coolout chris
Producer, DJ, and Emcee, "Coolout Chris" has been rocking Chicago since he was 18. He formed the 90’s era rap group Spalaney’s with his friends Riff-Raff, Snap, and Tony Baines. The group performed widely for the next several years, touring the country on several major label showcases and prominent venues, including Prince’s nightclub, Glam Slam. Their 1994 song ‘Universal Language’ was featured on “Talent Fest”, which was Chicago’s first nationally recognized hip-hop compilation album.
In the latter part of the 90s, Coolout formed his production company Beat Quarters and soon teamed up with artist Amina to start the production & performance duo Urbanized Music. In 2003 they would co-found Chicago Hip-Hop Initiative, a non-profit artist collective, which championed the passage of a resolution to declare July as the official Chicago Hip-Hop Heritage Month. In 2010 Coolout spent 2 weeks in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) as part of a contingency of US Cultural Envoys conducting workshops and recording local artists around the country while promoting Hip-Hop as a tool for peace and tolerance.
As a producer, Coolout has worked with many notable artists both in the US and abroad. His music has also been featured on radio, television, film, various websites, and podcasts. He’s worked with Konee Rok for JashFest, Urban Grind TV, Kevin Coval, Avery R. Young, Poetree Chicago (featuring a song with Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.), Idris Goodwin, Profound, Nite Owl, SamIAm The MC, Eprestige, and many others.
He has collaborated internationally with artists from Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), producing and releasing 2 projects with Abidjan-based rapper Noble MC, as well as songs for rappers Ezzdean, (who dually represents Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria), and Centimett who is from Ghana but is currently in France. Coolout also produced and mastered the Cote d’Ivoire Hip-Hop Initiative’s ‘Unity Album’ which Ivorian artists recorded while their country was embroiled in civil war.
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Coolout is currently in the production of several studio projects, collaborating with local musicians, and continues to mentor up-and-coming artists and producers.