the cootdog project

A man with a microphone, the proper support, and the gift of gab can be one of many things. He could be a powerful vehicle for harmony, self-realization and unity, he could lead the expedition down the road to ruin, or he could simply be responsible for getting you sweaty and feelin’ the vibe. Whatever your opinion of cootdog is, one thing is for sure; he’s just raised the bar for Chico music. With the best production and presentation on an album I’ve witnessed from a Chico-based band, The cootdog Project is the real thing.
When I arrived at Blaze N’ Jay’s, our specified meeting point, coot suggested checking out his buddies Griswald, who were playing a free concert at Chico State. On the ride over, I encountered the first of a re-occurring theme; coot knows just about everyone in Chico and he considers his friends gold. Nikki Sierra, The Project’s vocalist was on coot’s cell phone trying to figure out how to meet up with us.
"I wanted her to be included in the interview, ‘cause she’s like the reason the song got so big." The song he was referring to is "Got To Be Right," which was recently featured in KLRS’, Color’s Survivor Challenge, a show which faces two new songs against each other to battle for votes. If a song were to win five times in a row, national syndication would be sure to follow.
"I didn’t even know ["Got To Be Right"] was gonna be on the show. The next thing I know, people are calling me saying, ‘congratulations, you’re number one,’ so I started listening and started getting my friends to call too so we could stay number one. For three nights we were number one, and on the fourth day we fucking lost to DMX. How the hell am I supposed to beat DMX!?" "Got To Be Right" lost by one vote (according to coot, the score was 25 to 24 votes), and it’s no wonder. The album, released on the fledgling Bill Diggler Productions label, should serve as an example to Chico’s music scene of how going the extra mile can separate great local albums from professional releases.
"We had it mastered down in Hollywood by Bernie Grundman Mastering. The label was like, ‘We don’t wanna skimp. We want it to sound quality, we don’t want it to sound like an average local Chico hip-hop thing.’"
Sonically, it’s right where it needs to be. The beats hit right, and there is enough gloss over the top to pull it all together into one fine piece of work. The rhythms and moods that were created for The cootdog Project were generated from ample samples, plus some live bass and drums.
"I did a lot of pre-production at home on my Korg keyboard," coot said. "But it eventually came down to a lot of sampling. I took the samples over to the studio — Pro Sound Audio, here in Chico. I ended up just taking a lot of CDs and sounds and stuff I wanted to make into beats over there."
When probed a little further on the legality of his samples, coot expressed a laissez-faire view on others’ intellectual material, especially if he’s crafted it into something entirely new. "I think you only give credit on samples when you use a certain amount that makes them unclearable, but these samples are so diced and chopped…[playing part of a mix tape] this is a small two-bar loop of the intro to [insert album name here], and [big artist, popular song] a half a bar of that in reverse, digitally turned around. These tapes come from the process while I was still writing the lyrics, so when I’d leave the studio, I’d just drive around in my car and come up with lyrics, whatever. I make beats and I produced a good deal of the beats on the album, but in order for there to be a lot of flavor, every song features somebody else."
Apart from the super-tight Project Band, the album features many of coot’s talented friends. "I just wanna keep all my friends well-represented on my album, cause your friends will always be there, that’s who you can really count on. It’s great that most of my friends are musicians, ‘cause that allows me to have them come in and work with what I’m working on. There’s a lot of variety, featured artists from Nikki Sierra to Empty Mind, Shock G from Digital Underground, Strictly Roots, Mystic Roots, Cornerstone, the last incarnation of Force 7, Vision Irie, rappers from ZZYZX… There’s only one track on the whole project that’s just me alone. I’m a firm believer in variety in terms of the listener not getting tired of the same beat style, the same lyrics, the same person."
coot has assembled a dynamic group of musicians, performers, artists and promoters to aid him in his work, and he’s very aware that the The cootdog Project is a collaboration of many minds working towards the same goal. The humble side of coot shows itself when he starts telling me about his band — his appreciation of their talents and accomplishments is plainly evident. "Project is a good band. We got Electric Circus’s bass player, Chris Henderson in there; Jeff Forehan on drums — incredible musician; Matt Baldoni on guitar. I mean, it’s a fuckin’ great band, they’re all great musicians. I’m probably the weakest link, and I’m not too shabby." When we ran into Forehan later that day, coot gushed at the drummer’s past roster of projects, including none other than Prince. "He’s fucking dope, he used to play for Prince. That just makes me happy, I know someone who knows Prince. I love Prince."
