MUSIC Once-lost demo vaults rapper to Internet fame

The video clip has been showcased on VH1.
By ZACH STIPE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CLEVELAND -- "For enjoyment I like to shoot some hoops," Denny Blaze raps, in a goofy late-1980s homemade music video on the Web site youtube.com. "But not before I eat all my fruit loops." The video cuts to the rapper hitting a jump shot then back to a a bowl of the sugary cereal.
Blaze's rap demo, called "Average Homeboy," was created 17 years ago and sent to record companies and MTV in hopes of scoring Blaze a major record deal. Now, thanks to the Internet, Blaze is finally garnering the attention he hoped for almost 20 years ago.
A few months ago, the video demo was rediscovered after sitting in a box at MTV for 17 years. Whoever found the tape got enough of a kick out of it to post it on the Internet.
That's when an explosion started. Within two weeks, Blaze, of Cleveland, estimates that more than 1 million people downloaded the hilarious clip, which shows Blaze mowing his lawn, swinging a baseball bat and rapping about how his "house is just middle-class, and every week its [his] job to cut the grass."
Later, another late-'80s demo, "Blazin' Hazen" surfaced. The video is very similar to "Average Homeboy" and shows Blaze in a a neon pink windbreaker and black shades ordering people to "Watch the temperature rise as I cut my rhyme."
From youtube to TV tube
Suddenly, Blaze's videos were on VH1. "Average Homeboy" appeared on the cable network's "Web Junk" show and "Blazin Hazen" was featured on "Best Week Ever."
"Its just exciting," said Blaze, who confessed he recently received close to 5,000 e-mail in one day.
The rapper was actually contacted by Jimmy Kimmel's show to appear on the late-night talk show and perform "Average Homeboy." Blaze was scheduled to appear but got moved back.
"Supposedly, they are working on another day," he said.
Blaze loved hip-hop growing up but wanted to go in a different direction from popular rap music. Thus the birth of "Average Homeboy."
"I know that rap is all inner-city stuff," he said. "I'm not pretending I'm from the South Bronx; I'm from Louisville, Ohio. I'm a middle-class white guy."
Other works
Blaze, who has continued to write and perform since he first created his old school demos, has more than 70 original songs in his repertoire.
He has numerous videos posted on the Internet including recent clips for "Cadillac," a collaboration with Cowboy Clark, along with the old school "Average Homeboy" and "Blazin' Hazen." The avid Cleveland Browns fan also wrote a song with the "Bone Lady" for a documentary on the Browns' superfan. His popularity seems to be growing as more and more people catch his videos on the 'Net.
"Really what the Internet is showing is that you can be successful without a record label," Blaze said.
But that's just want Blaze wants. The middle-class rapper said he is looking for radio airplay. Since his explosion, he has had record labels calling him, even one proclaiming him a genius.
He's even had a cartoon made of him. Titled "Average Homeboy Returns," from doogtunes, Blaze calls the hilarious clip "the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me." Blaze also recently performed at the New York City Music Festival in Madison Square Garden.
For now, Blaze is just trying to snag that record deal and enjoying the fame, while maintaining his Web site, dennyblaze.com.
"My dream is to get a major record contract," Blaze said. "And start blazin' up the charts."