feel that making hip-hop music, I’m a out of place, but I’m still getting a lot of love from many other artists. What I love the most is when people who actually dig hip-hop are enjoying [my record.]. All of my friends are from Oak Cliff and they’re really hood. They have grown up on hood classics like UGK and Three Six Mafia, and they like it! They’re my friends, they don’t have to like it. But I’ve had a lot of them tell me things like ‘You’re just real and don’t put up a front and get on stage and just be you.’

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The road to I Think In The Shower has been a long one. Conceived in Chicago in late 2008 after showing his peer Moses Uvere a song he had finished, Cavazos decided on that day that he would record an album. Over the course of the album’s production, Cavazos would pen the lyrics that would end up on the album in a journal he was keeping (the journal that appears on the cover of The Handgun Chronicles) and pair them with beats he was collecting. A surprising way of approaching the album considering the flow and natural progression between the lyrics and music throughout the album. Especially when one is told about the theme and loose concept of the title and it’s relation to the lyrics.
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WWM: You touched on the songwriting process and production earlier, how long was the writing process stretched out for the album?

DC: I had the idea of making the album in August of ’08 after showing Moses Uvere a song that I had made. He told me I should make an album and I decided it would be the intro. Only it wasn’t “Skip This Day”. It was “First Things First” over a different beat with one verse. Fast forward to October of ’08, and I had just moved studios. Once I named the album, there wasn’t anything I had to throw away. Every song was going to be on the album. Then I finished the album in July of ’09.

WWM: So the EPs were a way of getting your name out there and getting the ball rolling?

DC: If you think about it, October to July is only a few months to get the album done. I still didn’t have a fan base or enough people paying attention, so I made a video [“Skip This Day”] and dropped and EP [The Shelly EP]. I wrote, produced and mixed in two weeks, a lot of which happened during a trip to Puerto Rico. When you listen to that EP, a lot of people don’t realize that a lot of it just deals with a plane trip going to and from Puerto Rico. Then in December we moved studios again and I knew I had to rebuild everything to that point. So we made The Handgun Chronicles EP. That’s when I started using the band and they were playing at all my shows. That’s how the live show’s developed.

WWM: Is that something that you plan on keeping in the future? What about recording plans coming up?

DC: On the next album coming up, I’ll say the name real quick, it’s called Be.Leave.Me. It’s supposed to be the perfect combination of both. I’m still producing like I’ve always done, but I’m bringing in my musicians to add to my production. We’re already recording it. That’s why I’m excited, I’m cheesing just thinking about it.

WWM: Is there anything you want your listener to take away from the album? A message or theme you want someone to walk away with?

DC: You’ll hear on the album — From “Skip this Day” to “The Last Song I’ll Write About You,” it’s the whole ‘I Think in the Shower’ aspect, in terms of a person preparing for the day, preparing for life. Those are accounts of my life and childhood, which lead into ‘I Dream on My Bike,” which focuses around getting out there and seeing things you worked for come into fruition. Seeing things get done by just getting out there. Getting on your bike. Hopefully the listener gets that, and if they don’t, they’ll take moments. Moments in time.

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With his musical drive on blast and his circle of friends and fans growing by the day, it’s easy to say that it’s all good looks for Dustin. Sitting on top of this building, you can’t help but feel his passion as you sit in front of him and hear his excitement for everything happening around him. Dallas skyline behind him, eyes to the sky. Future ahead on the horizon.
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dustin was nice enough to allow us to put together a sampler from his album, so be sure to preview these three tracks. forgo your hesitation and buy the record here.

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here’s dustin performing on a rooftop (that seems to be a recurring theme here, folks) exclusively for our website. although “tell me how we made it this far” is not on his record, this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of the cut.

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lastly, here’s a rundown of where and how to get in touch with dustin cavazos:

feel free to ask him anything on tumblr.

visit his blog for daily musings, photos and so on.

buy i think in the shower, i dream on my bike.

listen to more of dustin’s songs at his myspace.

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-panda