INTERVIEW: Cool Breeze
- Lang Whitaker
As one of the charter members -- along with Goodie Mob, OutKast and Witchdoctor -- of hip-hop's inventive, Atlanta-based Dungeon Family, Cool Breeze had a solid base from which to launch his solo debut, the recently released East Point's Greatest Hit. The first single from East Point's, the poetic, melodic "Watch For the Hook," which features the entire Dungeon Family taking turns on the verses, and Cool Breeze holding down the chorus ("The C stands for Cool Breeze who's known as the champ/Freddie Calhoun, the coolest cutter at camp/My one's and my two's got your whole town shook/Better listen to your corner, and watch for the hook") spent over a month at Number One on the Billboard Rap Chart.
Last month Cool Breeze (whose real name is indeed Freddie Calhoun) took a break from the final mixing of East Point to eat chicken wings, drink sweet tea and watch cartoons in The Dungeon, which is actually just the basement of producer Rico Wade's mansion just south of Atlanta. While relaxin', Cool Breeze discussed with Consumable what makes Cool Breeze the champ. You better watch for the hook.
CONSUMABLE ONLINE: How long have you been writing, doing your thing?
COOL BREEZE: I remember when I first started, I was ten or eleven years old, just rappin'. I remember hearing Run-DMC on the radio, and I started writin' raps. I was talkin' about the teacher, and I was just freakin' everybody out in class. I was in the sixth grade. That's like, eleven years ago. But, I was knowing what I was doing. That's what really tripped me out. I was understanding how to rhyme and put little phrases together...
CO: Tell stories?
COOL: For real. Even way back then I had little stories I would tell. But that came from my father being into music. He'd always make me and my sister sing and get up in front of people, so I wasn't shy, you know what I'm saying?
CO: Do you remember your first connection to hip-hop?
COOL: You remember back when the old "Roxanne" stuff came out, when you used to do your own version of it? I was doing it then. I would hear something and I would do my own version of it, even way back then. Me and my other friends, I'd get them into it.
CO: Your flow kind of reminds me of Run sometimes...
(Cool Breeze makes a weird, squeal/grunting noise of approval)
COOL: Old school?
CO: Yeah, I mean...your voice doesn't sound happy all the time, but it's kind of light, you know what I'm saying? Not as hard as a lot of shit is now. Do you think about that when you're recording?
COOL: Yeah, I try to be real, to not have an attitude when I'm rapping. You got to be able to feel it. I don't try and change my voice or do that kind of stuff. To do a whole album, and then go on the road with it, and to live with it? I wouldn't be able to do that.
CO: But that's good because you're thinking ahead.
COOL: Exactly. A lot of people think for the moment, they find something they can do and run with it. My thing is I stay in pocket. I know what I'm talking about because I'm creating the whole situation. It's just a matter of the people listening, catching all the little phrases I'm throwing, and being a part of it.
CO: Right, right. What are you trying to accomplish with your music? Are you going with this thing or are you just expressing yourself?
COOL: Yeah, I'm really expressing myself a lot. I look at myself as a creator. Dirty South, that was one of my first phrases that I even came up with that. All the phrases -- Old Nat-L, Old National Highway -- all the stuff that I use and all the shit that I do is just me. Can't nobody else do it.
CO: And it's lucky that you is able to translate to a rap album that will sell a lot of records and give you a job and still allow you to do what you want to do.
COOL: Exactly. That's what I like about it. When I look at my music, it's me, it's all me. It's like I rap exactly how I act, period. That's me on the album, you're getting me in full blood. That's my mental. All the cuts and all the phrases, that's me. That's what makes the music so fun, me not just talking about this is that or this is good, just me being me. A solo artist doing his thing.
CO: You've always come up with phrases that everyone knows now, haven't you? (Like "Dirty South")
COOL: That's my trademark -- Freddie Calhoun the creator. I don't even look at myself as a rapper, because I can do more than rap. I can create a whole scene. I can start with a hook, a title, a verse, and take it all the way there.
CO: You're like an artist, but instead of painting with a brush, you paint with your mouth.
COOL: Exactly, exactly...I...I can...I couldn't say it no better than that. Damn. I'm use that. That's like Cool Breeze shit, right there, saying stuff that means two things. Like the phrase "watch for hook," meaning two things. The hook means to hit somebody with a punch, but also in the song. I paint a picture, but not with a brush, with my mouth. That's Cool Breeze. Exactly.
CO: You talk about Cool Breeze like he's very separate from Freddie Calhoun.
COOL: These are like characters that I'm bringing out, and I'm setting them up like I want to. Cool Breeze is the rapper that's kicking it all off, and Cool Breeze is like the tree trunk. Then there's branches that are all branching off: Freddie Calhoun, The Calhouns, Cool Cutter. The branches are just full of shit, so I can just keep digging into it.
CO: (noticing the TV is on "Duck Tales") Do you like this?
COOL: What this right here? (laughs) Hell, no! (laughs) My son, he be killin' this kind of stuff. He just turned two in January. His name is Shacool Knairu. That means "Cool knowledge rules."
CO: That songs like a song.
COOL: Yup. Sounds like a hook.
