Body Over Mind

(2001)

“Bootsy was never trying to make me Bootsy II.”

“This is my debut album, so I was just learning, learning, learning. This is when I developed a pretty close relationship with Bootsy, who produced it. I would go over to his studio and we’d be there maybe eight hours a day for three or four weeks, and for the first three or four hours we would just talk.

“He’d talk about the music business and how to survive it – you know, don’t get too high in the highs or too low in the low moments, and how to build a career.

“I learned so much about recording, EQ, panning, and sampling, all the stuff that makes you not just a bassist but also enables you to be a producer and songwriter.

“He would give me templates of things to think about, then I would go back to my studio, write like crazy, and bring different people in. I was just starting my career at the time, so I was barely touring. I had a little four-track tape machine and

I was learning a bit about computer recording.

“At the time, I didn’t know how to navigate the music business at all, but Bootsy was never trying to make me Bootsy Collins II. He was setting me up so I could have a career as Freekbass.”