The Skinny on Slimm "Cutta" Calhoun

New Game. Enter Slimm "Cutta" Calhoun. The first artist recorded at Earthtone III, Outkast’s studio, brings a formal music industry education — a knowledge of the game seldom seen in new artists; a patient, charismatic demeanor; thoughtful writing and wicked delivery; and, of course, that Mafia-style gangsta moniker.

An Atlanta native, Slimm boasts a combination of potent delivery, a wicked command of language, catchy hooks and above all else, a message on his debut CD, The Skinny, slated for release on April 10^th. The Synthesis talked to Slimm about his new album, touring with Outkast and his Southern-fried recipe for making hip-hop, poised to make his one of the next big names in rap. Here’s some of what he told us:

So, where you at?
Out here in Detroit.

Getting’ ready to do a show?
Yeah.

So, you’re a couple of shows into the tour now. How’s that going for you?
Oh, it’s going great.

Is this your first big tour?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. First big tour.

So, are you doing your own set on this tour, or performing just with the guys from Outkast?
Nah, I got my own set. But it’s in the middle of Outkast’s.

So, we are going to hear some stuff from your debut, The Skinny?
Yeah, most definitely. I’m gonna do the first single, "It’s OK," another song, "Dirk Work," featuring Big Boi. And I’m gonna do "Well," the B-side to the next single. Then I come back and do the Outkast cut I’m featured on, "Gangsta Shit."

Now, The Skinny was originally slated to hit the streets a little earlier. What caused the delay?
Well, the label wanted my album to come out when [Outkast’s] Stankonia came out. But that got pushed to the fourth quarter, and that just makes it a lot tougher for a new artist to come out then. Also, we were trying to decide what single to drop next and pick the next video.

Yeah, I heard an advance of your CD, and it’s one of the most solid debuts I’ve heard in a long time.
Thanks. We felt like we had a lot of options. So it was just a lot of timing issues that came into play. And with me being out on tour too, that’s hard. I’ve been just nonstop traveling. We’ve been doing appearances and have been in Europe on the Eminem tour.

And you just did MTV’s TRL with the boys from Outkast recently too, right?
Oh yeah, most definitely. I walked through with them the other day. We were up in New York. It was a good thing.

Now, Outkast has been getting a lot of play from the MTV market and even the TRL crowd. What are your chances of getting The Skinny some of that kind of coverage, and how important do you think that market is to you?
I mean, it’s most definitely a great market to get into. But coverage-wise, you never know. There’s a lot of politics in the game. So you just have to wait and see. But MTV has a lot of viewers, so that’s always a plus.

So, you don’t have some of the reservations that other hip-hop artists do about getting their music to a bunch of white 14-year-old girls from the suburbs? Not that that’s a bad thing, but what’s your take?
It’s all about selling records to people who like what you do, not about a particular group. Whoever can dig the music. That’s who it’s for.

So, how do you start putting music together? Are you constantly writing and then just looking to output the beats to it?
I don’t constantly write — like I don’t write every day. But I’m always coming up with ideas, like hooks —the main ingredients to your songs.

So, is that always the starting point?
Most of the time, because that’s like your idea. I look at writing songs like writing a research paper: First you got to define your topic. So, the hook is like your thesis statement, what you song’s basically about. Then, your verses are like your body paragraphs. Basically, that’s what it is.

So, you wrote all your own stuff for The Skinny?
Oh yeah.

Now, there are some tracks that, production-wise, have a sound similar to what we’ve heard from Outkast.
That’s that Earthtone III.

Yeah. So was that a conscious effort, to kind of build off some of what they have going?
Well, as far as the sound, we use a lot of live instrumentation, so you hear the guitars and bass. A couple tracks do have that Outkast feel. We did these albums at the same time. And we just tried to keep the music innovative.

So, how important is having a consistent mood or theme throughout the CD for you?
Musically, I’ll rap over just about anything. I try to do a bunch of different songs, party songs and stuff more serious.

On that serious tip, a lot of the album’s tracks have a real sense of consciousness.
I guess I just learned early on that you have to listen to what’s going on. And with me listening, that helped me to put it out there in a different way, not necessarily preaching, but giving them something to listen to and still gain knowledge.

That reminds me: Way back when they might have asked this question, ‘Beatles or Elvis.’ But I’ll ask you, Biggie or Tupac?
Tupac, always. That’s one of my biggest inspirations, his music. Even like the consciousness there. That’s one of the ways I got through some stuff in my life. And that’s really my aim. At the end of the day, I want you to get a little more out of the music than you’ve been getting.

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