Cee-Lo Green Testifies (TIGHT INTERVIEW)

[Tito]

CDNOW: So, what exactly are "Perfect Imperfections"?

Cee-Lo: The title suggests human nature and how I believe that we are God's exact intentions. It's about the positive and negative energy that dwells within all us of that conflicts and yet coincides. There's a balance and perspective that needs to be attained over the course of your life. I believe that life is an obstacle course where you learn to master yourself, so this album is a showcase of both virtue and vice, trials and tribulations, peaks and valleys.

This is your first solo project -- what does that mean for Goodie Mob?

It's not about Goodie Mob stopping; it's just about me starting. [Big] Gipp is doing a solo album, too -- we got signed at the same time. I'm not sure when we'll get back together. Personally, I think we should do a greatest-hits or "lost sessions" kind of thing, because the solo route is a long process -- months of recording, promotion, touring -- and Gipp will be going through it next. Hopefully we can have something out in the meantime to keep people interested [laughs].

I'm proud of this whole album because I initiated it all. I didn't particularly like the last Goodie Mob album, World Party. It wasn't something I wanted to be remembered for, and things were becoming kind of tedious for me. Music was becoming just another job. So I took a chance and recorded this album out of my pocket and produced it entirely -- before I even had a deal. It's showcasing all my different influences -- like how singing is something I was born with and MC-ing is something I attainted. It's an opportunity to express myself and expound upon some ideas that I've had for awhile.

"I'm definitely ready to come up from the underground, but I'm not abandoning the integrity of Goodie Mob. That revolutionary spirit is still there for me."


This was the first full album you ever produced, correct?

Yeah, it was really liberating to produce the album. I recorded about three hours worth of stuff. I was just on a roll.

Is that why there's so few guests on the album?

I think so. I could have brought in, like, Timbaland or whoever, but they would only bring their own signature sound. This was a really emotional, personal project, and I wanted to express my complete thoughts -- to showcase my capabilities as a songwriter and an arranger -- so there wasn't really a call for general collaboration.

Are you a control freak?

I've been reading a lot about Prince -- we're both Geminis -- he's just one of those people who has to be involved in everything, and I'm the same way. It's all about finding new ways to express myself.

Can you talk about the single, "Closet Freak"?

Like Posdonus [of De La Soul] says, "Fuck being hard; I'm complicated." Now that's profound, and that takes a lot of courage. I guess I was one of those oddballs growing up, and that's what "Closet Freak" is about -- having the courage to be an individual. It's funky, too, and it has that funk sense of humor.

How big of an influence was De La Soul and the whole Native Tongues movement on your music?

It was a big influence. De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers -- I love that I always respected their pioneer-ism, if that's a word. That music was wholesome. It had substance, and it provoked thought. There was so much creativity, and nobody ever did the same thing twice. It inspired me to make my music personal.

I used to judge albums off the titles of songs. If I saw an album with a song like "Chillin' in the V.I.P.," I knew exactly what it was all about. But after I heard the kinds of things that, like, the Jungle Brothers were talking about, those kind of records just made me laugh. It was like they had no substance for me anymore.

Do you think it's going to be hard to maintain that kind of underground aesthetic when your video is in heavy rotation on MTV?

I'm definitely ready to come up from the underground, but I'm not abandoning the integrity of Goodie Mob. That revolutionary spirit is still there for me. It's about the art of mastering the system without becoming part of it.

You've always been the most spiritually outspoken member of Goodie Mob -- are you taking that spirituality farther on this record?

I wouldn't say I was the most outspoken or the most spiritual. I speak in parables a lot, and sometimes that's a powerful thing, so people remember that more.

Yeah, the militancy and social consciousness and spirituality … those were things that I wanted to bring to the group as an individual. Those were concepts I believed in personally, and even if my influence was domineering in the group, they were always ideas we all had in common; things we all wanted to do.

But for this record, it was more about exploring my own interests without having to think about working within a group. It was more about me expressing myself as fully and as personally as I could. So naturally being more spiritual was a part of that, since spirituality is a big part of my life.

Was it always a big part of your life?

Oh yeah -- my mother and father were both ministers, so I spent a considerable amount of my childhood in church [laughs].

What was that like?

Actually, my father passed when I was two, and I only have a vague remembrance of him. So my mother had the dilemma where she was like my dad and my mother. She was a minister, but also a hustling-type who always had, like, three jobs. She was never one of those moms that was always there and nurturing. But she never tried to stop me from becoming a man, [and] she knew that what it would take was for me to bump my head a few times.

Did she ever tell you to give up the music and get a real job?

Not really. She encouraged me indirectly. You know on the video for "They Don't Dance No Mo'" where I dance like Michael Jackson? I was always doing stuff like that as a kid, for real, and my mother was always showcasing my talent and having me do stuff like that. Later on, she passed due to complications from her paralysis -- she had been in a car accident -- and, when my sister and I were taking care of her, she asked my sister for a copy of Soul Food so she could see what I was doing. She wasn't the kind of person to brag on me, but that's how I knew she was proud of me. I think that was one of the things that gave her the confidence to move on, too.

How did that strong spiritual upbringing affect your music?

In all the best ways [laughs].

Like our first album cover [for Goodie Mob's Soul Food -- which features the group seated around a table in prayer], that was a case of ignorance being bliss. I had no idea that people saying grace like that would be shocking to people in the hip-hop industry -- people were telling me it was "courageous" and things like that [laughs].

To me that was just the most natural, regular thing. I actually picked that picture because I just thought it reflected the album's title the most accurately.

"I've been reading a lot about Prince -- we're both Geminis -- he's just one of those people who has to be involved in everything, and I'm the same way. It's all about finding new ways to express myself."


It was like people were pleasantly surprised …

Definitely. I mean lots of rappers were brought up in church, but it was like everybody seemed too embarrassed to make that a part of their music or their image. Coming from Atlanta, we just didn't know any better. We were just expressing who we were and where we were coming from. That's why those first albums can never be duplicated. They were so innocent, they weren't premeditated; we just went with our hearts. It was a very organic time.

What's changed for you since those days?

Well, personally, I'm a new husband, a new father, a head of a household, [and] I was a kid back then. So that's a very real change.

Also, I feel like I've moved up in rank. Now it's like I've come up from being a foot soldier to being a general. But I can't survive at this level if my strategies get my soldiers killed.

Have you been playing a lot of Stratego lately?

[Laughs] No.

How have things changed for you since Outkast blew up? Do you think Goodie Mob's role in developing Atlanta hip-hop has been overlooked?

I think Goodie Mob suffer from that a little, sure. Outkast was like the franchise player from our collective. But Goodie Mob and Dungeon Family, we definitely made a valid contribution. We all definitely contributed something to Southern music, and I believe Goodie Mob and Dungeon Family helped bring respect to it. I think we were part of the muscle behind Outkast's success. So if our contributions were overlooked, they won't be after this album.

Well, I guess it's like who you know will get you in, but it's what you know that'll keep you in. Besides, I feel like Outkast's successes are my own, too. We all started together, and we all represent the same thing. But I have to follow through with success of my own, too.