There are at least two artists with this name: 1. A hip-hop artist from Ventura, California 2. A '90s-'2000s indie rock band from Albany, New York 3. A short-lived hardcore band from Louisville, Kentucky. Active in 1989. 1) Crawdad (Michael Crawford, 23) is an American Hip Hop artist from Ventura, California. At a young age, he began writing and rapping and his passion for the culture has ensued sense. As a youth, Craw struggled with many issues and ultimately dropped out of high school. It wasn’t until Craw met producer Jim Claytor in Venice Beach, California in 2008 that he was able to turn his life around. Jim obtained a copy of Craw’s demo through a mutual friend, Warfare, and Craw and Jim soon began writing and recording. Their first collaborative effort was an extended play released in 2009 titled “The Underground Perspective”. Crawdad spent the next several years working in the studio with Jim and on stage looking to find his own unique voice and sound in hip hop. Craw and Jim were able to build, record and perform with several friends along the way including Kimberly Rose, Warfare, Medusa and many more. 2010 saw the release of Crawdad’s extended play “The Art of Making Flowetry”. This EP included beats from several different producers from all over the world and was well received by fans and peers alike. In 2011 Crawdad linked up with Bay Area producer and rapper Shizzy. The two collaborated on several tracks together and decided to form the group Character Assassins. Character Assassins quickly began working on their first project and in 2012 they released an extended play titled Sinnocent. Coming off of the success of Sinnocent, Crawdad released his Complex EP in 2012. An eighteen track EP that featured acapellas in-between every song. Following Complex, Character Assassins got back into the studio to record their second project “Heartbreak Hip Hop & Junkie Jams”. For this project the crew enlisted an all-star lineup including features from Slaine (of La Coka Nostra), King Magnetic (of AOTP), Randola (of Randam Luck), AIMS, Skinny Cavallo & more. The success of this album propelled the two to new heights when they linked up with heavyweight producer Matty Trump (Kelly Clarkson, Jadakiss, Styles P, Action Bronson, Sammy Adams, Slaine, AZ, Fat Joe) to work on their debut studio album “Disasterpiece”. In 2013 Craw released his “Back II the Rhyme” EP which included several fan favorites including his single “Where the Moon Stays” which peaked at #3 on the Rap Attack Nationwide college radio charts after being ranked on the top 40 charts for nearly 6 consecutive months. 2013 also saw the release of a collaborative effort between Crawdad & Hollywood producer Organ Grinder titled “Ology”. Along the way Craw has played venues all across the country and had the opportunity to share the stage with many greats, including 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 . In 2014 Character Assassins released their first single from their debut album Disasterpiece titled “Paper Shredders” Featuring Chino XL and produced by Matty Trump. The song was well received by critics and receieved radio spins nationwide. Although this story is still being written, Crawdad has proved himself to be a force in hip hop and surely has a bright future ahead. 2) Crawdad was an indie/alternative rock band based in the Albany, New York area that formed in the early '90s and disbanded in the mid-2000s. They consisted of former members of Albany band Private Plain, Jim Crawley, Joe Crawley, Jim Caringi, and Eric Katz, and formerly Denis Drouin. They released a single entitled "Busted at 5 O'Clock" in 1995, and a full-length album entitled "The Rock Album" in 2003. 3) Crawdad was a hardcore band from Louisville, Kentucky. The band was only active in 1989. A live demo cassette was released on Slamdek shortly after their break up.