Crawdad (Michael Crawford) is an independent hip hop artist hailing from Ventura, California. At a young age, Crawdad developed an ear for Hip Hop and his love and passion for the culture soon ensued. Crawdad combines his natural writing abilities with his gift of syncopated rhythms, forming the indiscernible sound that is truly, Crawdad.

As a child, Michael faced many troubling issues, situations and family controversies, while driving home the theme of being “a rebel without a cause.” Having to move from city to city as a child, Crawdad had come to the realization of being a Hip Hop lyricist was not only his dream but his passion. He became addicted to the pen... He began his Hip Hop career, dipping into local battles, recording with friends while fine tuning and honing in on his true natural talent and skills. Crawdad realized music was his purpose, the driving motivation in his life. Having to deal with the death of a close friend, Crawdad made major life-changing decisions and became even more focused, determined and driven. There was absolutely nothing in his way which would stop this journey.

Between 2008 and 2011, Crawdad was developing his name and technique. Crawdad linked up with heavyweight producer, Jim Claytor of DigitalLiveWire, to record his first studio EP, "The Underground Perspective." Crawdad also started performing with a live band. Crawdad and his band had performed at venues across the United States.

In 2011, Crawdad released his freshman album compiled of his favorite tracks from the year prior. The album titled, “The Art of Making Flowetry” was a success and gained Crawdad mass attention, in the Hip Hop community. Following the success of his first release, Crawdad teamed up with San Francisco lyricist Shizz Dirt to form Character Assassins. Character Assassins grew and built a steadfast momentum, quickly. Crawdad and Shizz released their debut album “Sinnocent,” which not only garnished a name in the Hip Hop community for Character Assassins but expanded Crawdad’s name unto another level.

In 2012, Crawdad used his newly gained reputation, name and audience to his advantage. He completed his full-length album, 18 track masterpiece "Complex." This album was nothing but a huge success. Due to the great response from “Complex,” Crawdad continued touring and performing, relentlessly. This year, 2013, sees the release of 3 separate projects. First, "Back II The Rhyme", is a comprehensive EP following the life and mind of Crawdad. "Heartbreak Hip Hop & Junkie Jams", the sophomore album from Character Assassins, and finally "Ology", Craw's latest work of true art.

Crawdad has shared the stage with artists such as MURS, Andre Nickatina, Shifty Shellshock, Blueprint, Psyco Les (The Beatnuts), Apathy, King Magnetic, The Grouch & Eligh, Scarub, Eligh & Amp Live, LuckyIAm, Masta Ace, Warfare, Kimberly Rose, Chino XL, R.A. The Rugged Man, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and many more.

Crawdad has proven himself to be an incomparable force behind the microphone and in the Hip Hop community. With routinely gaining fans and constant exposure, it is more than apparent Crawdad will be a mainstay and force in Hip Hop.