Lazarus (né Rawlin Guidry) is probably best known for his first single “Enemy and I” that appeared on the soundtrack for Alpha Dogs, which starred Justin Timberlake.  Though this is truly a Hip Hop/Rap star on the rise, and getting that song into that movie was just a stepping stone along the path to a greater career.  The story of Lazarus is complex and deep, and the heart of the myth of a man who by force of will alone chooses to rise.  Imprisoned at a young age, Lazarus had people who believed in him, and who made the decision to help him; to give him a second chance.  And he chose not to waste that opportunity. 

It is not a surprise that such things would have happened to this young man, who is immediately engaging, and surprisingly deep in both his intelligence and the depth of the passion that his music portrays.  Lazarus will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years, as he builds his career, and stands tall, by his own choice and through his own will, among his peers.  Lazarus recently shared his story with MediaBlvd Magazine, as his career is about to break big and propel him to much bigger and greater things.

MediaBlvd> How did you choose the name Lazarus?

Lazarus>  I got back to my cell, to the holding tank and I got a call from one of the jailers saying, “Hey Guidry, you’ve got someone here to see you.”  And I went and it was actually the attorney.  She sat me down and she said, “I fought for you.  I fought you so hard like I’ve never fought for anyone else.”  She said, “I believe in you.  I just believe that you went down a wrong path, and everybody deserves a second chance.  You deserve a second chance.”  I just looked at her, and she said, “You’re going to go home today.”  I was like, “Wow, I’m going to go home today?”  I was still processing, how am I going to do 12 years of my life in a penitentiary as an adult?  She said everyone deserves a second chance and so do you.  I signed my papers and I went back to my cell.  I was just in tears, for real.  As hard as I am and as rough as my life was, and still can be at times, I never thought I’d be so filled with so many emotions at one point in time in my life that I’d bust out in tears.  My family didn’t even know what was going on with me at the time.  It was one of those tough love type things, I guess.  I had already been incarcerated for a year of my life before I even saw a courthouse. 

I just sincerely thought that I was going to go home with a slap on the wrist or something, but that’s not what happened.  People handed me down 12 years of my life, tried as an adult. They did not have any mercy on me.  And then somebody believed in me.  It made me change my perspective about life as a whole, and I was writing so many songs at the time when I was incarcerated, it made it so that I had an outlet.  There was no one that I was going to be able to tell, because I was literally still a kid.  What was I going to do, go to my cellmate and tell him how I felt?  No, not at all.  These were grown men and they’d been in and out of prison all their lives.  Most of them hadn’t even finished high school.  How was I going to be able to connect or talk to one of them?  It just wasn’t going to fly.  My music was the only tool I had when I was locked up, so that I could let go and express myself.  It really did change my life.  So when I got out, I kissed the fucking ground.  I kissed the ground. I was like, the sky looks a lot brighter, the clouds look a lot whiter.  It sounds funny as hell, but that’s what I saw.  The colors seemed to be so bright.  You are enclosed in a 4x8 cell, and the world is a little bit darker when you are enclosed.  It’s just not the same. 

Lazarus> Of course, because my music… I’ll say this to anyone as an artist, music is a jealous, jealous female.  She’s a jealous female and anything before her she’ll smash.  She’ll make sure you know that you’ve got to put everything you’ve got into her, everything into your music.  I’ll say this, Michael Jackson was living proof of it.  Everything he did with his artistry and music, and anything he wanted to do, he did through his music. I don’t care if it was him getting his monkey or whatever, it was all obtained through his music, all of it.  He lived out his life, he lived out his dream no matter how it happened.  It’s the same thing for any person. 

Your passion should be what you strive for, whatever you love doing.  That’s what you should be doing.  There’s no happiness in doing something you don’t want.  And the soul really needs that, and I got that from music.  Music gave me that.  The time when I was the most happiest and the only time I was happy in my life was when I was doing music.  I would just read my raps, or read my lyrics, they weren’t even raps at the time.  They were becoming three or four pages with little things I was writing.  They were becoming miniature stories of my life.  They were heart felt.  Some of them were scary to me, some of them were very sad.  Some of them were like, I’m going to pick myself up regardless of what’s happening in my life.  When most people meet me, I’m pretty calm.  I’ve worked at being like that.  Then they hear my music and they are like, “Wow, what comes out of you?”  I say, “everything I’ve got inside of me comes out when I do my music- all my pain, all my fear, everything I have.”  It let me know that I could make it, no matter what was going on in my life, and I used it.  I used it and still use it today as a tool to catapult me to the next level in my life.  I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

MediaBlvd> With “My Enemy and I” getting onto the soundtrack for Alpha Dog, you kind of exploded on to the scene.  I think a lot of people heard you for the first time there.  How did that come about?  How did you get your song into the movie, and what was the process there? 

