Grandmaster Caz
Curtis R Brown (born April 18 1960 in The Bronx, NY) better known as Grandmaster Caz got his start in HipHop in 1974 and is widely known as one of HipHop’s 1st and Greatest Emcees (Ranked #11 Greatest MC’s by Blaze Magazine) of all time!!!
Referred to as a member of HipHop’s “Holy Trinity of Emcees” along with Melle Mel and Kool Mo Dee, Caz Co wrote “Rappers Delight” HipHop’s 1st top 40 hit peaking at #36 on the Billboard Top 100. Rappers Delight would go on to be ranked #251 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time while ranking #2 as Best HipHop song of all time by Rolling Stone & VH1 before it’s induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014. With his platinum collaboration on the hit single “Downtown” with Grammy Award winning duo Macklemore & Lewis peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016, Grandmaster Caz is officially the HipHop Recording Artist/Emcee with the longest running tenure atop the Billboard hot 100 Charts.
Originally known as Casanova Fly, Caz teamed up with DJ Disco Wiz forming one of HipHop’s early crews The Mighty Force en route to becoming HipHop’s first simultaneous Dj/Emcee. Caz and Wiz are credited for being the first Dj’s to create a mix plate (hipHop’s first mixed dub recording) in 1977 when they combined sound bites, special effects and paused beats. In 1980 Caz became the Captain of the legendary Coldcrush Brothers, who were featured in the worlds first ever HipHop film “Wildstyle” before going on to be widely regarded as one if not the most influential groups in HipHop history. Everyone from Will Smith, Jay Z, Eminem, Tupac, Biggie, Nas, DMX, RUN DMC, Big Daddy Kane, Bumpy Knuckles,The Wu Tang Clan and more credit Caz and his Coldcrush Brothers as early influences. In his new memoir entitled “Will” WillSmith wrote “Grandmaster Caz was singlehandedly, undeniably the greatest influence of my HipHop life. I wanted to be just like Caz. In a way Caz validated and unleashed a part of me that I never thought anybody would even care about, he made it ok for me to be me”. While Jay Z famously rhymed, “I’m over charging N***as for what they did to the Coldcrush” on his hit single “H to the Izzo”!
In constant demand for for interviews from media outlets all over the world Caz has been a recent guests on Sway’s Universe podcast (2.49 million subs) The Drink Champs Podcast hosted by N.O.R.E> and DJ EFN, VLADTV’S podcast (5.35 million subs) & Math Hoffa’s “My Expert Opinion” podcast (716k subs) and hosts his own Sirius XM Radio Show “That’s the Joint” on LL Cool J’s Rock the Bells Radio on Sirius XM Channel 43. Grandmaster Caz has also starred in the Netflix documentary “HipHop Evolution” which won 2 Canadian Screen Awards (Canada’s Academy Awards) for best documentary Series & Best Documentary Editing, an International Emmy Award, A Peabody Award for best documentary and a Canadian Cinema Editors Award. Caz is also featured in Ice T’s “Something from Nothing” The Art of Rap which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival while his Casanova Fly persona is prominently featured in the Netflix hit series “The Get Down”.