Q & A with Cut Chemist

Former Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli DJ Cut Chemist recently released an album titled Sound of the Police. Sound of the Police is an eclectic live album featuring music from Africa and South America.

Making Sound of the Police even more unique is that Cut Chemist recorded the album using one turntable, one mixer, and a loop pedal. Sound of the Police boasts many musical styles but still has a Hip-Hop feel.

I spoke with Cut Chemist about Sound of the Police, digging for international sounds, and a possible Jurassic 5 reunion.

SS: How did Sound of the Police come about?

Cut Chemist: There was a show about a year and a half ago that a friend of mine put on called Timeless. It featured different jazz artists and one of them was Mulatu Astatke from Ethiopia who I'm a huge fan of. It was his first time performing in L.A. My friend Brian Cross who put these shows together asked me if I wanted to open up and of course I said yeah. I wanted to do something special so I thought it would be nice to do something African and even throw in some Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Colombian stuff. To make things even more of a performance based spectacle I performed the whole show with one turntable and a loop pedal with cameras on my foot and on the turntable so people could see on the big screen what I was doing. It went over with a huge degree of success and I was happy with it. I decided that it was something that I wanted other people to experience so I put it out and made into a CD.

SS: Where did the title come from?

Cut Chemist: A lot of the records that were made in Ethiopia in the 70's were made by artists with military personnel backing them up as bands. They had names like Bodyguard Band or Army Band. I thought it would be neat to call it Sound of the Police obviously referencing Hip-Hop with KRS-One. I wanted people to know that I still recognize Hip-Hop culture even though I'm doing something outside of the box.

SS: A lot of the songs on the CD sound familiar. Have any of those songs been sampled by Hip-Hop artists?

Cut Chemist: No, not really. Maybe on the first half of the CD something might have been. I try to stay away from things that are too familiar. There might be one thing on there but if it sounds familiar that's good because I try to use obscurity with some sense of familiarity. So it's a good thing that you felt that way. I'm succeeding [laughs].

SS: Do you purposely dig for African and South American records or did you just stumble upon those songs?

Cut Chemist: I do. I make it a point to collect that kind of stuff. I've never been to Africa but I'm enamored by it musically and culturally--certainly East Africa. It's a different sound that speaks to me so I try to collect that kind of stuff. As far as Brazilian and Latin stuff I get those sensibilities from being in Ozomatli which turned me on to those textures and sounds. I guess I've grown up over the years around that stuff and developed an affinity for it.

SS: You mentioned that you performed the show with one turntable; what's your opinion of Serato?

Cut Chemist: I have good opinions, I use it. It's a good tool to play music that you can't play otherwise. Less and less vinyl is being produced nowadays so it's difficult to play the latest song on vinyl when they don't exist on that format. So you kind of have to use Serato. Also people are using Serato to do really intricate mash-ups and specialty mixes. Serato is a good tool to get that off. The downfall to Serato is that it makes deejaying accessible to everyone which is fine but it kind of over-saturates things and makes it more difficult--everybody is a DJ with programs like Serato. It's growing in popularity and that's not a bad thing.

SS: Jurassic 5 is one of the best live rap acts that I've ever seen. You guys were amazing. Do you miss the group at all?

Cut Chemist: Yeah. Yeah, I do. That's very kind of you. Thank you. I do miss it. I miss playing with a rap group. When I started deejaying I always envisioned that I'd deejay in a rap group. Solo DJ's weren't really happening in the 80's. You were always attached to a group and that's how you earned your credibility. When Jurassic 5 formed I had solo work going and I was attached to a Hip-Hop act. It was a great way to share ideas and build songs with people. I miss the performing, the shows, the people, and the energy. Those were great times. We all appreciated the same types of Hip-Hop and it made it easy to build music together. So, yeah I definitely miss it, 100%.

SS: Is there a chance for a reunion?

Cut Chemist: [laughs] I'm working on it. We're all keeping our fingers crossed. Everybody is really busy with solo stuff. I'm excited about the possibility. I think we should get everybody to sign a petition or something.

SS: [laughs] I could get that started. Let's just say the group never materializes, will you ever work with another rap artist on the road?

Cut Chemist: Yeah, I do stuff with my friend Hymnal. I do stuff with Egon and Mr. Lif. I try to keep the ball rolling by working with other emcees. It's tough because J-5 is a tough act to follow. I definitely try to keep my ear to the street and handpick people that I like and can work with. The other thing about working with Jurassic 5 is they were real personable people. We pretty much grew up together so it was easy to work with people like that. It's a little bit more difficult when you don't know someone and you're trying to make a connection to get some chemistry going. With the aforementioned I have a pretty good rapport with them.

SS: What's up next for you in 2010?

Cut Chemist: I'm going to take this Sound of the Police thing all the way. I'm going to do some shows around it hopefully. I have some remixes coming out. I have a Ninja Tune remix and a Quantic remix for something off of his latest album. That's about it. I'm working on my next artist album. That should be out in the spring of next year.

SS: Why should fans go out and buy Sound of the Police?

Cut Chemist: Good question. I think that my fans have been on some pretty hardcore journeys with me. I've made a lot of left turns and they've done a good job of sticking with me. This is another left turn for sure only because it focuses so much on African inspired music. It's so much different from anything that I've ever done. It's also a insight into my personal taste which is also a reason why fans should buy it. If you really want to know what I listen to and what I'm inspired by to make the music that I make, this is it. This music on Sound of the Police gets my inspiration going to make new compositions for my artist albums. If they're interested in what I'm inspired by then they should go and pick it up.