Donray Von, the cousin-turned-manager of rocker Cody ChesnuTT, sat silently backstage at a table eating buffalo wings an hour before ChesnuTT was to perform at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va. earlier this month. The Birchmere’s promoter sat down on a couch next to the table and talked with Von for a few minutes.
“I’ve heard the most buzz on your guy as an emerging artist since before Tori Amos put out her first CD,” the promoter said. “When I had heard about him I knew that he would be perfect to play here.”
“Have you listened to the album yet?” Von asked, looking up from his wings.
“Actually, no,” said the promoter. “I forwarded my only copy to The Washington Post reporter who was writing an article about Cody. The album’s really hard to find.”
For over six months, critics have been hailing ChesnuTT as the leader of a movement. Rolling Stone wrote that he was “a new breed of American troubadour.” The New York Times called ChesnuTT the “undisputed aesthetic leader” of the neo-black rock order, a growing group of African-American artists that eschew current hip-hop and R&B music trends for the broader rock genre.
“I’m playing a lot of different instruments on my album,” ChesnuTT said. “Playing a mellotron keyboard, a lot of people in the black community don’t know about that type of instrument; I can tell them about that. Or a guitar because it’s been taken out of our culture.
“For black guys to see another black guy with a guitar, half the time it’s like, ‘You’re playing white people music.’ But, now I’m able to go out and tell people about the options and the different choices that I’m able to make. I can say that the same thing is available to them: It’s that simple.”
Despite his critical acclaim, up until recently ChesnuTT’s album, The Headphone Masterpiece, was only available online, distributed by the Ready Set Go! label that ChesnuTT and Von created to market the album. ChesnuTT recorded The Headphone Masterpiece entirely on a four-track cassette recorder in his Los Angeles bedroom.
Out of a job and financially supported by his wife and friends, ChesnuTT sought artistic asylum in his bedroom, which he dubbed “The Sonic Promise-Land,” to begin recording an album with just a microphone, a variety of instruments, a pair of headphones and a four-track. While taping, he often had to use his toes to switch the recorder on and off. At night he had to whisper into the microphone so as not to wake his roommates. The result of these lo-fi recording sessions is a sprawling, autobiographical, 36-track piece. Over its 100-minute running-time, ChesnuTT merges rock, folk, funk, reggae, pop, R&B, soul and spoken word into unpolished album that defies categorization: Some songs last no more than a few seconds or are just ChesnuTT and his friends talking over a beat.
“I bet my whole career on this album,” said ChesnuTT. “But it feels real to me.”
While ChesnuTT and Von where pushing the album, The Roots’ drummer ?uestlove acquired a copy and invited ChesnuTT to play some dates on last summer’s Smokin’ Grooves Tour and to re-record one of the finest songs on The Headphone Masterpiece, “The Seed,” for the band’s recent release, Phrenology.
ChesnuTT finally released his album to the public in October, but it was available only via the web through his label. After The Roots’ album dropped, Ready Set Go! was flooded with requests: The first 10,000 albums were snapped up quickly and the label put in a new order of 25,000 more. Initially rejecting the album, record stores are now taking notice and The Headphone Masterpiece is beginning to trickle into shops. Currently, ChesnuTT’s $5,000 video for “Look Good in Leather” is getting major airplay on MTV. He has also recently finished a stretch opening for neo-soul queen Erykah Badu and following the Birchmere show, ChesnuTT left to open for The Roots on their latest tour.
ChesnuTT’s self-made success has come without the help and in spite of major labels. In the mid-90s, Hollywood Records signed ChesnuTT’s band, The Crosswalk, only to drop them after spending $500,000 to record an album that was never released. This time, ChesnuTT has repeatedly turned down signing major deals when labels request he remake The Headphone Masterpiece as a more polished 12 or 13 song set. He considers the album a finished product. The Roots’ label, MCA, tried to pull him off “The Seed (2.0)” and replace him with mainstream rocker Lenny Kravitz.
“The labels control this form of media and send it to a certain demographic; that way they can control the revenue off of it,” said ChesnuTT. “They can market it and know exactly what kind of returns to expect. I’m unexpected. The label actually tried to have Lenny sing my song. Why? Because it was easy, because it was bankable: People could just look at the name.”
Dressed in a leather jacket, faded jeans and a floppy, purple velvet hat, ChesnuTT took the stage at the Birchmere to the opening trumpets from his track “Serve This Royalty” blaring over the stereo system. ChesnuTT slid his guitar behind his back and leaned over the stage. The five-minute song ran for nearly 15 minutes before he stopped chatting, smiling and shaking hands with audience members in the front. When he finally finished, ChesnuTT pumped his guitar, motioned to his bandmates and ripped into “The Seed.”
For many artists, the excursion at the beginning of the performance would be enough of a digression for the entire show, but not for ChesnuTT. Throughout the two-hour performance, ChesnuTT would sing a song or two, then pontificate about Christianity and joke with the audience for the same amount of time. Many artists invite people from the crowd on stage to sing, but ChesnuTT gave two audience members almost a half-hour to recite while the band backed them up. At one point during the show, ChesnuTT pointed his guitar at a fan, struck a lone chord and asked: “Did you feel that?” ChesnuTT made it clear that with him you cannot separate the music from the man.
“I’m the kind of person that’s seeking inspiration and living off that,” he said. “It’s just being human, being used as a vessel, being used by God and having Him show you what your function is in the whole mix of things.”
Critics of ChesnuTT, however, have pointed out the inconsistencies between his religious dedication and the album’s misogynistic and profanity-laced leanings. ChesnuTT agrees with the criticism, but maintains this style is important so that he can reach as many people as possible and entice them to hear him spread a different message live.
“You’ve got a lot of people lost in the streets,” said ChesnuTT. “Personally, I just want to see my community, the black community, come out and realize the range. As crazy as it sounds, if you go to the bottom of the gutter of the culture [terms like] bitch and nigger are affectionate. If I’m supposed to go to the gutter of the ghetto and it speaks to the people on that level, then when they come to see me, they get to see the range of the culture.”
ChesnuTT backed up his talk: During the show, he refrained from singing more explicit lyrics from the album and played more uplifting songs. At the end of the concert, ChesnuTT dragged his microphone and guitar out to the floor to finish off “Look Good in Leather” and the dancing crowd enveloped him: Within seconds, the only thing visible on the slightly diminutive ChesnuTT was his ridiculous purple hat. When ChesnuTT finished the song, no one left. He spent the next two hours hugging fans, signing autographs, listening to pitches from aspiring artists and spreading his gospel, even though he had to drive to New York City that night to meet The Roots.
ChesnuTT’s integrity and confidence are the reasons why he is so frustrating to many. He does not give listeners what they want on an immediate level, a polished album with 12 songs or a concert with 20 songs and cynical, emotionally detached commentary. But on a deeper level, he gives fans what they crave-a strongly personal connection to his life without trying to gloss over the flaws and rough edges. Everything is genuine and has a purpose-from writing misogynistic songs to the capital “T’s” at the end of his name.
“When I was a kid, I was known as Tony T from Chesnutt St.,” he said. “Our family was the center of the community musically. All the music you hear, it’s the life experiences of my family.”
Outside the Birchmere after the show, Donray Von stood in the cold talking to a videographer who is shooting a documentary of ChesnuTT’s rise to stardom. When asked when the movie is going to debut, Von said matter-of-factly, “We’re going to stop filming when the album hits No. 1.”
