Musician and rapper Cozmo Beregofsky has just released his debut album and now he’s ready to take on Adelaide’s hip hop scene.

The 31-year-old MC dropped Drunken Monkey last month and launched the video for the title track.

Having always been a fan of the musical genre, it was a natural progression to enter the scene, but Cozmo says it took him a while to get to this point because life got in the way.

“My first memory of hip hop was Kriss Kross. Later on I got into ‘Gangster’s Paradise’ by Coolio. That was in primary school and I wrote a song to the instrumental of ‘Gangster’s Paradise’. I called it ‘Food Paradise’ and it was all about food. I got to perform it in front of the assembly,” he laughs.

“Then in my teen years, I got into all sorts of music, singing and drumming. I played in a band in high school. Then towards the end of high school, I started listening to a lot of hip hop. I started freestyling when I was 17. From there I started writing. It was a side thing for a long time because I was playing drums in a few bands and that was taking a lot of my time. In 2012, I started to fully focus on being a rapper. I have a four-year-old son who keeps me very busy, so it’s only really been recently I’ve been able to focus on music and get it really happening.”

Now Cozmo has committed to his hip hop career, he is devoting his energy to making a name for himself in the local scene.

“My mission is to play a lot of shows and build a following,” he says. “I want to entertain as many people as possible, and make the best music I possibly can.”

Making Drunken Monkey was a gradual process, but Cozmo is thrilled with how it’s turned out, particularly one track, which is an experience.

“I recorded Drunken Monkey at Transmission Studios at Mawson Lakes. The recording engineer was Deon Capogreco. It’s a home built studio, and it’s really good; great sound. I started recording it around 2013 and it’s been a pretty drawn out process because I didn’t go in and record every song in one session. I did a couple of songs at a time,” he says.

“My favourite track is ‘The Beregofsky Experience’. I can’t say it’s the best, but it’s my personal favourite. There’s a few contenders for best track! Lyrically, it’s the strongest, and one of my goals is to be respected by other MCs. I feel lyrically it’s my strongest effort as far as good MC skills and interesting lyricism are concerned.”

Having finally released this record, Cozmo is ready to start rocking some shows, and he has a few coming up in Adelaide.

“The greatest thing is to now have a recording of what I’m capable of doing, that I’m really proud of, to share with people at shows. I was away from the live scene while I finished the album. It didn’t really feel good to be out there doing shows when I had nothing to give to people, and nothing they could look up online. So now it’s a huge relief having completed that. Now I feel like getting out and sharing it. It’s good having something to my name. People can also buy it from my website.”

“I’ve got a gig with Future Sounds Sidechain coming up at the end of August. There’s a gig booked for the 2nd of October at the Crown and Sceptre, and I’ll be competing in the National Campus Bands Competition, and the 2015 Australian Poetry Slam, both around mid-August. Now the album has dropped, I’ve contacted touring and events companies and there’s one in Brisbane who are happy to put on some shows for me. I really want to get over to Melbourne as well because the music there is really vibing.”

Developing a hip hop career, crafting a reputation and promoting a new album are no mean feat when you’re a full time student, father, and business owner, but Cozmo is seemingly balancing the lot.

“I’m studying accounting full time and I do casual work and I look after my boy part time. One of my casual jobs is that I’m a music teacher on Skype. All the details can be found on my website for that,” he says.

Check out the clip for Drunken Monkey, which Cozmo made with a little help from his friends and family.

“The clip was filmed by Daniel Palmer, a cinematographer who I made friends with just before doing it. I wrote, directed and edited it. My sister and my brother are in it, my mum plays the alcoholic woman, my friend DJ Snair, (aka Daniel Barbara) has done some cuts on the album and he agreed to act on the clip. Aliese Cliff plays the girlfriend. A few other people were in it as well,” he says.

By Libby Parker
Photos supplied by Cozmo Beregofsky