R&B Artist Chaz Langley Discovers the Soul of Brooklyn

Chaz Langley Photo by Kevin Thomas

Losing an iPad brings to mind some choice words: unbelievable, frustrating, maybe even heartbreaking to the many with a tablet attached at the hip. “Well, hey, it’s just a thing when it really comes down to it,” Chaz Langley tells Brooklyn Roads. “As my Mom always preaches… it’s probably a blessing in disguise,” he adds with a laugh, reducing any doubt that he’s only veiling his bereft disposition with these words to live by. What’s a technology like this, a distraction for all intents and purposes, really solving for the everyday user, besides the constant e-mail, Twitter, Instagram, [add your app of choice here] updates? As the rather simple pleasures of life continue to wrap themselves in a whirlwind of new designs, Langley might be on the right track; “It’s kind of like a lesson learned, or maybe just an evaluation I should take right now.”

Hailing from Washington D.C., and relocating to Virginia Beach for the majority of his youth, this soulful R&B singer, with just the right amount of pop to get your feet moving, eventually settled in Nashville, the mecca for aspiring songwriters.

After gaining invaluable experience with acclaimed songwriters and artists while honing in on his own techniques, Chaz Langley moved New York because, he tells us, “It felt real to me; I felt I could grow here. I wanted to be somewhere that I could have the opportunity to live and learn every day in almost every culture. I always can get the grit, the grind, musicians on the street and the subway; it is a real multifaceted life here.”

When Chaz arrived in New York, however, timing became his fiercest competitor; the 2008 crisis changed the life of the aspiring artist, leaving even his own knack for catchy and creative jingles in the balance as he searched for a good platform to get his sound exposed. But Langely takes no shortcut in his feverish pursuit, redefining the ideals of the artist on the rise. Even his Brooklyn is different from the borough people may think of. He tells Brooklyn Roads that his Brooklyn is “Russian Brooklyn–Brighton Beach and Coney Island,” leaving the distractions of the city far behind.

“I don’t have the immediacy of everything else, which makes it very different for me,” reflects Langley. “I am much less visible and accessible, so I’m in a totally different headspace as a musician and an artist.” But rather than a hindrance, Chaz sees his remoteness as an added inspiration and drive for himself, and for any artist in a similar position. He makes it clear that the pursuit is rewarding in it of itself: “If I am eventually on a national or world stage, what do I have to talk about if it was all given to me?” he asks defiantly. “That artist wouldn’t be as inspiring to people because they didn’t have to go through anything. You can’t get [to your dream] unless you keep going at it. That’s why everything you do has to support your dream.”

Langley has proven this to be true through his sheer melodic talent. His self-entitled EP, Chaz Langley, vacillates between falsetto, R&B, and even a small rapping breakdown on songs like Song of Sorrow, to the eerie neo-soul of Paranoia. His versatility echoes that of a young Stevie Wonder, intermixed with the fresh rhythmic sound of contemporaries like Miguel, leaving his music as arguably an unfairly hidden treasure. For Chaz, this will only propel him further, adamant that “I want my music to mean something to someone,” he tells Brooklyn Roads. “I want it to be far beyond just, ‘hey look at me.’ I am not gonna put something out there unless I passionately believe in it; my whole motto with my music is to keep a steady pace. I’d rather be in a long line of people that are working hard, than the ones that end up doing something they don’t want to do and regretting it in the end.”

He aspires to collaborate with artists like Pharrell Williams, who lived a nearly parallel life to Chaz in Virginia Beach, citing his creativity and innovation in molding music that is a hybrid of the old and new, and Kelly Clarkson, from whom Chaz has received praise through his own song pitches.

“I have been prepared on every level. I’ve got a life’s worth of work, everything I could possibly muster on my own… it’s just a matter of if you believe it or not.”