Lazarus> This is another amazing story.  I had been pushing really hard for my music, and I got so frustrated.  I said if I meet another person who bullshits me in this business, I’m just going to go crazy!  I quit!  I came to that point, and I’d taken some time off and I was body building.  I always wanted to see what it was like.  I started competing for awhile, then I started getting back into the album after I was competing.  I decided I wanted to get back into my music.  I hadn’t really taken a very long time off, but I took enough that I’d become sane again.  I felt like I was losing it.  Then someone, again, believed in me.  It had nothing to do with anyone in the music business.  It was a good friend of mine, who passed away.  He was actually working on the Alpha Dog project with Nick Cassavetes.  He was working on it with him, and he knew the background of the film and he said, “Get me your music over here right now!”  Enemy and I was the first song I’d recorded on the “Heart of a Hustler” album. 

The first song I’d recorded, and I didn’t expect anyone to take it as serious as it went.  I wasn’t looking for that because “Enemy and I” was so personal.  It was about me struggling with my inner demons, my relationships, the drugs that I sold and the money I made.  It was about me looking at myself in the mirror, and I really want my life to be better.  So “Enemy and I” was coming from something so personal that I couldn’t believe that someone wanted it.  I got it over to him on CD, and it wasn’t even mastered yet.  I’d just laid it and it was raw.  The guy heard it.  They were working with the music coordinator, and he was on the treadmill.  He put the headphones on him and let him listen to it.  This is a true, true friend.  He made sure that he listened to music right there in front of him.  He didn’t go, “Here you go, here’s a CD, I’m out.”  He didn’t do that.  He popped it in the CD player and put the headphones on him and let him listen to him.  He said, “This is hot, I’ve got to have this song.  It goes perfect in the movie.  I want this song, who is this guy.”  He was like, “He’s my man, he’s Lazarus, an upcoming artist, and he’s been pushing at it doing he’s own thing and this would be good for him.”  They made contact with me, we got it typed up, and I wish I’d found some better attorneys. (Laughs)  But when you are up and coming, you learn a lot along the way.  That story to me is so amazing, because my friend Blake passed away before the rise of my career.  He didn’t get a chance to really see it.  He died before it happened.  He was a healthy 44 year old man, and he just had a good sense of background.  He was a genuine person. If he said he was going to do something for you, he did it.  It was really difficult to meet people in the entertainment world who would fulfill their promise.  Everyone you meet says, I can’t promise you anything.  If I got to a restaurant and I pay for a meal, and pay $45, I want to get what I pay for.  There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to keep your word.  It’s hard to keep your word because people don’t want to go the distance. But anything in life is possible, and I really believe the music game would change and have more integrity if artists would stand up for themselves and would just hold their ground. 

That was part of the personal struggles I was going through when I wrote “Enemy and I”.  I was really in a place where I needed to bear my soul.  And I’m telling you, I get people today when I check out my sites; the things they say really confirms that this is the path I’m supposed to be living now and in.  This is where I’m supposed to live.  I’ve never heard people say, “Can I get the lyrics to this song?  This song has affected my life.  I love this song.  When I heard this song, I’d never heard anything like this before.”  I always get, “Oh you’ve got that gangster feel like ’50 or whatever.  People don’t know how to place you in the world, because they need to liken you to somebody.  Even though you are just being you, they need to process the thought of what you are like so they can assess you.  “Enemy and I”, when it came on, I didn’t expect it to go as far as it went.  I still get people downloading that fucking song.  It’s crazy dude, I didn’t even believe that I would write something like that from my heart and people would take a liking to it, so I knew I was affecting people’s lives.

MediaBlvd> Yeah, when I saw the movie I thought the song was probably written for it.  I didn’t realize there was this whole story behind it.  That’s really cool. 

Lazarus> Yeah, I didn’t even write it for the movie.  I was writing it for my own personal struggles; for my own life.  I hadn’t even heard what the film was about, whatsoever.  I had heard about the story of Hollywood Jesse James.  I think they actually just sentenced him.  But I had no clue what was going to be the outcome.  But people are still listening to that song, and hearing it. And are like, ”Wow, I really like this single.”

MediaBlvd> Tell us about Lazarus entertainment.  That seems like something really ballsy for someone so young to just come out and start their own label.  How did you go about that, and how did you get started?

Lazarus>  Oh man, another amazing story!  I need to be making movies right now. 

