I Specifically Asked For Less Cisco Adler, Not More

Generally, one assumes you have to be a star yourself before having protégés, but not if you’re Cisco Adler. His dad is sort of famous, hadn’t you heard? Adler has quite the rap game résumé compiled already, as he produced two Mickey Avalon tracks, including the one you probably heard once or twice. (No, not the Boost Mobile ad.)

A melting-pot of laid-back melodies, hip-hop rhythms and acoustic guitars, Shwayze’s self-titled debut [Suretone/Geffen Records] pays homage to an all-day-and-into-the-night party lifestyle colored by the rolling tides of his hometown beaches, and the rolling papers that flavor the proceedings. Collaborating with Shwayze, Adler co-wrote all of the songs on the album, producing and providing backing vocals along the way.

“Buzzin'” splashes Cisco’s roots-rock acoustic-guitar and vocal tapestry with Shwayze’s cooler-than-a-sea-breeze hip-hop delivery. Says the rapper, “It’s a new West Coast sound, it’s California chill, West Coast stoner music.” Case in point? “Don’t Be Shy.” “It’s about Malibu being like an endless summer. Cisco came up with the hook and the ‘da-don-don, da-don-don-don’t be shy’ part. I came up with the verses about a couple of chicks I was into. It’s about wanting summer to come back, waiting for the sun and kicking it on the beach.”

“I have a studio in my house, and that made it easy for us,” explains Adler. “I’d usually have a beat made, or we’d just make one right on the spot, or even a whole track, and we’d just go to work. There was no particular process. It was party the night before to get something to talk about, then wake up in the morning and make a song about it… We weren’t signed to Geffen yet, and we weren’t paying attention to that. We were just creating a sound and an artist, just for the sheer fun of it.”

“That was the summer, man,” attests Shwayze, whose moniker pays more than just a coincidental resemblance to movie star Patrick Swayze. “I was single, Cisco was single, and we partied in the pool, partied at the beach, chillin’, hangin’ out with chicks. That’s what we were writing about.”

The news only gets better for Shwayze and worse for me, with his first single “Buzzin'” added to the rotation at MTV Hits and an appearance in a big Pontiac ad campaign coming this summer.

That’s what the music world needs–more somewhat Sublime-like musical tales of well-off dudes avoiding work, hanging out in Malibu, and possibly appearing on TMZ. Great. Just great.

Shwayze [Geffen homepage]