Growing up on a diet of reggae and jungle, and then finding yourself immersed in the kinetic fury of London’s most vocal urban music, grime, is not a surprising background for one of dubstep’s most dynamic producers. And indeed Cotti aka Sulaiman R Bowes’s sound bleeds his influences like an open vein. Born and raised in Brixton, South London, a notoriously creative hub for revolutionary UK sounds, the 27 year-old beatsmith, stormed onto the dubstep radar with a contraband version of Under Me Sensi (co-produced by Cluekid). Proving this was no one hit wonder, he followed it up with the growling Legacy and scene smashin’ “I Don’t Give A Dub”, the latter heavily supported across the board by the likes of Skream, Mala and Loefah to name but a few. When not being a dedicated father of three and religious midnight toker, Cotti chewed the fat with Mark Gurney on behalf of Media Contender, talking about working with the Murkle Man Jammer, what happened with Calmdown-gate and getting back on the mic. So grab this download and read on.

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Interview with Cotti:

Mark Gurney:
You started out on the mic and producing grime. How did you progress into the dubstep sound? Was it a natural progression?
Cotti:
It was definitely a natural progression as I’ve always like bassline driven music from a young age. I mean I’ve grown up around reggae music, and then when jungle came out I was mad for it. When garage started getting big that was when I wanted to start getting into the production side of things myself.

Mark Gurney:
Have you ever been tempted back to the mic?
Cotti:
If you didn’t realise, I’m on the hook and last verse of “Dem Fi Know” and the 2nd verse of the “Calm Down Remix” coming out on my label Bassface. So really I haven’t left the mic, and to be honest I’m gonna start doing more vocals myself in the future.

Mark Gurney:
I thought that sounded like you. So, how has the past year been for you? You’ve had some massive records out.
Cotti:
The past year has taken off for me to be honest, last year I didn’t really make any money from my music, but now this year it’s a full time job. I think I’ve managed to make my mark in the scene with a couple of my releases which is what every producer or artist should really be heading for to be successful in what they do.

Mark Gurney:
I think for many people “I Don’t Give A Dub” is a perennial classic. Did you have that feeling when you made it?
Cotti:
Na bruv, I just made it, me and Cluekid had made “Sensi Dub” a couple months before, so I thought let me try another vocal track and came up the “I Dont Give a Dub”. I got some good feedback when I played it to Cluekid and Chef, but really I never knew it would take off like it did. But hey, who’s complaining. Loefah even asked me if he could remix it, so I sent him the accapella a couple months back. I’m looking forward to hearing that.

Mark Gurney:
And to follow it up with Calm Down was inspired. How did that hook up come about?
Cotti:
Well, I know Doctor from my grime days where I had done a couple of tracks with him, we were also on the same radio station (Ontop fm) coincidently. Anyway I linked up with N.E. from OG’s or Essentials and handed him a CD to take down to them lots local studio, that’s where Doctor heard the Calm Down Instrumental and vocaled it straight away.

Mark Gurney:
In my eyes, Calm Down should have been pushing for mainstream attention. Could you explain the release confusion?
Cotti:
To be honest I’d rather not get all into it, but I’ll just say some people do not know how to handle business correctly and get ahead of themselves.

Mark Gurney:
Dem Fi Know follows a similar format, great vocals from Jammer and Mr Party, which feels like you are really hitting your stride. Did you enjoy making the tune with one of Grime’s larger than life characters?
Cotti:
Ha ha, Jammer is a party dread, that’s all I’m sayin’. He lives in his own world. He’s actually my cousin Mr Party’s (Slickman) cousin, so that’s how we linked up really. Yeah, I like working with most vocalists to be honest.

Mark Gurney:
But it’s also good to see that you can make a killer dub tune: The Search, which came out on Soul jazz, is an oscillating beast of a tune. What was your mindset when you made this?
Cotti:
Well in the original it had a sample from the film “Paid In Full” which is what inspired me to make the tune, I was watching TV one night and I saw a documentary on FBI Files and realised that the story I was watching was exactly like the film I had watched previously, so I put the film in my computer and sampled a bit to put in the track.

Mark Gurney:
You and Cluekid came through the ranks together, I remember seeing your debut at DMZ. You have a solid partnership; did that friendship give you extra confidence in your music?
Cotti:
Our debut at DMZ was in September 2006, but I’m much older than Cluekid and was more of a mentor to him and to be straight I’ve always had confidence in my music way before I even introduced Cluekid into the production side of things. I would say that working with a partner DJing/ producing does make things a bit more interesting sometimes, you can kinda vibes of each other you know.

Mark Gurney:
What was it like playing at the Mecca of dubstep, DMZ, for the first time?
Cotti:
Lol, you probably won’t believe it but that DMZ was mine and Cluekid’s second booking ever and it was quite overwhelming, but very exciting at the same time. We went and cut a whole load of our own fresh dubs (don’t ask me where we got the money from) but you know what, I was glad there were two of us that night and I think we made a good debut. Big up to Mala, Loe and Coki.

Mark Gurney:
Your label Bassface and -30 are both still relatively new. What’s next on them and do you have any big plans for the future?
Cotti:
As for Bassface I’ve been in contact with a producer from France who goes by the name of Mackoall who I’m planning on doing some releases with. I think with Bassface I’m gonna go for the more Dubstep/grime releases & vocals etc. That’s what I want it to represent.

As for -30, the next release should be a track by myself called “Inna Dat” which features myself on the vocal too, plus another track by Cluekid “Don’t Want No Murder”. It’s kinda mad coz -30 went on hold for a hot minute when we both decided to set up separate labels, but now that’s sorted we can get the focus back on -30 hopefully.

Mark Gurney:
Can we have a glimpse into the Cotti production set up? What’s your studio made up of?
Cotti:
Pc, Reason (with nuff refills), Cubase (with nuff plugins), sound card, condenser mic and a small keyboard, nothing to fancy round here mate.

Mark Gurney:
A lot of producers like to build beats at night. Do you have a perfect time for creating?
Cotti:
Yes, I’m a night time person too, you can catch me make beats at 5am certain times but that doesn’t mean I don’t work in the day too sometime. Last week I was asked to make two tracks for a set fee, so I got up kinda early (11am) and worked for about eight hours straight apart from about one half hour break to have munch and that lol, so I’m quite flexible still, but I prefer working at night to be honest.

Mark Gurney:
What’s next for Cotti? New sounds, new directions?
Cotti:
Like I said earlier I’m definitely more on the vocals myself so look out for more material feat myself on the hook lol, I’ve been working on some tracks recently which are bit more musical and the style of vocal is very different as I believe versatility and quality is what I aim to achieve.

I’ve recently been asked to remix Public Enemy and Niten Sawhney by a label I’m working with at the moment, so now I’m getting the chance to show my versatility. I don’t want to give too much away, so make sure you keep posted to the Myspace to hear the latest productions and vocals.

And finally I love music full stop regardless of genre, so I’m up for working with singers, musicians rappers across the board so to speak so don’t be afraid to holla if you got talent.

Written by Mark Gurney aka Markle

Website: Cotti Myspace, Markleman Blogspot, Markleman Myspace