Slimm Cutta Calhoun Interview
Author: Mr. S

Mr. S got an EXCLUSIVE interview last week with Slimm Cutta Calhoun and wanted to give y'all the fat truth about his Aquemini Records debut "The Skinny."

WRITER'S NOTE: The tape I used to record this was pretty messed up. Some of the conversation is intelligible, other parts are not. Much of this typed transcript is paraphrased. It's shorter than I would have liked, but I did the best I could with the quality of the tape.

Mr. S: Slimm? What's up? This is Mr. S from RapReviews.com. How you doing?

Slimm Calhoun: Not bad, man, I'm just chillin.

Mr. S: Cool. Hold on a second while I get the recorder ready.

Slimm: Aight.

Mr. S: Okay... first things first, when's the album gonna drop?

Slimm: November 7. "The Skinny", in stores. You know what the Skinny is, right?

Mr. S: Tell me.

Slimm: You don't know?

Mr. S: I know, man, but I want your definition for the article.

"The Skinny is the scoop, you know? It's the info, the word. That's what I'm doing with this album. I'm giving you the scoop.."

Mr. S: Yeah, yeah. Allright, who did the production for the album?

Slimm: Earthtone 3 - that's Andre, Big Boi and Mr. DJ - did most of the tracks on here. Organized Noize did one of the cuts. Cee-Lo. The Calhouns - my cousin Lucky Calhoun helped me out on one of the tracks.

Mr. S: You gonna tour to promote the album?

Slimm: Yeah, we been doing some touring already, actually. We were doing some shows down here in the south-east the last few weeks. Went up to New York last week. We're gonna be on the west coast in the next few weeks. Gonna be in Miami. You know, we're just trying to get some publicity for the album, get the name out there.

Mr. S: Nice. What are some of the differences working with OutKast and Mr. DJ as your record execs, instead of for a big record company like, say, Def Jam or LaFace records?

Slimm: It's a lot easier, you know? Because they're artists, too. They know what it's like to be in there actually making an album, they know how hard it is. And they pretty much let me do my own thing. I got a lot more freedom here than I would've most other places. OutKast is real cool to work with, they're just laid back. It's a good atmosphere to record in, they let me be creative and do songs that have meaning to me, and it allowed me just to have fun making music.

Mr. S: Now, a lot of cats seem to mix you and Cool Breeze up. Explain the difference between you as far as style and any thing else.

"Cool Breeze is my cousin, Freddy Calhoun, that's my cousin, so I think that's a big part of why people get us confused."

Mr. S: Yeah. Okay, a lot of southern artists seem to have trouble getting exposure. I mean, you got like Cool Breeze, Witchdoctor, Youngbloodz, all dropping tight albums in the last year or so but none of them have really blown up on the national scale. Why do you think it's harder for someone from down south to get credit nationwide than it is for someone from NY or Cali?

Slimm: Well, I think part of it is that we got into it a little later than the rest. Like if you look at all the famous rappers from the 80's, almost all of them came from the northeast or the west coast, so we haven't really been on the national scene as long. Another thing is that people tend to generalize about music from the south. Besides OutKast and Goodie Mob, most of the stuff people hear from the south is stuff like Master P and Cash Money, and they think that's all we're about. I think we're advancing, though. I hope that with my album and OutKast's album, we can take this thing to another level, and I think we will. Reason I think that is because we're talking about real, concrete issues that affect everyone; you don't have to be from Atlanta to relate to what we're talking about. I have friends from a lot of different areas, not just down south. So I know what people go through everywhere, and that helps me make music that'll reach everyone. And we're not just making this music to have something that just sounds good to bump in your car - of course that's part of it - but we also want it to have an impact on the listener.

Mr. S: Yeah, and speaking of that, what are your thoughts on the current state of hip hop? It seems like a lot of people in the game right now are just in it to make money, not showing any creativity, and doing it for the love of the art form.

"..if you make an album just to make money, you're making it for the present, people aren't gonna remember it in the future."

Mr. S: When you first got into the game, which rappers did you look up to the most?

Slimm: Run-D.M.C., LL, Eric B. and Rakim, EPMD, those were some of my early favorites, and then later you had 2Pac, Biggie, Jay-Z, OutKast.

Mr. S: Allright, if you could do a song with any 3 rappers, and one producer or producer group, like P.A. or whatever, who would you choose?

Slimm: Besides Earthtone and the Dungeon Family?

Mr. S: Yeah.

Slimm: The producer would be Dr. Dre. And the rappers would be... Jay-Z, Pac, and Biggie.

Mr. S: What's your favorite part of the music industry, and what's your least favorite part?

"My least favorite part is just the business side, you know? When it gets away from having fun and making music, to being corporate."

Mr. S: That'd be tight. Allright, you prefer gold or platinum jewelry?

Slimm: Well, I'm wearing platinum now, so I guess I have to say platinum... but I'm going back to gold.

Mr. S: Okay, last question. Personal... the car question. If you could have any car from any year, what'd it be?

Slimm: Hmm... I gotta go with a '68 Chevy Impala. Black on black, with the Bow-Tie doors, and the 454 under the hood.

Mr. S: Hell yeah. Allright, man, I just wanna thank you for taking the time out to do this interview, really appreciate it.

Slimm: Hey, man, no problem. I appreciate it.

Mr. S: The album's tight, hope it blows up, best of luck.

Slimm: Thanks. Peace.

Mr. S: Later.

Originally posted: September 26th, 2000
source: RapReviews.com