Vince Leigh’s Single Review: Way Too Cool by A-Ezy
By Vince Leigh (Ex drummer of Pseudo Echo, Tina Arena and John Farnham) of Australian Radio Promotion for Sheldon Ang Media
In the throbbing heart of Melbourne, a city littered with countless sonic adventures and eclectic musical trips, A-Ezy, or Andrew Cameron Evans as he’s less glamorously known, is digging deep and dirty into the roots of hip-hop. He isn’t here for the gloss, or the top-40 sheen; no, this creator’s got something grittier to say. Now, don’t get me wrong. Every city’s got its heroes and its zeroes, its legends, and its pretenders. But every once in a blue moon, an artist trudges out of the alleyways with a determined spirit that one can’t help but appreciate.
Such is the case with A-Ezy’s Way Too Cool, a track from his sixth studio album, Dead Man Walking. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill chart climber; it’s raw, unfiltered, and rings true. As with many of us, the guy got his initial kicks from the giants — the indomitable Wu-Tang, the razor-sharp Eminem, and the business mogul turned rapper, Jay-Z. Hell, the kid even had the audacity to put his own spin on a Snoop Dogg track in his green years. It’s like walking into a bar and challenging the reigning champ to a duel — reckless, perhaps, but you’ve got to respect the guts. But it’s not just about the big names and grand influences. It’s the underbelly, the personal strife that really gives A-Ezy’s tunes their gut-punch. Tussling with Bi-Polar disorder since his salad days and wandering through the sanitized halls of psych wards, Andrew found in music not just an escape, but a lifeline.
With Way Too Cool, produced in cahoots with producer FreakBeats (aka Vladimir Bogdanovic), Andrew pours it all out. He quips, ‘It’s not just a tune. It’s my life, my love, my highs, my damn lows.’ You’d think that’d be enough for one album, but Evans isn’t done there. Beyond the self, he’s out there gunning for the big issues — poverty, mental health, and that ever-present beast, racism. His aim? Well, as A-Ezy himself puts it, ‘Keep releasing music until I get some traction. I’m all about putting out music with a message to change the world.’
Listen on Spotify
