anderswolleck

Cut Chemist is part of the seminal hip-hop band Jurassic 5. But in the past few years hes stepped back from the band to work on his solo album, The Audience's Listening. After four years hes finished the album and is releasing it through Warner Bros.

Buy The Audience's Listening

Daniel Robert Epstein: Why did it take you so long to get a solo album done?

Cut Chemist: Because Ive been in 20 other groups [laughs]. I was doing stuff with Ozomatli and Jurassic 5. I didnt leave want to leave Jurassic 5 until it was absolutely necessary to do the album which was in 2004.

DRE: How much of the album is done on computers?

CC: All of it. Well I did a preliminary production on the main track reel to reel and stuff like that and but everything was committed to Protools.

DRE: Why was it the right time to do a solo album?

CC: Because Warner Bros. was knocking on my door going where the hell is the record? I had signed in 2002 and they said, We need an album in a year. I said, Well thats a little optimistic, maybe two. So 2004 was the three year mark and Warner Bros. was like alright man you said two years, whats up? Well Jurassic 5 is starting a new record and theyre going to tour some more. Then my managers like, Well what do you want to do? I said, leave. It was the only thing I can do or I would lose this huge opportunity.

DRE: Is Jurassic 5 on Warner Bros?

CC: No, theyre on Interscope.

DRE: There you go.

CC: Yeah, thats the conflict.

DRE: Is The Audience's Listening a phrase you heard or anything like that?

CC: No, but theres obvious references to THX-1138 and the whole Lucasfilm thing but its a title that Charlie Tuna came up with. It always stuck with me and I asked him if I could use it for my album because I thought it was really fitting and had certain connotations to it that I liked.

DRE: I did read that youre a big Star Wars fan. Even the new ones?

CC: Yeah, even the new ones. Its really trendy to not like these new ones and I liked them a lot because Im into just the whole story of the legacy of the Jedi knights and thats what this was about so I love them.

DRE: I did think it was cool that at least you get to see more of everything weve been hearing about for years.

CC: Yeah. Of course nowadays the people that write dialogue are not as sharply tuned as they were in the 70s or 80s and you arent going to find another group of actors like Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. Cut them some slack, theyre good films.

DRE: Your album, of course, is very much a part of hip-hop but it doesnt seem totally tied to it.

CC: Well hip-hop in the truest sense respects all types of music and tries to fuse so many genres together to create a new genre. Thats what Im trying to do. So it does stray away from what people know as hip-hop. There are a lot of different textures and some people might think it is a little too far left. But as I said I really am trying to create a new genre.

DRE: Those are big words.

CC: Yeah, it is. But I think that every hip-hop record should try to do that because hip-hop is trying to take music from other areas and make something new. I dont know if Ive achieved it, but Im trying to.

DRE: Do you think hip-hop is where it should be at this point or do you think it should be a lot further along?

CC: Instrumentally its gone further than I ever thought it could from back in the 80s when I was seeing what DJs could do. But I think somewhere between X-Clan, Public Enemy and Wu Tang something got twisted up and Im not sure if we can ever find our way back. Back when consciousness was cool, I was like listening to rock learning something but now its just not cool to be conscious of anything.

DRE: It is strange whats happened to rap.

CC: In this last ten year bracket, it hasnt gotten any better. So I was thinking, Ok, its going through a cycle and sooner or later that sense of consciousness will come back. It really hasnt yet, instead it is going further down the abyss of ignorance. Im just trying to figure out what the hells going on. There are people out there that are trying to fight that but theyre just not breaking through.

It is weird because the music side of it is really good. Im really into The Neptunes and Timbaland so I think that if rappers would just come in just a little smarter, it would be right where it needs to be. So well see.

DRE: Since you are trying to create something new and this album took a few years, how much did it change from what you thought it would be in the first place?

CC: A lot. Back when I started my whole notion of doing a hip-hop record I thought I would use loads of great samples and breaks and then that got old. It is very cut and paste because thats my style but its using different sounds to cut and paste together. Tempos are different and the textures are different so it is a lot more aggressive, abrasive and rocky.

DRE: I read that you actually tested tracks during your DJ sets.