MediaBlvd> Yeah, you should be writing a book or something.

Lazarus> I don’t like being in the clouds.  When I was locked up, I was in the clouds, so when I got a chance to get out, I started seeing the world a lot differently.  So I said, “If I’m going to do this, I need to have the information and the knowledge.”  And along the way, I’ll tell you, I’ve gotten screwed over a lot of times all because I didn’t know.  And it’s not saying everyone is going to screw you over, it’s just saying that along the way there is a lot of red tape.  No matter what it cost me, I said, “My dream is priceless.”  So if somebody got me for a couple of thousand over there and didn’t fulfill their bargain, it made me say, “I’m learning what I need to learn.”  I won’t advance in the business side of it if I don’t make the mistakes.  That’s what the label has that I don’t.  They have the experience of the years of making errors, and no one has a blueprint exactly, but there is a formula of how they go about making an artist.  And I said, “I want to learn that formula.”  It can change, but it’s like the basic push and pull methods when you are lifting weights, or anything else I do.  There’s a formula to how you get someone out there.  It’s a lot of different ways, but it’s still a formula, and I wanted to learn that because I didn’t want to have what was happening to me when I was being taken for the money I was putting out. 

I wanted to also have the credit of executive producer, and also learning my craft and being submerged into it.  I didn’t get to this point in my life, only being incarcerated was I able to get here.  Only through my music was I able to see all the crap I was going through and say, “Man, I really need to learn what I’m doing.”  Someone is telling me this, and I had no idea what publishing was.  I had no idea that my publishing was going to be a part of my empire, a part of Lazarus Entertainment.  I thought about changing my record label name because maybe people would think it’s too vain.  Or maybe people will think I’m too arrogant or conceited.  Then I just thought, “Fuck what other people thing.”  It’s not even about me, or about them.  I chose that rap moniker name for another chance.  Everybody deserves another chance, I don’t care who you are, you deserve another chance at life.  You may not be in the same place you were 10 years ago that you are today, and unless you are a pedophile or someone really hurting people, we all can benefit from change.  I started wanting my label to hold that title.  I wanted it to be an open doorway into the artist that wanted a chance, wanted an opportunity to open up.  So it wasn’t just about me.  That name spoke for itself, and it was powerful, and I wanted my label to be powerful. 

It’s not some gangsta shit, like maybe some “guillotine cut your head off”  I didn’t want that.  There’s not anything wrong with anyone who wants to have their label with that name, but I’m about cause and effect.  If I’m representing “guillotine cut your head off”  Records, that means how am I ever going to transfer from that to something that is powerful, coming helping other people to support their dreams.  That’s what a label is supposed to do.  I kept that name for that reason, because it’s about supporting the artistry and what their visions and dreams are.  Because, believe it or not, artists are like spokes people.  That’s why we are out in the public eye, and the label puts the artist out.  The crazy thing is I was at a conference and they have the 360 deal going on with the major labels, and all the major labels are trying to implement these deals.  I don’t know how successful it’s going to be, but people are going for it.  I don’t know what they are going to do, but people are definitely signing those deals.  I didn’t get it at first, but I agree with it to a certain degree..  I just hope that the people signing them are making good decisions about the deals.  But I think being independent, you are opening up the door for your career.  That’s what you have to be willing to go through is building the career.  That is something that takes time and doesn’t come over night.  If you are trying to take this to make money, and get in and get out quick, then be a one time hitter-quitter and call it a day.  But building a career takes years, and it takes time, and I knew I was going to need to learn the actual dynamics of what a label has to do to put music out and be successful.

MediaBlvd> Do you see yourself as an inspiration to young people out there?  Your story is just so amazing.  Have you become somebody that young people look up to, and is that a burden at all?

Lazarus>    No, it’s not a burden at all for me.  I am someone to look up to.  I love when I hear the comments from people about how much they love my music, how much they are affected by it.  Artists are like spokes people and we get to talk to people about their lives though our music.  The idea of a 15 year old or 19 year old  looking up to me and respecting me for what I’ve done gives them encouragement to want to live out their dream.  So I’m always appreciating it.  I do a lot of whatever I can in the community to give back.  I’m also about personal growth, and I talk to kids about that.  I will continue to be an ear, and believe it or not they are going to be the ones to take care of us when we are old, so it’s very important.  It’s very important that our youth have the information they need so they can blossom and grow.  It’s a privilege that someone younger, or even my age would look up to me, and say the things they’ve said about loving my music.  I’m in appreciation of it.  When you loose a lot, you earn a lot, and gain a whole different appreciation for it.  I would never be appreciative if I hadn’t had my own freedom taken away.  If I hadn’t experienced the things I experienced.  It makes it so that I’m very appreciative, and I wouldn’t change my life for nothing. Like, “Man, I wish I could go back and my mom or my dad would have been rich.  I don’t wish none of that.  I’m glad that I was born into a very poor family with six kids living in a sharp shooter house, all living in one bedroom, eating syrup sandwiches.  I’m glad I grew up with that. 

