Covering just about EVERY aspect of Kaoz’s life (poetry, rap, songwriting, acting, activism, coming out, drugs, sex, HIV/Aids, and more), the interview lasted just over 3 hrs.  The show repeats at random times throughout the week, but replays for sure at 8pm on Thursday Dec. 9th and Friday Dec. 10.  You can check out the show and submit your music to Papi Chulo by going to www.papichuloradio.com

Also, make sure you read more and keep up with all the latest OUT Hip-Hop news where this came from: OutHipHop.com!

There’s a refreshing honestly to the sensitive and emotive lyrics that have that rare ability to  truly  reach into your mind, into your very soul and transport you to different place.    The son of hippies, born and raised in Northern California,  he’s already building up a vast fan base, which is just as well,  for his next album really does depend upon his friends and fan’s,  no  really,  it does,  literally!

Jake has chosen a novel, and some might say  brave, or others risky,   way  to get his new album off the ground   with  Kickstarter!    Now,  for those that don’t know,   me included, Kickstarter  is  a different and fun way to fund creativity,  it’s a website  where singers, writers, artists and other talented people put up projects that need funding,  it’s  then all about hope!  Hope  that  others deem the project worthy of spending money on,  however,   as Jason Shaw found out in this exclusive interview with Jake,   if the project’s target’s not reached,  no money changes hands!

So Jake,    first of all,  thanks for coming online for this little interview,   You’ve got less than 10  days left on your kickstarter project to fund the new album,  hows that going?

It’s funny,  because of course you never really know.  Though the timing seems perfect now, being in true pre-production and full band rehearsals for the album, really we should have tackled this effort much earlier in the year.  Thing is, I just didn’t want to launch it until it felt right. I take very seriously what I am asking from people, and I wanted  the gifts and pledge levels to feel “me”, to fit in with the theme of   the album and to offer my fans/friends creative items or moments that  were authentic and worthy in my mind.

And so it is….we need about  20-30K bucks to make and market the record, a bit more to tour it and we  are at about 12K with two weeks to go so far.  I have all the faith in  the world that we will get there.  People are so kind and generous and  because of the way I feel connected to those who love my music, it is fitting to be able to collaborate both creatively and financially with those whom have invested so much time and energy through these three  years with me.

I’m babbling, but it is very validating, very exciting  and brings me a sense of real peace about a project that is so life  defining, to know it will be made with no compromise,  no limits….to  present the best of my songs recorded to the best of my abilities to the  industry and the world.

Lastly I will say that though the $500 and $1000  pledges are   exciting and impactful, really my hope is to get as many people involved  and “invested” in the project as possible, even if just to pre-order the  album digitally…it all adds up and matters to me.

Has the fact that you’ve already reached your preliminary target  surprised you?

Honestly, no, only because I am so tuned into the reality of the people  who both follow and interact with what I do.  I spent a year on the  road, I write every day, I have played hundreds of concerts now and met  so many folks on a personal level, so I had an idea in my crazy worried

mind that this was something I could be confident in.  That being said,   because of how Kickstarter works, where if you don’t reach your goal you  get NOTHING, we had to set it at a lower number to make sure we at least   got the project going, even though our true goal is two to three times  that amount.

What made you decide to do in the first place?

This all started as a personal “journey” that was about the music and  the faces of those I was able to touch with the songs.  Though I have  big dreams for the record once we make it and am open to aligning myself  with a label or publishing house if it fits in order to extend the  possible reach of the record, my little team and I felt that by doing  this part on our own we really could follow our hearts and make the best  ART possible.  After that, come what may, I will have known I did  something without compromise that means something to so many.

Also,  originally we were going to make the record with a few large   investors, but that led to many of the same issues as a record label,    so…here we are…

Yep, here  we are indeed,  it’s going so well,   but there is still time for those that want to to contribute,   just visit  kickstarter for more details.  Now,  let  me  take  you back,  what  drove you into music in the first place?

I have always been an artist, a writer, an actor.  Went to college to be  a film actor and that’s how I got to L.A.  I had always done musical  theatre and tinkered on a piano but never really thought about being a  singer/songwriter.

Music had always been so important to me,  so holy,   so larger than life, a dream and I guess I never knew I could do it.  That changed the winter my heart was truly broken for the first time and

for some reason I decided to rent a piano (thanks to my Dad who gave me the money to start) and I basically spent about a year, almost two, of  my life alone, in the dark, with my bare feet on the floor and the  windows open learning to play the piano and getting through the  devastation and loss.  It was a true life crossroads, and for some  reason as I opened my mouth, this voice I never knew existed in me came  out, very rough but textured.