CC: Yeah. I did that on days I just recorded them to see if I was going in the right direction. Since this is a solo thing I have nobody to bounce ideas off of anymore. In Jurassic 5 everything we did had to be unanimous in order to make a decision. I didnt have that luxury so my only choice was to try it out in the field.

DRE: Would you change stuff based on audience response?

CC: Mix-wise I would. I spent a year mastering the record just on the mix. I would try it in the club and play it with other records because I want DJs to be do that in the clubs. I dont want the volume to plummet after playing Timbaland records. For those reasons alone I was making changes.

DRE: Where do you pick up your samples?

CC: Everywhere. Theres actually a lot of live playing that I sample. Friends of mine play music so I sample that and then I sample records from around the world when I travel. I recorded a song in Brazil with a band and sampled some stuff. I didnt want people to be able to figure out whats raw and whats sampled.

DRE: I read it was really difficult to clear all those samples.

CC: Yeah. Warner Bros is pretty tough about that stuff. It was a lot harder than the Jurassic 5 albums because there were a lot more. I think that the guy that was handling my samples was a better negotiator because I was able to retain a lot of the publishing.

DRE: I read that for your next album you might not even use samples.

CC: This album is the album that I always wanted to do but I would like to get more acquainted with gear and instruments. It would be nice to see if I can exist in that world.

DRE: Did you record the album in your home studio?

CC: Yeah and Warner Bros came in and upgraded it. The main thing was that I was using a drum machine but I got rid of it because I prefer the 24-bit to the 16-bit and then also the sequencing power on vocals is a lot better because the MPC was looping around wrong after so many reps which annoyed the hell out of me so I got rid of that thing. But really I just use Protools.

DRE: I assume you play many instruments.

CC: I can. If youre holding a gun to my head I can play pretty much anything.

DRE: But you dont actually do that.

CC: I didnt. I hired pros.

DRE: I read youre doing some more work with Hymnal.

CC: Yeah hes an MC from Los Angeles that Ive known since middle school. I wanted to get him down on this record and What's the Attitude was one of those songs that magically happened in a matter of minutes.

DRE: So hes going to do his own album and youre going to help him with that?

CC: Yeah, were talking about doing another project to follow up this record called Town Flood so were going to see if it flies. Were trying to put it together now but obviously it has been put off because Ive been so busy, but were working on it.

DRE: Besides Warner Bros telling you to get going on the album, how was it working with them?

CC: Theyve been really supportive and Im constantly surprised that a big corporate label like that can see the potential of a record like this. There are a small percentage of people there that are really behind it.

DRE: Are you going to be doing any videos?

CC: Theres going to be a video for Whats the Altitude.

DRE: Did you come up with the concept?

CC: Hymnal and I came up with it. I could tell you about it but it wouldnt seem so interesting in conversation.

DRE: Are you in it?

CC: Im in it. I got to be.

DRE: Ive read a couple of different things. Are you on the next Jurassic 5 album or not?

CC: Im not at all. For the first few songs being made I was still in and going to the sessions and then I wasnt able to anymore.

DRE: Are you still cool with everyone?

CC: Oh yeah, everybodys good. Hopefully well work on the next one. Still to this day I havent worked with anybody as natural MC-wise as I did with Jurassic 5.

DRE: When did you get into hip-hop?

CC: I grew up in LA and I was heavily into New York hip-hop by 1983. I was actually taking trips out to New York because my sister went to NYU. So every summer my family would come out here and I would be bringing records back home and just learning a lot about New York and its history in hip-hop. Also in LA I was listening to punk stuff like the Minutemen.

DRE: When did you get your first turntable?

CC: I think 1984. I got started early, man. I saw this one turntable for 80 bucks and I bought it or actually my folks bought it because I was 11. But then I went and got this mixer from this weird Japanese dude that had all this weird gear. This one mixer he had was awesome so I got started with one mixer and one turntable.

DRE: Right now it must be a really good time to be a DJ.

CC: Yeah it is. There are lots of different DJs and DJ genres keep splitting up into new genres.

DRE: What are you listening to now?

CC: A lot of African stuff. I always try to keep tied into ethnic music because its really the basis of what I do.

DRE: Obviously youre going to do a really big tour for this. Will you be working on something new on the road?

CC: No, I cant really do that recording on the road type stuff. Its not my style but I will be buying records to start compiling work for the new record.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck