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Published: April 17, 1999 Cool Breeze
After the hit men at Organized Noize set Atlanta and the millions within its earshot on fire with the platinum-selling Outkast, the gold-selling Goodie Mob, Witchdoctor and Kilo albums, a Cool Breeze is finally coming from the southern region, sure to shake up any notion about who a proudly southern rapper can and cannot move. Cool Breeze's Organized Noize/A&M Records debut, East Point's Greatest Hit aims at hip-hop fans from all coasts and regions, and fires away with some of the most deftly delivered and diverse styles to hit since, well, Outkast, Goodie Mob, Witchdoctor... Cool Breeze is actually a name he got from his older sister. A rapper herself, Cool Breeze's sibling gave him the title and apt description of his demeanor when he was just a 13-year-old trying to make his way in his native Atlanta suburb East Point. "She said I looked like Cool J," explains Cool Breeze. "It didn't have anything to do with what I sounded like." But to Freddie Calhoun, his only rap name has come to mean "I'm like the weather. Ain't no telling what I might be doing next!" For example on the album's swinging first single, "Watch for the Hook," Cool Breeze trades verses with fellow Dungeon Family members (Organized Noize calls the studio where they crafted their million-selling hits The Dungeon) Dre and Big Boi of Outkast, Witchdoctor, and Goodie Mob on a track powerful enough to formally, and properly introduce Cool Breeze to those who may not remember him from the Hoodlum or Set It Off soundtracks; or both the discs (Soul Food Still Standing Goodie Mob has put into more that one million CD and tape players.
"That song goes back to my beginning," explains Cool Breeze, "and I'm not talking about this record hitting stores. I've been writing for 15 years, so I've been prepared for this moment. I've taken my career seriously before I really knew I would have one. And me and the Dungeon Family go back since then too. When they finally got some equipment, I came with the raps. I've always been able to come up with the hooks, like 'What y'all really know about the Dirty South.' So 'Watch for the Hook' has two meanings: watch for the hook in the song, and look out for the hook, the power of this track, 'cause it's gonna hit you square in the face!" "'Watch for the Hook' is just one of those songs, one of those tracks, you get on and just go for yours," adds Andre "Dre" Benjamin, who along with Ice Cube is one of Cool Breeze's biggest influences. "It's something I can hear Tyson have them play before he enters the ring. Something to hype up the crowd. Or Evander Holyfield could use it to, if he really, really wanted to straight represent his hometown." Ding! Ding! Speaking of which, in case you weren't certain from that track of exactly how Cool Breeze was coming, he makes it plain on "Greatest Hit": "It takes some old school hustlers to come with some brand new shit," Breeze says in a tone as easy as his name would suggest. Any old or new school hustler in the music game knows that hit records almost always have to have a chorus that knocks you out. And sure to ring in your ears is, once again, that unforgettable hook: "Hit man! Tell the DJ spin a hit man! We drop nothing but the hits man! East Point's greatest hit man!" Can't get it out of your head, can you? "Breeze has always come with the hooks," admits Big Gip of Goodie Mob, who grew up with Cool Breeze. The two were also in a group together. "We got the name 'Dirty South' out there but he came with it. That's his brand." Of course Cool Breeze can come with that "Good Good" too. That straight party song that just gets bodies on the dance floor, palms pushing in the air... Then before you know it, the DJ has picked up the needle and put on something that has to be from Superfly or The Mack. Actually it's "Butta," a smoldering description of his experience with (Girls Raised in the South). Hey, like Cool Breeze says, "We Get It Krunk"-too! "Every coast likes to party like we do on that song," adds L.A.'s former member of Tha Dogg Pound, Kurupt, featured on "We Get It Krunk." Space-age baller Eightball jabs verbally on "Ten Points," as well. "I'm telling you, with the people involved, the love involved and tile skills involved, I call honestly say East Point's Greatest Hit is one of Organized Noize's greatest ever too," declares Grammy-nominated producer Rico Wade, who along with Pat "Sleepy" Brown and Ray Brown make up the principles of' platinum-selling (TLC, En Vogue, Outkast) Organized Noize Productions. "Breeze is our way of showing the world all that the south can do, all that this label can do and all that rap can be," continues Rico. "His album is long overdue. I mean, since 8th grade I've heard Cool Breeze put it down for the south. He was the first person I heard say, 'Welcome to Atlanta,' in one of his raps. He embraced where he was from locally long before the world know about the Dirty South." "I like to call myself a creator, not a rapper," adds Cool Breeze. "What I'm bringing is bigger than music. I create complete thoughts, you can call them songs. I try to create things you can't get out of your head, you can call them choruses. And it's all coming from the south, but it can go to anyone's head." So... Better listen to your comer and "Watch for the Hook." Better listen to your CD and watch for these hits! |
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