Now, having developed my instrument so  much further I cringe a little at my early live recordings and demos because they were so guttural and rough.  That being said, I would play  a show and half the room would be crying at some point, transported to a  place that made them feel.  I was so raw and alive and wounded and yet  as always so hopeful.  Somehow the combination ended up defining me and  connecting with a lot of people.

From that point on I knew I finally  had found my purpose.  It sounds kind of dramatic, but hey, I AM kind of dramatic…and so it is…

There is a real authentic, honest, almost  tortured hero  quality to your voice,  that  makes it so emotive to listen to.    But,   Where do you gather  your musical influences from?

Easy one.  My folks are/were total hippies and I grew up with the songs of  Joni Mitchell and Dylan and Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac and SO many  others in such a way that it is beyond influence, it is the essence of  what I do now as a creator of music.  Thing is, I am not them, I don’t  live in 1970 and I have my own story, so though they are my heroes and  ”inspirations” I know that what I am doing is uniquely me and I am most  proud of that.

Authenticity is everything to me…being exactly who WE are is what I try to sing about and to live my life is constant search of.

And now,   what artists  that are around at the moment do you admire,  aspire to be  like,  or   wish they had more success?

I love SO much music.  Big fan of Damien Rice, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams.  I love some country music and some pop music.  I think though my aspiration is to have the career of what I think is the best female voice I have personally heard live and that is Brandi Carlile.  She is  brilliant in every way.  She has had great success with placing her  songs on T.V. and film, she had a great song actually get played on the  radio (The Story) and she tours constantly to rooms of 1-3 thousand  people.  That is the dream.  To have longevity, fans you actually know  through the years and to have enough visibility to fill a nice sized  theatre wherever you go.

I think you’re already on the  way  to  archiving that!   Name a couple of people that you’d  like to duet with?

Stevie Nicks!!!!  Natalie Maines.  Brandi Carlile.  Adele.  Tori Amos.

Talking of duets,  you did an amazing cover of a fellow Brit,   Leona Lewis Bleeding Love  with Bonnie Somerville,   which is   really so haunting and beautiful,  how did that  come  about?

Bonnie is a nut, one of the most interesting people I know, complicated, beautiful and full of life.  She has championed me for a  long time and I love that woman.  We share the same manager and she called me one day saying  ”Let’s do a cover of Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis”…I was kind of hoity toity about it,    because it was such a   huge pop hit at the time and I don’t know…..doesn’t matter.    That  night I sat by myself and just kind of figured the song out, realizing it had the most amazing melody, that with my hauntingly beautiful thing I naturally do could be something  special.

Then once Bonnie sat  beside me and began to harmonize it was one of those moments, those rare ones as an artist where you realize you are a part of, in the presence of something very REAL and very special.  My friend came over  and we rented a nice microphone, set up pro tools on his computer and  recorded it live…well the piano actually and then sang the song in the this little bathroom closet,  in the dark of course.   It was magic  and it set in motion so much for me.

On Youtube here.

It  really  is an amazing cover version,  well  done!    Do  you perhaps have a  particular song or songs  that you are most proud of?

We Are and For Someone…

We Are because I close every show with it, and now the audience sings along and somehow everything just feels right with the world for a moment.

For Someone because, well, it is the song most people know of mine, the  one that came out of me in one breathe and says all the things I guess I  really needed to say at that time in my life.

Both  are really powerful songs,  although speaking of pride,  what was it like having two of your songs on TV shows,   I’m talking of course,  Wide Awake on Cougar Town and Alive and Screaming on Scrubs?

First of all, it was exciting to have something tangible to share with  all the people who support me.     Also, it has paid my rent a few random  and needed months…    Danny, who is one of the producers of the show is a  true fan and now friend who comes out to a lot of shows here in L.A.  I  know how much it meant to him to be able to find a way to get my work out there.

So  when you are going into the studio?

Next month we will officially record the first note!!

Oh  how  exciting,   on a personal note,   do  you  think that sexuality plays a part in your music?

Honestly, not really.    I really don’t identify myself  as a “gay artist”. I love that to those it matters to I can be honest and share who I am, but I really try and remain somewhat neutral so as not to take away from what any fan, straight, male or female may imagine  when they hear the song.   You want to paint the picture with subtle brushstrokes, leave room for personal interpretation and vision.  Songs from the heart, from an honest place, in my opinion, will of course have a point of view.  But my life and my art are so much more than who I love.  I consider myself defined by so many facets of who I am and long  to be.  I think what I can do to move along the acceptance and rights of  gay people is done by people loving what I do simply for who I am as a  human, then when they see, oh he is gay, all the sudden they realize  they know a gay person for more than their sexuality, more than what  makes us different…instead it is what connects us and what we share.