MediaBlvd> I’ve got to ask, how much time do you spend in the gym?  Just seeing the pictures and videos, you’ve got a pretty amazing body.  Do you have to spend a lot of time to maintain that, or is it pretty natural?

Lazarus> Coming from a body builder standpoint, one, genetics plays a huge part in you getting the look you want to get.  I spend just a little over an hour in the gym a day out of the week, maybe two, depending on my schedule.  I’m travelling and bouncing around, but I make sure I get my workout in, and it’s very important to physically take care of your body as well as mentally.  I’ll tell you, I do work really hard at it.  Sometimes I wish I could take a pill, and be like, “Ok, I can maintain this today by taking a vitamin, and I don’t got to work out no more.”  But then that wouldn’t be part of my character, because I don’t think there’s anything wrong with putting a little work or elbow grease into what you are doing.  I love hitting the gym just like I love doing my music.

Then when I got to reading the script and we got to rehearsing, I put in some hours on rehearsing the actual part and getting into the character.  I didn’t realize how intense it was until I got on the set.  We started putting in work, and I literally, after I finished the scene, I had to attack a woman that I had nothing against.  I didn’t even know her, and had to attack her and rape her.  I don’t rape no woman, but I had to in the film, and it was fucking with my head.  You’re like, “I don’t want to do this!  I do not want to rape this girl.”  But I had to go there in order to be the character.  He was a very volatile preacher, a very volatile person.  I’m a control freak, so I’m not going to let nobody take me out of my element.  I’m too cool.  I don’t get upset, but I had to get to that point where it disturbed me.  After we shot the film, I was so open to a vulnerable space, it was even bigger than my music.  I literally had to stay in the house for a few days, because everything affected me.  It really bothered me.  Everything everybody said to me, I almost literally wanted to break out into tears.  Why are you talking to me this way?  It’s not in my character to be that way, but it was opening up a door of things I didn’t know I could do.  People think acting is just so easy, and it’s not.  You’re revealing yourself and finding a character that you are bringing life to.  You are bringing life to something on a page. The lines don’t have any life and you have to bring life to them.  When you have a lot of charisma, it makes it a plus.  If you’re a natural, it’s a plus.  But you’ve got to know that it’s no easy ride.  We shot it, and it was an amazing film.  I went back to my normal personality after we shot the film, but a friend who shot the film with me knew I had to close up for a few days because I didn’t answer the phone.  I stayed in the house.  It’s not something I’d want to experience on a regular basis, but the vulnerability, the dark side of the person was what I was really afraid of looking at.

MediaBlvd> With that experience, do you think you want to try acting again at some point, or do you want to stick with the music?

Lazarus> Yeah, I’m actually working on a script right now.  I’ve been reading it and I’m interested in it, and I’m going to do it.  Heart of a Hustler, the single that’s out right now and being pushed; South Carolina’s playing it, Louisiana and Michigan are playing it, it’s also in the film, Joshua: Heart of a Warrior.  Here’s another single that’s in the movie.  This new project I’m working on… I’m really excited about it.  It requires a lot of physicality.  It’s called The Military’s Letter.  Again, I’m back to the acting and the music.  I’ve really been blessed with my career, that it’s gone the way it has.  It’s exciting.  It’s a little scary sometimes because I don’t see me as most people see me.  I see myself as someone that is striving for my artistry and expression, and to open up.  I see myself like that.  But when I see myself on film, or see my music video, I crack up laughing.  I’m like, “That’s not me!”  You’re not living in that moment; you are living in the present moment that you are in.  When you see yourself in that moment, you’re like, “Was I really doing that shit?  Yeah you was!”  I’m too cool for that.  I’m like, I didn’t do any of that.  It’s like when you go out and get wasted and have your friends telling you that you got nuts!.  Like, “No, I didn’t”.  They’re like, “Yes, you did!”  And you have to deal with the consequences of you showing your ass.  But the new movie is The Military’s Letter.  It’s an independent film, and it’s on a whole different level.  It requires work, time, effort, and you have to be dedicated to put your energy into acting.  At the end, it’s kind of opening up those doors and opening up those pathways of vulnerability. 

