Jason Mraz's best friend, Bushwalla, speaks about their decade long musical collaboration (VIDEO)

Billy Galewood, known as Bushwalla, shows off his hula hoop skills during a live performance

Courtesy Bushwalla

February 15 - Call him "Billy" or "Bushwalla", but not "Billy Bushwalla."

"'Bushwalla' is not my last name," Jason Mraz's best friend and frequent collaborator for 12 years, Billy Galewood, explains in an exclusive interview with Examiner.com. Bushwalla has been the nickname and stage name for Galewood for almost 10 years. He used to call himself "Bushwick", after Bushwick Bill, a rapper in one of Galewood's favorite hip-hop groups called The Geto Boys.

But believing they were destined for success, it was Mraz who urged Galewood to alter his stage name so that Galewood would not be confused with Bushwick Bill, the rapper. Once Mraz and Galewood started recording together back in 2001, "Bushwalla" was born.

Mraz and Galewood became friends when they both attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City back in 1995. They bonded over magic tricks and freestyle rap. During their second year at school, they became roommates living in an apartment on the Upper West Side at 77th and Broadway. Both had performed in musical theater while growing up, but found the classes at the Academy too stifling.

"We just wanted to write our own stuff," explains Bushwalla. "We were kids and enjoyed learning from our own experiences versus school." Although looking back now, Bushwalla does not recommend quitting school. "Finish school 'cause you'll have plenty of time for everything else," he urges. "Be creative and be inventive, but just get an education."

Mraz and Galewood both quit the Academy within months of each other and returned home - Mraz to Mechanicsville, Virginia and Galewood to Cleveland, Ohio - to try to figure out what to do with their lives. About six months later, Galewood even moved down to Virginia and was roommates once again with Mraz in Richmond.

However, the restless Galewood only stayed about six months and would return to Cleveland to pursue acting gigs. Meanwhile, Jason Mraz moved to the West Coast and kick-started his singing career in San Diego. The two close friends lost touch for three years before reconnecting when Bushwalla moved to Los Angeles in 2001.

In LA, Mraz and Bushwalla, while pursuing separate careers, would also perform together at open mic nights along with the other musicians in Bushwalla's makeshift band "The Grandmasters of All That Is Phat" at bowling alleys and coffee houses. They would make up the show as they went along blending hip-hop, acoustic rock and funk as well as comedy. At these open mic nights is where they also met Eric Schwartz, aka Smooth-E, who Bushwalla recently shared the stage with at the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club, and who collaborated with Mraz on the "Grati-Tube" videos released last year on YouTube.

Before Mraz's debut album was released in 2002, Jason and Bushwalla released an independent CD together called “Showtime at the Apocalypse” in 2001. Although only about 50 copies were made, it was a sign of things to come. Galewood would co-write two songs on Mraz's first major label release, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, ("Curbside Prophet" and "I'll Do Anything") and one song on the follow-up, Mr. A-Z ("Bella Luna").

Meanwhile, Mraz and Bushwalla have constantly shared the stage together over the last several years and according to Bushwalla, will continue to do so. Bushwalla was one of the supporting acts on Mraz's 2008 tour, "Music, Magic and Make Peace", and his performance of "Fall Through Glass" is featured on the DVD of Jason Mraz's recent live CD/DVD release, Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess - Live from Earth.

Jason Mraz appears on Bushwalla's 2008 album, Autodidactical, Freestyle and Radical, and he is known to show up unannounced from time to time as a supporting member of the band when Bushwalla headlines at local clubs like San Diego's Java Joe's. "He has an open invitation to play with me," explains Bushwalla.

Currently, Mraz is taking some time off to work on his next studio album, while Galewood is playing live shows and gearing up for a new album release. Galewood will be touring the East Coast in late February with a drummer and bass player, however, other Bushwalla shows can feature 6 members or more.

"The band can be up to 10 to 12 people. Bushwalla is more like a friendship than it is a name – you’re in the band, but you can be in any band," says Galewood.

Bushwalla will also be performing on February 27 at the Cord Progression benefit show in Long Beach along with Jason Mraz, The Makepeace Brothers and Timmy Curran.

In 2008, Bushwalla recorded a duet with singer Dawn Mitschele called "Mayhem Is Beautiful." His fourth album release is scheduled for later this year. For more information on Bushwalla, visit http://www.myspace.com/bushwallamusic or www.bushwalla.net.

Watch "Fall Through Glass" by Bushwalla featuring Jason Mraz below

Twitter: Follow the Jason Mraz Examiner on Twitter

Subscribe: Have the Jason Mraz Examiner column sent to your inbox