Citizen Cope
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Citizen Cope’s music blends folk, blues, hip-hop, rock and R&B into easy-listening songs with a slowed-down beat.
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About
Citizen Cope’s real name is Clarence Greenwood, a native of Memphis, Tennessee living in Brooklyn, New York. Citizen Cope is also the name of the band Greenwood leads. He plays the keyboards and guitars for the band. He is also a DJ, songwriter and producer.
Greenwood started writing songs and experimenting with music when he and his family moved to Washington. His demos were being eagerly passed around the D.C. music community by the mid-nineties. His brand of music, which blends folk, hip-hop, soul and rock, is completely his own. Greenwood started his career in music by appearing as DJ on two of rapper Basehead’s albums, Not in Kansas Anymore (1993) and Faith (1996). He also contributed to several independent compilations including Settling the DC Score (1997), Anti-Racist Action Benefit (1999), and movie soundtracks like Eat Me and Clubland (1999).
In 2000, Greenwood signed up with Dreamworks label and released his debut album, Citizen Cope, in 2002 (Greenwood had previously released a demo tape titled Cope Citizen in 1992). Problems, however, with the label prompted him to move to Arista and then finally to RCA. It was a blessing for Cope as his first album with RCA, The Clarence Greenwood Recordings, brought him much critical success and enough attention to get his song Son’s Gonna Rise in a GM Pontiac commercial. His latest album, Every Waking Moment, was released on September 12, 2006. His songs have been favorites for soundtracks of movies like Alpha Dog (2006), Accepted (2006), Trust the Man (2006), The Sentinel (2006), Prime (2005), Coach Carter (2005), P.S. (2004) and Eat Me! (2000), and TV shows, including One Tree Hill, Cold Case, Entourage, and Smallville.
Chart Toppers
| Year | Song | The Billboard 200 | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Every Waking Moment | #69 | Every Waking Moment |
Tours & Concerts
No tours to date
Discography
Albums
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Singles
| Date | Title | Label | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Bullet and a Target | RCA Records | The Clarence Greenwood Recordings |
| 2004 | Son’s Gonna Rise | RCA Records | The Clarence Greenwood Recordings |
| 2006 | Back Together | RCA Records | Every Waking Moment |
Compilations & Live Releases
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Other artists
Similar artists
Influences
Contemporaries
Trivia
- Citizen Cope is part of the Save Darfur, Rock the Vote, and ONE campaigns.
- Cope’s real first album was made with Capitol Records in 1997 titled Shotguns. It was never released.
- Cope tried to learn to play the trumpet when he was in elementary school. He soon dropped the trumpet and picked up the guitar.
- He was featured on the track Bullet on rapper Rhymefest’s album Blue Collar.
External Links
Categories: Artist | Pop | Rock