It’s a lot more intense than my music because I’m interacting with people in a different way.  I’m acting off of their emotion and what they are feeling being fully submerged in the moment.  When I’m doing my music, I’m in the recording studio, talking about my life so the listener can connect.  It’s like having a motivational CD in one hand, and then actually having the spokesperson in front of you.  When you listen, the words are connecting and you are trying to hear what he is saying so you can get the gist of it.  Then when you have someone physically in front of you, that you are interacting with, it becomes more physical and more involved.  It takes you to another place.  You get to interact after you finish the album, after you go out and promote the single.  But acting is like you read the script and you get to work. You get the script, you read it, and you need to know your lines.  People are coming to the set and bringing it, and you need to bring it too.  If you ain’t holding your own, it will show up in who is going to ask you to work on their next project.

MediaBlvd> Are you starting to get recognized more when you go out, with all of the things you are doing?

Lazarus> Yeah, and it’s a little bit creepy.  It’s not creepy in a bad way, but I see the paparazzi sometimes doing what they do.  As I’m building my career, I always have to acknowledge, “Be prepared!  In one year that could be you.”  All it takes is one moment to be recognized in such a way that all of a sudden you aren’t on the D list, you’re on the A list or B list.  All it takes is a moment and as long as you are pushing and make sure your focus is in the direction it’s supposed to be in, you’ll get there.  There’s no doubt about it.  You may hit a hundred bumps and may have to crawl around or swim in your career a couple of times.  But you are going for your goal, and as long as that goal is your objective, you will get there.  It is about timing. Sometimes mentally we’re not ready for what we think we’re ready for.  I was not ready to be where I’m at today just a couple of years back.  I thought I was, I really did.  But I did not.  I hadn’t experienced enough or interacted enough to be in acceptance of this is what I chose- I’m committed to this and there’s nothing going to change.  Once I got to that point, everything changed.  I got to the point where I said, “I’m going to have to die in this business because there’s no other way for me.”  Once I said that, everything just opened up for me.  I saw the world in a different aspect.  Before, it was like, “These people did me wrong, fuck them!”  It became like that, instead of me saying I could get into this.  This is like a marriage.  I’m married to my career, and this is where I’m at and this is what I want to do.  They are going to have to take me out of the music biz when I’m dead and gone.  Other than that, I’m going to be striving for it.  It’s hard for people to get there and it’s  a major sacrifice that you have to make. 

We have so many things going on, you have to make a choice and say this is where I’m at.  Every time I spend a dollar, every time I’m out, I always go back to this bullshit.  Then all of a sudden I just slap myself and say, “You can’t do this no more.  This is where you are at, and no one is going to take you out of it.”  I just did a huge photo shoot and my PR lady called me and was so pissed off that we had to do it again.  It wasn’t what she wanted.  And I was pissed off, I was upset.  Then I thought about it, and said, “You know what, it was meant to happen that way.”  We didn’t get the best that we needed to get to build that career that we’re striving for.  When I look at the things I’ve done and sometimes you get unappreciative.  I’ve done a lot in such a short period of time.  I’m sure there’s much more I can do, being a part of this universe.  It’s amazing when people come up to me and ask for my autograph.  But I don’t want anyone putting me in a box of what I can and can’t do.  I enjoy it, but it is a little creepy because the more you find success, you have to understand that you can’t do the same things you used to do.  You take a shit the wrong way; everybody is going to know about it before you even flush the toilet.  That’s the truth.  I see that too, and that’s part of what comes with the territory, so you’ve got to stop worrying about that and just doing what you love.  I’m just being an artist and building the dreams of my empire. 

MediaBlvd> Are you going to be touring for Hustler?

Lazarus> Yeah, I actually just got back from New York, meeting with Music Choice, and I came back so we could do my photo shoot.  And I’ve been working on this script as well.  But I am making time to prepare to go out and do the tour.  I’m going out to the cities that are supporting the single and playing the music.  I’m actually on BET website right now.  Bet.com has me as one of the top independent artists videos of this month.  I’m looking forward to that.  I’m actually cutting up some ground.  I’m putting the tour together and finding the window to do that.

MediaBlvd> I’ve got to say, it’s one of the smartest things I’ve seen putting all the numbers out on your myspace page. 

Lazarus> Yeah, you learn as you go how to keep putting yourself out there.  It makes me as an artist to want to strive even harder, because you want longevity.  You will remember my name.  If you’ve ever met me, you won’t forget me.  That’s not who I am.  You can definitely look on the myspace pages and see all the radio stations.  You can always call in and ask them to play the songs, or purchase the album off of iTunes.