I believe we live in the most exciting of times and I’m proud to be who  I am, for ALL of me.

Tragically  there has been many gay teen suicides recently,  due to bullying,  what’s your advice on this?

This question is so hard.  I was just talking about Matthew Shepard,  about how from such a horrific act so many eyes and hearts were open and so I guess I hope the same for this time, and that these kids lives can not have been lost not in vein.

I truly believe it starts at home though.  Kids only hate what they learn to hate because they are inherently good.     My advice is for parents to watch what divisive hateful and ignorant  things they pass on to their kids.

Most of all, I guess my advice would  be to “be you”, and of course, to have enough of us telling them how  being different, though lonely and hard at times will ultimately open up  the world for them.  They are lucky to be different, lucky to be exactly  who they are.  I’m so fucking sad it was too late for these kids.  So sad.

Good advice there, and  yes, you are right,  It’s so  sad,  that  lives have been lost  through,  hate, fear, ignorance,  or thoughtlessness.  There is help available,   The Trevor Project does a wonderful job through their website and helpline.

Now, is there a  love interest in you personal life,  is  Jake in love at the moment?

Don’t you want to keep some of the mystery?  Haha……I actually am.  To the

most special man I know.

Good,   glad to hear it,  hope it  lasts a life time and beyond.  Sadly  we’ve come to the end of our time,  so,   just like always,   I  end  my  interview with a request for a secret,    don’t worry,  it’s just between us!

Haha,  umm  I started getting gray hairs at 20, and now at 30 if I don’t put some  sort of color rinse on it once every month or so I have spreckles of grey  hair EVERYWHERE.

I HATE coloring it, and everybody always says how much  they love it on me and how I still look very very young and it blends in and blah blah blah…I pretend it doesn’t bother me, that I am not that vein….so I smile and say “thanks” but always end up back in that bathroom with that dye on my hair.

Shhhhh…don’t tell anyone.   Seriously now, it’s embarrassing.

For more details and to get involved in his kickstarter campaign to fund his new album,  click  here.

Jake is also on  -

MySpace

Facebook

Twitter

You can also keep up to date  with this talented and handsome singer / songwriter and all round nice guy  at  his website   www.jakewalden.com where you’ll find more details about his music, history  and his life in a startlingly  honest  blog.

Whether you have or haven’t however, Okereke has lived a very interesting life, growing up in London, in a devout Catholic family originally from Nigeria. He officially came out as gay earlier this year and is not a fan of being interviewed as he’s know to be very shy…however there is an interview that was posted on New York Magazine earlier this month that gives some pretty good insight into the life of seemingly introverted, yet extremely talented out, gay artist.

According to the interview:

You’re focused on being an artist.
It’s not about being a spokesperson or a role model or any of those things. I do this because there’s something I believe in: what I create. I don’t like to think about anything other than that. It keeps it pure for me.

Read the entire interview here!

If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a best selling writer or wondered how you could finance your film or other creative endeavors, da Vinci’s Waking Dream gives you interviews with people who are where you want to be. Not only will you learn about their successes, you’ll also hear about their challenges.

Website publisher and podcast host Will Norman interviews gay and gay-friendly musicians, filmmakers, artists, writers like Amazon best selling author Nick Nolan and award-winning animator and comic book artist Brad Rader. Published every Thursday on the Queers on the Verge website, iTunes podcasts, and other distributor venues, da Vinci’s Waking Dream provides its audience with intimate access to gay professionals.

The podcast is for beginners, those seeking to promote their work, and for individuals ready to take their career to the next level. Da Vinci’s Waking Dream is also a great place for gay musicians, writers, filmmakers, content producers, and artists to promote their latest projects.

Listeners get a look at the behind-the-scenes of working gay music artists and entrepreneurs: how they promote themselves and monetize their brand. Guests freely give advice and discuss their latest projects. But listeners come away with so much more since da Vinci’s Waking Dream rises above mere Q&A. You also get to know a little about the person offering advice, which makes listening to the podcast that much more enjoyable. Many times, the guests on da Vinci’s Waking Dream are quite funny, but unlike so many gay podcasts, this show is not striving for humor. Straightforward advice and tips that will help listeners take their dream to the next level is the show’s aim.

One of the perks of da Vinci’s Waking Dream is that you don’t have to be gay to walk away with something from the podcast. All you need is a goal, a receptive ear, and the determination to make your Web 2.0 dreams come true.

Contact:
Will Norman
Ph: (323) 206-7110

More at: Queers On The Verge!

