Shwayze

All Music Guide:

Although that terrible Jamie Kennedy movie Malibu's Most Wanted posited that the beachside Los Angeles suburb is so upper class and lily white that the only rappers it can produce are rich teenagers fronting gangsta poses, real-life Malibu resident Shwayze begs to differ. He's in touch enough with movie culture that his handle is a corruption of the surname of the star of Dirty Dancing and Roadhouse, and his musical mentor is Cisco Adler, son of multi-millionaire record producer Lou Adler, most notorious for a hugely unflattering nude photo widely circulated on the Internet while Adler was dating TV star Mischa Barton, as well as a stint on a short-lived VH1 reality series, The Rock Life. However, despite this intimate connection with a second-generation nepotist more known for his connections than his talent, Shwayze claims to have grown up in a comparatively tough trailer park in one of Malibu's less prosperous neighborhoods. Born Aaron Smith in 1986, legend has it Shwayze was working as an assistant to his handyman grandfather in 2005 when he began an impromptu on-stage freestyle with a friend, drummer Alex Orbison, prior to a local gig by Orbison's band Whitestarr. Adler, Whitestarr's singer/songwriter, was impressed enough with the young rapper that he started collaborating with him. Co-writing the songs with Adler producing, the duo came up with a mellow, largely acoustic sound akin to a hip-hop Jack Johnson, far removed from the glammy Southern rock revivalism of Adler's own band. Shwayze signed to Geffen Records in 2007 and his self-titled debut album was released the following year, preceded by the single "Don't Be Shy" and followed by a stint on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour. A year later they returned with the electro-influenced album Let It Beat along with the single "Get U Home."

Wikipedia:

Aaron Smith (born May 29, 1986 in Malibu, CA), better known by his stage name Shwayze, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Malibu, California, Shwayze worked at a local Starbucks coffee shop until he met Whitestarr frontman Cisco Adler at a nightclub. One night Shwayze jumped on stage during Whitestarr's performance and started freestyling, impressing Adler. They immediately began making music together, and landed a deal with Suretone Records. Their first single "Buzzin'" peaked at #46 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their second single "Corona and Lime," has reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and #3 in the US iTunes Store. Shwayze's self-titled debut album, which Cisco Adler co-wrote, was released on August 19, 2008. Shwayze and Adler are the focus of a reality television series on MTV titled Buzzin', which debuted on July 23, 2008. The show has now stopped with a replacement of "Let it Beat TV" on iamrogue.com. He has been also known to work with rapper Chris Young of banana beat records. Shwayze and Cisco Adler released a mixtape entitled "Rich Girls" on November 24, 2008.

In June, 2010 Cisco released a mixtape entitled "Super California Lipstick Sexy Magic Dope Shit". Shwayze appeared on three tracks, "California Girl," "High, High, High" and "More Than A Fan." On September 7, 2010, Shwayze released a free self mixtape under his full name Aaron Smith called "Love Stoned". Shwayze built up hype to Love Stoned by previewing tracks from the mixtape throughout the summer.

Shwayze’s song “Get U Home” was featured in the horror films "Sorority Row" and "Piranha 3D"

Career

On Thursday September 2, 2010 Shwayze performed at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia alongside Kelley James and Lil John as part of the Muscle Milk Social Studies Tour. Shwayze recently had a show at Raritan Valley Community College (which is in Central New Jersey) but Aaron was ill. So, only Cisco performed with the band. However a lot of people were disappointed that Aaron was not present, so majority of the tickets were refunded.

He was also featured in a sketch on Nick Swardson's Pretend Time.

In January 2011, Cisco Adler and Shwayze announced a new free miniature album entitled "The W's". The title is a reference to the song "High Together" from Shwayze's first album in which he says "I live by the W's: Weed and Women". More info on the mini album will be release during "Cisco's House" a weekly webcast from Cisco Adler on Justin.TV. Shwayze and Cisco are to release their third studio album "Island in the Sun" mid-2011. The album's single, "You Could Be My Girl" hits a similar vibe as several songs from their debut album, Shwayze, unlike "Let It Beat" which had a more club, mainstream vibe. The album was released on September 13, 2011 it included features from Kendrick Lamar, Sophie Stern, Nikko Gray and Sky Blu of LMFAO.

Personal Life

In June of 2010, word got out that Shelby Keeton, Shwayze's girlfriend, was three months pregnant. Shwayze and his girlfriend, Shelby Keeton, had their baby boy in November of 2010 and named him Hendrix after Shwayze's guitar god hero.Baby Hendrix Shwayze and Shelby Keeton got married on the beach in Kauai on February 13th of 2012. Wedding to Shelby Keeton