coot’s been doing well for himself lately, busily balancing his work with Mystic Roots and The cootdog Project, which he considers a side project. The role of master self-promoter and social butterfly is no doubt due to one of his special talents — the gift of gab. No kidding, throughout the day I witnessed him set up shows, attempt to set up a tour, and schmooze with just about everybody that had anything to do with Chico pop-culture and music. "You gotta be a personality. I’m just a dude in Chico. I’m not really separated from it all, like, I go see bands, I go to the clubs and party."
And from one listen to the album, coot’s party theme is distinct. The topics of politics, social justice and enlightenment aren’t necessarily the nerve center of this album’s message. The deep-rooted messages imbedded in most of the CD’s tracks are enjoyment of life’s simple pleasures. The album relies on the positive, if not centered on Chico party life and good times.
"It’s fun dance music," coot said. "The same kinda topics that Mystic Roots and I were covering, just in a different genre now, it’s hip-hop. I like to bring it so it still hits phat, there’re still slammin’ beats, dope lyrics, but that there’s also some positivity that’s getting pushed across to people. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to focus too much on this album on a lot of positive messages, but when I did I put everything into it like "Blowin’ In The Wind," probably my biggest message track. The other ones are kinda just party tracks." Although he raps about partying, girls and smoking weed, he wants people to take him seriously. "I just don’t want people to look up at me or my groups and think this is just mindless pop-music garbage like so much of what’s on MTV right now."
Although the motif of the album isn’t necessarily vast, the overall feel is positive. "No, there’s no reference to women as bitches and hoes, at least not from me. There’s no gangsterism, there’s no ‘I’m gonna kill you.’ A lot of the stuff that seems to be what’s working in rap today, I didn’t decide to go any of those routes, ‘cause that’s not me at all, and I’m not putting on a face for this album. This album is completely from front to back me. I have featured guests on there and what they say is them, but they don’t necessarily represent me."
When the subject of disrespect to women was brought up, coot had strong feelings on the matter. As a Chico resident, I’ve known coot for a few years and had the opportunity to hear his prior work with Shayne Tolchin and Mystic Roots and had some preconceived notions about how he treats women in song. From my perspective, I heard graphic explanations of sexual acts in a not so loving matter. Coot entirely disagreed, saying I was mistaken.
"It’s not crude, it’s sexual. It’s the same thing the Isley Brothers were talking about, just with more detail." He’s experienced this situation before, and some people think of coot as a flirty misogynist. "Those people don’t know me at all, I guess, ‘cause I have the utmost respect for women." From the same past exposure to coot’s work, I was also under the impression that all of his songs are about weed. The overall crowd favorite of Mystic Roots is "Smoke Out," (Chico Cali-for-Ni-A,), and the herb is mentioned in passing in most of his tracks, but coot is adamant on the stance that he’s no one-trick pony.
"Only one of (the tracks) is about herb, ‘Smoke a Pound,’ unless you want ‘Stressin’’ to be about herb, that’s actually about being in jail. I don’t say anything about herb in that, it’s about what it’s like to be in jail, how it makes you feel. My songs aren’t about the weed, but in a couple songs I might say something like, ‘Roll up your windows and get ready to hotbox the Chevy, with this chronic music.’ There’s a lot of analogies of music and herb; I think they’re very similar. They both get into your body, and totally change your mood, relax you, get you hyped up, make you think more about deeper issues, so music and herb have a lot in common in that sense. I’m definitely 100 percent for the legalization of marijuana. I’m a political prisoner, or I was at the time, I guess."
His drug love got him in trouble a year and a half ago while driving from San Diego to Los Angeles. "They stopped me and asked if they could search the car," coot said. "And I remembered in this situation the best thing to do is go, ‘No you can’t search the car. I have my rights, you have no probable cause, I’m in a hurry, no.’ I tried that…that doesn’t fucking work, they got pissed. They took out the K-9s, smelled weed in the backpack, found a whole lot more. They put me in jail for, like, seven days, where I missed my CD release party for my single."
Save incarceration, nothing can stop cootdog and his insatiable thirst for success and the pursuit of good music. "Today Digital Underground is playing at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma," he said. "They’re also playing here in two weeks, and Shock G is, like, a friend of mine, and we did "Freaks II" together on my album, so when he comes to Chico, we’re gonna do it live here." With friends in high places and support all around, coot’s setting himself up to be in the right place at the right time. A man with a vision and a mic has the world at his feet.

The cootdog Project is available at Tower, The Underground, Melody Records, or PF 126, where coot DJs.

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