Kaoz represented Cleveland Ohio in the 2002 and 2003 National Poetry Slam competitions in Minneapolis, MN and Chicago, IL, self-published a chapbook of poetry entitled “The Y2Kaoz Project”, and has independently released Project Mayhem Vol 1.5 a spoken word/ hip-hop mix tape. In 2004 Kaoz made his playwriting debut with “Baba King” at the Ohio Theater. Also to his playwriting credits is Unseen: The Book Of Job which premiered at the Cleveland Playhouse and Voices: The Rhythm of Me at Cleveland State University Factory Theater.

Kevin currently resides in Minneapolis/St Paul Minnesota and manages the HIV/Health Education program for Pillsbury United Communities. In December 2006, Kevin initiated an annual World AIDS Day observance event called Silence Equals Suicide – a showcase of local spoken word artists performing original works centered around HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention messages.  Kevin received the National AIDS Education Services for Minorities (NAESM) Award of Excellence in Youth Leadership in 2007. Kevin joined “The T-Spot” In 2007; a multimedia comedic improv ensemble at Bryant Lake Bowl theater in Minneapolis, MN.  He also joined the Breaking Ice ensemble at the Pillsbury House Theater company in 2008 and was featured in and co-wrote the piece entitled “OTHER”.

In 2009 Kevin joined the Chicago Ave Project for Pillsbury House, which is a mentorship/life skills program that pairs professional actors with aspiring youth actors.  Kaoz is also a featured artist on Eddy J. Free’s “MadCity 2010” compilation album released May 25, 2010. Proceeds from that album go towards the Keep a Child Alive foundation, which is sponsored by Alicia Keys and provides medication to children in Africa and India living with HIV/AIDS. The Tyler Durden EP (released summer 2010) marks Kevin Kaoz Moore’s sophomore solo music/spoken word effort. He also is planning on releasing a full length album “The Intervention” early 2011.  For bookings and additional info, contact him at kaoz@kaozonline.com, or kaoz612@yahoo.com

Visit his website by clicking here!

“That depends on the day.    Shockingly, I am proud of lots of them.  Three years ago I would have told you I  thought they were all horrible haha.     But the response from other people has allowed me to believe maybe they’re not so bad”

Tuesday October 19
Brighton, UKbuy tickets / see facebook event
Wednesday October 20
London, UKbuy tickets / see facebook event
Thursday October 21
Manchester, UKbuy tickets / see facebook event

American shows  -
Friday August 20
Boston, MAbuy tickets / see facebook event
Tuesday August 24
Philadelphia, PAbuy tickets / see facebook event
Thursday August 26
Washington, D.C.buy tickets / see facebook event

Tuesday September 7
Atlanta, GAbuy tickets / see facebook event
Wednesday September 8 (*early show)Nashville, TNbuy tickets / see facebook event

Friday September 10
Orlando, FLbuy tickets / see facebook event
Saturday September 11
Miami, FLsee facebook event
Monday September 13
Portland, ORbuy tickets / see facebook event
Tuesday September 14
Seattle, WAbuy tickets / see facebook event
Thursday September 16
Denver, CObuy tickets / see facebook event
Saturday September 18
Minneapolis, MNon sale Aug 6 / see facebook event
Monday September 20
Columbus, OHon sale Aug 7 / see facebook event




You can reach Jay  here –

© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw

He continues to establish himself as a fearless artist whose appeal extends to listeners across the musical spectrum.

A gay anthem grabbing the #1 spot on both charts is an unlikely phenomenon—Reggae music has unleashed much homophobia, while Out and Proud music celebrates the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community. But it is not the first time for Nhojj. His gay music video “Love” hit the #1 spot on the mainstream MTV Music Top 100 chart earlier this year. And last year BET/Centric congratulated him on being a “a gay history first!”

Read more on this at the source: Billboard Publicity Wire

Also, check out the video below and give a listen to Nhojj being interviewed by gayagenda.com by clicking here!

The announcement: “It gives us great pleasure to announce that over 1 million copies of Adam Lambert’s debut album, For Your Entertainment, have now been sold worldwide. Congrats to Adam for his incredible success, and let Adam Official be the first to thank all of you fans on his behalf.”

Read more at the original source: Associated Content!

According to Star Pulse:

British rapper Lady Sovereign has confirmed reports she is a lesbian, insisting she’d have ‘come out’ sooner if publicists hadn’t persuaded her to keep her sexuality a secret.

The 24 year old, who was Jay-Z’s one-time protege at Def Jam, has been dogged by rumors about her sexuality – and fueled reports by admitting she had enjoyed same-sex trysts during a recent stint on British reality TV show “Celebrity Big Brother.”

More here!