Shortly after releasing two EP’s in 2018; Hampton & Seven Five; Taz decided that it was time to take her music in a totally different direction. After weeks of brainstorming various album themes, “Mentally iLL” felt like the best title. MentaLLy iLL served as the perfect double entendre to represent TAZ; because it shows the duality of TAZ’s ill/genius way of thinking, as well as her transparency in her battling with her mental illnesses.
In addition to opening for Jadakiss, Styles P, & performing with Questlove from the Roots, Taz has been featured in several publications including Respect Magazine, Huffington Post, Karen Civil, and Hip Hop Since 1987. She has a following of 22.4K Twitter followers & 14K+ Instagram followers.
Parlé Magazine caught up with Taz to talk to her about her new EP MentaLLy iLL and her journey in the entertainment industry.
In the Beginning….
Parlé Mag: SO, I SEE THAT YOU ARE FROM HAMPTON, VA. THE 757
TAZ: Yep 75 75 yea I represent the tide.
Parlé Mag: YOU WENT TO HOWARD UNIVERSITY, WHAT DID YOU STUDY?
TAZ: When I first got there, I studied broadcast journalism, then I switched to telecommunication management and had a minor in entrepreneurship. I was in the radio TV/film department; I always knew I wanted to be an entertainer in media.
More than an artist.
Parlé Mag: TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, C.A.S. AGENCY.
TAZ: It’s an acronym and it stands for “COLLIDE-A-Scope.” When I was a kid I was always obsessed with kaleidoscopes. I always thought it was interesting because you may see the same picture but with a different perspective. So, the whole idea of kaleidoscope was colliding a scope of different perspectives; the same name but just a different perspective. I came up with it originally in 2012 because I felt at the time I was all over the place. I was working on a clothing line called ancestors and I started a web series called ‘The Tazmania Show,’ where I did a lot of celebrity interviews like Big Sean and John Legend and Ne-Yo and Pusha T. That’s how I got started at Howard University on a radio station. I always saw myself diversifying my portfolio. I didn’t want to have different Instagram handles for my merch, my music, my events; I want to be able to consolidate it so people can book us for marketing and PR and for events. I wanted to create a brand that was bigger than myself.
Parlé Mag: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?
TAZ: I started in 2012 to 2014 then I took a break to work with Viacom, Sony Pictures and Revolt TV and brought it back late 2017 early 2018; so, about a year and a half.
Musically Driven…
Parlé Mag: HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN DOING MUSIC?
TAZ: I dropped my first EP April 27, 2012, I was graduating from Howard and I wanted to have a listening party at the radio station. Then I dropped another EP called ‘Late Night Sustain Volume 1’ then one called ‘Too Much,’ then in 2014, I dropped another one called ‘Artificial.’ I took some time off because I was doing some other things; I wanted to redefine what it was that I wanted to do with music. I was dropping singles between 2014 and 2018. Then that’s when I came back and dropped ‘Hampton’ in January 2018 and ‘757’ in February.
Parlé Mag: HOW DID THE TAZMANIA SHOW COME ABOUT?
TAZ: That started back in 2010 when I was working at the campus radio station. They had hired me as an on-air personality for this show called the ‘40/40 Club’ Then it was this one time that I had to do a radio interview with Ne-Yo. At that time, I needed to come up with a name for the show because I wanted to upload it to YouTube. I was thinking about the Tazmanian devil; the cartoon character and decided to name it Tazmania Show. Once I got those first three big interviews, it allowed me to interview Big Sean and others.
Parlé Mag: WHAT TOPICS WERE DISCUSSED ON THE SHOW?
TAZ: It just depends. I would do my homework; I’m an interview-nerd-junkie. I watch documentaries, biographies, etc. It just depends on what I wanted to know and what the audience wanted to know. It was no real blueprint when I was interviewing them.
Parlé Mag: SINCE THE RELEASE OF YOUR LATEST EP MENTALLY ILL, WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING ON DOING NEXT?
TAZ: The next step for me is definitely doing more interviews, lot more performances, press runs, you gonna see me doing more speeches, I like doing that; I’m booked all the way up until May and I’m trying to get more performances at festivals. I really want more people to do more press so that that can hear it. I have Heal the Ill merch, t-shirts, posters, ETC. I also want to go international.
Parlé Mag: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE?
TAZ: It has been a couple of months. It all started back in October of 2018 when I started doing my speeches. It came as a product of the music. I became more mentally ill last June and I started writing and recording the EP in Long beach in like two weeks in August. And then I partnered up with this non-profit and they started sending me places to do speeches all because of my transparency.
Parlé Mag: TELL US MORE ABOUT MENTALLY ILL.
TAZ: This is the best project I’ve ever made! I am excited to share it with the world. It’s seven songs and it’s the most vulnerable transparent I’ve ever been. I lost three friends to suicide. I never really got the chance to cope with the loss of them. Mentally Il meant two things; I’m letting you know that stigma and that I’m suffering with something. And at the same time the way I’m thinking is ‘ill’ Everything about me is ill. So, it’s like I’m letting you know something while I’m addressing something and also complimenting myself at the same time. There is something for everyone on the album, the album isn’t dark. It’s like 50 different shades of illnesses. For the song ‘Look what you Did,’ I wanted to create an anthem for people to be okay to talk about what they are going through. I also have a song about my friend that took her life called ‘Damaged Goods.’
Parlé Mag: HOW CAN READERS CONNECT WITH YOU AND REACH OUT TO YOU?
TAZ: You can reach me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, my name is TAZmaniashow. It’s all the same. You can also find me on all music platforms. My website is www.thecasagency.com
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