Cody ChesnuTT
Encyclopedia
Cody Chesnutt is an American R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 and neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...

 musician.

Biography

Cody Chesnutt is an African American musician from Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, whose music blends elements of rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

, and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

. Chesnutt and his former band, The Crosswalk
The Crosswalk
The Crosswalk was an American rock band. The group released the independent 1535 EP in 1997, signed with Hollywood Records in 1998, and recorded their debut album, Venus Loves a Melody, in 1999. Months after the album's completion, the Crosswalk was dropped by the label and the group disbanded...

, had a brief stint with Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...

 in which they were later booted from the label. The band subsequently broke up and Chesnutt released a double LP in 2002 entitled The Headphone Masterpiece
The Headphone Masterpiece
The Headphone Masterpiece is neo-soul artist Cody ChesnuTT's debut double album, which was released in 2002. Recorded with basic arrangements at his home on a 4-track tape recorder, it is arguably the only prominent instance of the lo-fi aesthetic being applied to contemporary R&B music...

, which was recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder in his bedroom recording studio, which he calls "The Sonic Promiseland".

His closest brush with mainstream success came in 2002, when the hip hop group The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...

 remade a song from his album, "The Seed", for their album, Phrenology
Phrenology (album)
Phrenology is the fifth studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released November 26, 2002, on Geffen Records and MCA Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during June 2000 to September 2002...

. The remade version, entitled "The Seed (2.0)
The Seed (2.0)
"The Seed " is the second single by The Roots from their fifth album Phrenology . The track, which features Cody Chesnutt on the guitar and vocals, is an "uptempo retooling" of his song "The Seed" from the album The Headphone Masterpiece. The song's music video was nominated for the MTV2 Award at...

" to distinguish it from the original, was featured on the Collateral
Collateral (film)
Collateral is a 2004 crime thriller film starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie. It was Mann's first feature film to be shot mostly with high-definition cameras. Mann had previously used the format for portions of Ali and for his CBS drama...

soundtrack. Chesnutt plays guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and sings vocals on the track, and appears in its music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

, which received heavy airplay on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 and BET
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...

. At the height of his popularity, Chesnutt's backing band consisted of drummer Craig Waters, now with the band The Bellrays
The Bellrays
The Bellrays are an American group that combines garage rock music with soul singing styles. The band consists of Lisa Kekaula , Bob Vennum , Justin Andres and Stefan Litrownik . The group, founded in the early 1990s in Riverside, California, prides itself on its independence...

, and bassist Aaron Ebensperger. In October 2003, Cody Chesnutt was nominated for the prestigious Shortlist Music Prize
Shortlist Music Prize
The Shortlist Music Prize, stylized as , was an annual music award for the best album released in the United States that had sold fewer than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination...

, and performed in the ceremony for the prize at the Wiltern Theatre
Wiltern Theatre
The Wiltern Theatre and adjacent 12-story Pellissier Building are Art Deco architectural landmarks located on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The entire complex is commonly referred to as the Wiltern Center...

 in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

In 2006, Chesnutt appeared in the music documentary Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
A compilation of "music from and inspired by" the film was released on March 14, 2006.The album was released by Geffen Records, and produced by Corey Smyth for Blacksmith Music Corp and Questlove.#Dead Prez - "Hip Hop"#Black Star - "Definition"...

, which was originally recorded in September 2004. The same year, he recorded the track "Boils" for the 4AD
4AD
4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...

 records album Plague Songs
Plague Songs
Plague Songs is an album of songs, by various artists, about the ten Plagues of Egypt described in the Book of Exodus.The songs were originally commissioned by the British arts organisation Artangel for its project The Margate Exodus, which centres around a one-day event that took place in Margate...

. On his MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 announced an upcoming album titled The Live Release, which he has been performing around the world but was never officially published or released. In 2007, he performed at the Pop Montreal
Pop Montreal
Pop Montreal is an annual music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 acts are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, mostly located in the Mile End area...

 music festival as one of the headliners.

In 2010 he released an EP called Black Skin No Value
Black Skin No Value
Black Skin No Value is soul artist Cody ChesnuTT's new EP, which was released in December 2010.-Track listing:# "Black Skin No Value" – 0:09# "Do Better To The Young" – 3:17# "The Quiet Girl Who Eats Alone" – 1:01# "Everybody's Brother" – 2:21...

. Furthermore he stated in an interview that he will publish his second big album Landing On A Hundred in 2011.

Trivia

Many acclaimed musicians count Cody Chesnutt as an exciting force within the field of music. In an interview on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's Subterranean, Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

's Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...

 listed the singer as one of his favorite new acts.

His song "5 on a Joyride" is featured in the film Me and You and Everyone We Know
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Me and You and Everyone We Know is a 2005 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Miranda July and stars July, John Hawkes, Miles Thompson, Brandon Ratcliff, Natasha Slayton, Najarra Townsend, Carlie Westerman, and JoNell Kennedy.-Plot:The structure of the film consists of...

. Recently, his song "Look Good in Leather" from the album The Headphone Masterpiece
The Headphone Masterpiece
The Headphone Masterpiece is neo-soul artist Cody ChesnuTT's debut double album, which was released in 2002. Recorded with basic arrangements at his home on a 4-track tape recorder, it is arguably the only prominent instance of the lo-fi aesthetic being applied to contemporary R&B music...

has been featured in an Axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...

 commercial.

He appears as himself in the 2002 independent film Charlotte Sometimes
Charlotte Sometimes (film)
Charlotte Sometimes is a 2002 film written, directed, and produced by Eric Byler.-Plot:Nominated for two 2003 Independent Spirit Awards, and hailed by Roger Ebert as a breakthrough for Asian American filmmakers, Charlotte Sometimes is a "mysterious and erotic" romance exploring the kinds of love...

, performing on stage, and several of his songs are featured in the soundtrack, including "My Women, My Guitars," "5 on a Joyride," and "Boylife in America."

Albums

  • 2002: The Headphone Masterpiece
    The Headphone Masterpiece
    The Headphone Masterpiece is neo-soul artist Cody ChesnuTT's debut double album, which was released in 2002. Recorded with basic arrangements at his home on a 4-track tape recorder, it is arguably the only prominent instance of the lo-fi aesthetic being applied to contemporary R&B music...

  • 2006: The Live Release (unpublished)
  • 2010: Black Skin No Value
    Black Skin No Value
    Black Skin No Value is soul artist Cody ChesnuTT's new EP, which was released in December 2010.-Track listing:# "Black Skin No Value" – 0:09# "Do Better To The Young" – 3:17# "The Quiet Girl Who Eats Alone" – 1:01# "Everybody's Brother" – 2:21...

    (EP)
  • 2011: Landing On A Hundred

Singles

  • 2001: Look Good in Leather ("AXE Instinct"-Werbespot (2009))

  • 2002: "The World Is Coming"

  • 2002: "The Seed (2.0)
    The Seed (2.0)
    "The Seed " is the second single by The Roots from their fifth album Phrenology . The track, which features Cody Chesnutt on the guitar and vocals, is an "uptempo retooling" of his song "The Seed" from the album The Headphone Masterpiece. The song's music video was nominated for the MTV2 Award at...

    " (featuring The Roots
    The Roots
    The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...

    )
    (UK #33)

  • 2006: The Last Adam

  • 2008: "Afrobama"

  • 2010: "Come Back Like Spring"

External links

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