"I feel like I'm having social media overload right now," Cazwell admits.
Whether through interactions with more than 55,000 Facebook fans or nearly 40,000 Twitter followers, the undisputed king of New York's underground gay hip-hop scene is "hustling now even more than before." Playing club gigs and summer LGBT Pride events around the country Thursdays through Sundays, Cazwell spends his weekdays recording new tracks and music videos.
"I feel even more of a need to keep people aware of my presence, videos, what's going on, stay active with my fans online," the star explained during a recent telephone interview. "I'm just trying to stay -- no, I'm not even trying to stay busy, I just am.
"It's good," Cazwell notes. "It's way, way better than being dead."
Cazwell's anything but that! In keeping with his goal of releasing new music every eight weeks for the rest of the year, "Guess What?" -- his collaboration with Luciana, dance music's Queen of Electro -- hit social media June 17. The track's official video, which ends with a random 40-second voiceover from quirky RuPaul's All-Stars Drag Race favorite Tammie Brown, has already racked up an impressive 41,000-plus views.
"It was all kind of lined up in the stars," Cazwell says of working with Luciana, best known for Billboard Dance Chart-topping favorites like "I'm Still Hot" and "We Own the Night." When friends of friends suggested the pairing before a Hawaiian get-away, and still others encouraged it again during the vacation, the rapper took note. When he returned home, the connection was made - and the rest is history.
"She's really positive," Cazwell says of the British sensation. "She's really positive about being positive. She's good energy."
Fans of his most recent work, those who helped push last year's single "Rice & Beans" toward a healthy half-million total YouTube views, for example, might be taken aback by the frenetic pace of "Guess What?" Cazwell acknowledges the song's electro vibe definitely matches Luciana's signature, but it was a cut he couldn't pass up.
"Songs like 'Rice & Beans' and 'Ice Cream Truck' are a little more 'player' tracks and don't sound so dance club or EDM [Electro Dance Music]," says the singer, who loves to put his white boy swagger on display, "But I'm no stranger to house music -- whether it's 'All Over Your Face' or 'Get My Money Back.'"
Indeed, with more than 1.2 million YouTube views, "All Over Your Face" is Cazwell's biggest hit to date. But he's certainly not willing to rest on his laurels. He's already hard at work on his next two videos -- and looking toward his next big release.
"I have a track coming with Manila Luzon which really sounds like an old-school house track," he says. In addition to Luzon, runner-up on Season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race, the song also features New York drag celebrity Roxy, who experienced '90s house music success as a featured vocalist on hits by The Ride Committee.
"If I stay the same for too long, people are going to get bored with me," Cazwell says of dabbling in so many genres and his massive musical output, "So I've just got to keep it moving!"
Watch the "Guess What?" music video here.