Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.
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One of the first names on the early dubstep scene, Cotti serves his low end bass riddims with a-more-than generous portion of reggae. Guestlist caught up with him on the beginnings of dubstep and how his musical hertiage shaped his sound. 2016 / ISSUE 94 REGGAE 53 Describe your current state of mind? My current state of mind is hungry & extremely creative with a thirst for collaborating with serious producers and artist. I'm aiming to leave UK to live in Jamaica, where the sun shines every day & the food is fresh! Nice, don't blame you! What been happening with you recently? Well I'm not long got back from living in Jamaica for a year, which was amazing in every way! Since I've been back I've played about three shows. But been mostly working on my Don Cotti album, which will be out 2017. You've been involved in the music scene from the early 2000s, how did you first get involved? I first got involved when I was making grime with my crew, back then 4N 4Mat. I use to frequent Big Apple Records. That's where I met my good friend DJ Chef who introduced me into the scene and eventually even got me a show on Rinse.FM back in 2006. I first started making a name for myself with my boy, Cluekid who I had been making music with in 4N 4Mat, we met up with Loefah & Mala who invited us to play at their DMZ night, and the rest is history really. Describe the early days of dub- step? The early days had a real feeling of unity within the sound, coupled with young hungry & very talented producers just doing what they love and sharing vibes with oth- ers. We had more and more small events popping up where we could showcase all the new tracks we had been working on and most events were quite intimate with a good sound system. Nowadays, dubstep has become mainstream and the whole vibe, even the sound has changed - mostly not for the good, to be totally honest. Now especially, but even in the past you've managed to tread the line between dancehall, reggae roots and deep dubstep. What artists inspired you to make that sound? Listening to King Tubby & Scratch Lee Perry, plus my dad & his close friend used to produce reggae & played in many bands when they were younger. Then also there's the fact that I just grew up on reggae & dancehall living in Brixton and growing up around sound system culture. Last month you released the Mr Prolific EP - marking the end of your free series. Tell us a little more about this series. Oh yeah I started that series while I was living in Jamaica and just wanted to get my work rate up to a high standard to prove to myself that I can actually have consistent releases. In the years prior to that I was very slow and inconsistent with releasing the music even though I had so many tracks & a label to release them on. Also with that series I was delving into the world of being a vocal art- ist myself so it was a really good way to find myself in that field too, as I've always been able to spit lyrics but never really focused or developed it. Where as now, a year on from recording lyrics seriously, I feel I have fully found myself as a recording artist as well as a pro- ducer & label manager. What have you got planned for the future? Well I just dropped a brand new EP, Best Style on my new Dance- hall label I founded while in Ja- maica. I have the first single taken from my upcoming Don Cotti album, along with remixes and mu- sic video I shot while in Jamaica which will again drop on my 'Bun A Badmind' label end of Decem- ber/January - with the full album to follow a few months after. I'll be DJing in Paris early February with Dubstar records for their 10th anniversary in conjunction with 193 records with more dates to follow. What is the worst job you have ever done? Working for my uncle cleaning second hand cooker when I was like 15, although I did manage to save some good money to buy my Sega Saturn and a big screen TV. It was hard work working with some very strong chemicals!! What's the worst trouble you have been in? Well growing up in Brixton as a youngster I did get into quite a bit of trouble, I got charged with rob- bery & assault twice unfortunately and had to go through court sys- tems for quite a long time. But my solicitors managed to get me off both times so didn't go to prison thank God. What would you do to make the world a better place? Get rid of the need for money, the world has more than enough resources to feed, clothe & provide a good standard of living for every last human on the planet. But money and greed cause inequal- ity across the globe in a profound way and it's just so terrible. What ideas changed your life? The idea that we all have the abil- ity to program our own minds into whatever state we want and that we all untimely can control our lives more than we actually know by the regular choices we make & the habits we keep. The idea of karma even after death in this life is another profound idea that changed my life. " THE FACT IS THAT IT TAKES A LOT OF WORK AND EFFORT NETWORKING TO MAKE A CAREER FROM THIS MUSIC TING '' Arren Haynes | Guestlist follow @CottiSTN INTERVIEW: DON COTTI