Interview With Cecil Otter

Cecil Otter, one of the MCs from the local powerhouse Doomtree, has recently released his first full-length album, Rebel Yellow. I sat down with Cecil and asked him some questions about his new album, the recently released Doomtree crew record, and other pertinent points of business.








Jack Spencer: So, first of all, are you excited about the album's release?

Cecil Otter: Of course. I've been waiting on it for a long time.

JS: How long has Rebel Yellow been in the making?

CO: Probably about 4 years or so. It got destroyed about 2 years ago. All the beats that I had were made in Pro Tools, ... One day I came to my computer and the folder was just gone, and so I lost everything. I remade everything over the past few years, and making new material too, just trying not to lose my mind.

JS: Did you then start from scratch, or did you try to rebuild what you had worked on?

CO: I went and found the same samples, I wanted the same sound because I liked the beats so much. There's a lot of stuff I took out, a lot of brand new stuff I added, and a lot of new instrumentals and stuff like that. It was worth it, though; I'm glad [the album's] coming out when it is. I feel like I've progressed enough in my head. I went through [mixer and engineer] Joe Mabbot doing recording, that dude's a genius. It's still gritty, but it's a lot more polished.

JS: This album is right on the heels of the Doomtree crew record, it's good to see you guys trying to keep up that momentum.

CO: It's stuff we'd been working on for a long time, just waiting, and we were like, "Let's just put this album out,". We've been working on it for so many years, we gotta really push that one. Everyone gets represented really well on that, then after that settles we can push ourselves as solo artists. Every month we have a new album coming out. Mike [Mictlan]'s album is coming out next month [Hand Over Fist with Lazerbeak, set for release on Sept 23], and then Dessa's. Dessa has a couple of different plans she might be doing, it's not set in stone what she's doing, but there's definitely something coming out [from her] this fall. Me and Paper Tiger are trying to do an instrumental album, just going back and forth, giving each other Pro Tools sessions. I'm big on making huge elaborate instrumentals and I haven't really had a chance to do that. That's gonna come out in November, right before the Blowout [Doomtree's annual concert in December].

JS: The Doomtree album was such a collaboration between all members, but Rebel Yellow really feels like your project. It's basically your first solo record, you produced every beat and there's not many other MCs on it.

CO: I threw on "Traveling Dunk Tank" with P.O.S., which is the first song we've done together. We started this thing years ago and just never wrote songs together, so I'm just kind of paying homage to that beginning. That's the only reason I felt it had to be on there; it was hard for me to put that on because, in my mind, I want it just to be me, nobody else. Not in a selfish way, I just wanted to see if I could do it. It kind of went through the theme of Rebel Yellow, and I didn't want to stray from that. I wanted it to be a struggle, I wanted to get through it. I wanted to just get some kind of story out and make it cohesive. It meant a lot to me to do it like that, otherwise it might start to lose it's meaning. It's somewhat conceptual, not necessarily stream-of consciousness or anything... There's characters built throughout it, and there's some songs where I'm writing about a group of people that I turn into one person, just kind of completing a story. But nothings full finished on it in a way; it's completely developed to me but they're unfinished thoughts... It's like, when people say "You're a better man than your music", and I think I am, but there's shit that I want to live up to, theories and ideas and ways I feel about things that I haven't fully drawn out myself.

JS: What was the collaboration process like when working on the Doomtree record?

CO: There were so many different ways... The False Hopes was just all these songs we had, we had built up so many songs. There were lots of times where three dudes would just get together on a beat, like "I got this" or "Let's write to this", and you can tell they're in the same vibe. It's harder for me, it's more of a struggle to write with other people. As soon as I hear a beat, I get an idea of sort of what I want to do, and I wanna make it mine, like I want to do the whole song.
JS: Yeah, if you have a particular vision, it's hard to put another person on it because their ideas might not conform to that necessarily.

CO: It slows me down, and I don't wanna slow them down. The song me and Dessa did together, "Last Call", took us probably 5 months of hanging out a few times a week over some drinks or in 9 hour sessions with MK Larada pushing us, because it was his beat. I had had this idea for it like 2 years before, and Dessa had something for it. [The producers would] burn a bunch of beats to a CD and hand them out to people, and we'd come back and say "I'm really into this one" or "I'm really into this one"... It just so happened that, a lot of the beats, Mictlan and P.O.S. and Sims would be into the same ones, and just go into a corner and start rapping, and me and Dessa would be like "I'm thinking about this bittersweet song..." [laughs]. ["Last Call"] took us a really long time to write, and we probably wrote it 80 different ways. Some shit came really quick, and some was drawn out. I'm definitely really happy with [the album] and how it came out.



JS: When did you first start rapping?

CO: I fell in love with hip-hop at a really young age, by watching breakdancers and stuff; I'd always try to headspin in my neighbors yards. When I was about 8 years old, my sister, who was 14 at the time, ran away from home. I looked up to her like crazy, and she left me this box of tapes, with Eazy-E, you know, other stuff from that era, and I just listened to that with my friend all the time. I'd just write stories all the time, adult stories, like I was married and someone came and kidnapped my wife and I was hunting them down, stuff like that, I don't even think it rhymed. I started sampling and making beats when I was about 18... The song "1999" is about spinning 78s, 45s, 33s since '99... My friend Paul started sampling and making beats on a Dr. Sample, we started sampling then by hand and live and on 4-track, then writing raps that had no bar structure, trying to make like 3 a day. Do that, then go do graffiti and not talk to anyone, just be hermits. I just fell in love with perfecting it and hearing other beatmakers, like Ant and Sixtoo and all those dudes, just being like, I wanna be like that. They're always working, not changing themselves drastically but pushing themselves in other directions.

JS: TuPac or Biggie?

CO: I am a huge fan of what TuPac stood for and what he tried to do with his music, especially being so vocal about communities and bringing them together. [He wasn't] trying to turn stuff PG-13, just to really fight for it. You can't just sit back in an armchair and expect things to happen. Biggie was an amazing lyricist and an amazing songwriter, and I just might not know much about him, but I feel like he hadn't affected me as much as TuPac did. TuPac was a really old soul for his age, just such a strong person. I would have to say TuPac gets a few more points than Biggie does in my book, but I still really respect Biggie Smalls.

JS: How went your tour with the Flobots?

CO: It was really fun. It was a learning experience. Everyone was great in the band. I think we all had our doubts that maybe there'd be some tension in the band, because it's like 7 people sitting next to each other in the van 18 hours a day, you know... But there were no bad vibes at all. The crowds were really big and really accepting. We did basically the West Coast from North to South, for about three and a half weeks.

JS: Doing shows like that, do you feel like you've got a growing fan base on a national level?

CO: Yeah, definitely. One way to judge it is just sales and MySpace. Like, all of a sudden I go from having 3 people wanting to be your friend it's like, 5 pages. People from all different age groups are into it, the Flobots had all-ages shows, so we saw people from age 8 to 48. It was pretty great.

JS: So your CD release show is this Friday?

CO: Yeah, at the Triple Rock. I'm gonna be playing with The Millionth Word and Attracted To Gods. We're doing an all-ages show at 6 at a 21+ at 9. It's gonna be awesome.

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You heard the man: Awesome. Be there and pick up an album, it's certain to be one hell of an event.



Cecil Otter: Rebel Yellow CD Release
with The Millionth Word and Attracted To Gods
Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Ave
All Ages at 6 PM - $7, 21+ at 9 PM - $9

Rebel Yellow: Available in stores now or online at Doomtree.net