We were lucky to catch up with Cnote recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cnote, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

Every decision I make is extremely intentional when it comes to having a rippling effect towards the people around me. I think the idea of building something you can remove yourself from can be very easily misconstrued, although I do understand it. I’ve got my own vices and disciplinary issues that may leave me stagnant or even lazy at times, but the idea of building something bigger than me, creating opportunities for others to get paid, & creating impact far beyond what I can imagine has always been my mission. I’m confident that I’ve gathered materials & formed an infrastructure that will take multiple homie’s to the Grammy’s & more. By the time I’m gone, I need for people to continue utilizing The Bridge for whatever they may need. I need The Bridge to be a multi generational tool, with utilization options for those on a higher platform, as well as those still doing the groundwork. I believe this is possible primarily through the cultivation of a community, as well as nurturing connections made across communities that exist in Charlotte. While there are multiple creative communities in the city, I’m not sure there’s a homebase or headquarters where you can safely mingle & interact with other creatives.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

In 2016, a couple of the homies & I were working on a brand called ArtHub, which would function as an online directory for local Charlotte artists to. find & work with each other. It featured the artists, a small portfolio, their contact information, as well as other necessary information to create a connection. On top of the website, we did things such as throw shows, conduct artist interviews, & we planned on hosting freestyles. After we launched in March of 2017, I slowly began to fall off as I began getting swallowed by school as well as other extra curricular activities I was involved in within the campus, the primary being BreadWinners. BreadWinners was a financial literacy education organization another homie, Kris Sherrod & I founded in 2018. The mission here was to make financial education more prevalent in Black communities. It began just within the campus, where we were coming up with activities such as financial jeopardy and hosting panel discussions for our peers. As we continued to grow & expand, we found ourselves hosting activities and being guest speakers for students ranging all ages, elementary-high school.
Fast forward to November 30th, 2020 when I first got the keys to a studio in a building in the NODA part of Charlotte. The homie “No Heart” had a studio in the same building where I would go kick it when I got off from working with Amazon. I was really into watching interviews and radio freestyles on YouTube, so I imagined opening a Podcast studio in that building to compliment the motion No Heart had with the artists. Basically, the podcast idea didn’t go all the way through, but there was a vocal booth already built in the studio I got, so I learned how to record music.
From there, I started taking studio sessions. The range of clientele went as far as complete stranger all the way to homies I’ve had since middle school. A small combination of all this clientele eventually turned into its own community, & now The Bridge is a symbol of love, community, & hip-hop in Charlotte.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think some of the most major decisions I made that translated to the brand’s reputation had to do with the hospitality that was offered to the guests. The genesis of The Bridge is a recording studio, but people’s favorite aspect of the space rarely had anything to do with the sound quality, mix, none of the technical features carried as much weight as the things that had to do more with soft skills. I was diligent about keeping the studio clean & smelling fresh, providing snacks and drinks, & tolerating some simple stuff such as a session going 15 minutes over so they could finish their song. In the midst of my development, I was watching other studios try to enforce these strict rules about booking 24 hours prior, not taking any sessions with a deposit, cancelling/rescheduling if the session was late. All of those things I completely understand, & admitately would love to be able to implement and enforce; but I understood a lot of these artists are just going to turn the other way rather than having to follow 6 steps just to get booked. That type of tolerance allowed me to form relationships with some of these artists that have now evolved into what seems like a lifelong all star squad.
As this squad was coming together, certain individuals have stronger traits than others, which I tried to recognize and emphasize. I started having people take over my sessions , there’s a homie that’s much more organized than I am running most of the primary Bridge events, another personal trainer that’s working primarily in the gym. This allowed to brand to reach points bigger than I could ever imagine, as well as reach communities I never necessarily imagined getting to. Giving up some control & letting the proper people work within the brand also had a huge part in developing a reputation as a brand.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One MAJOR lesson I had to unlearn is that not everybody needs to be charged for your services in the same capacity. A lot of people will say, “Everybody pays, even Joe with a million social media followers and a network super extensive, full of valuable people!!” Some people’s value come in forms much more grand than any amount of dollars. This is tricky because there’s a lot of people that’ll take advantage of that, & even try to insult you calling you a “d**keater” because you may not be all the way consistent with your systems. I’ve even seen people talk down on this type of practice while receiving the benefits of it as an individual with stature. Regardless of what anyone has had to say about it, the idea has worked out for me fairly well. A lot of times, removing any sort of monetary boundary in relationships will allow the relationship to develop and grow more organically. There just needs to be discernement practiced when considering the types of value certain individuals can bring. 9x out of 10, the value is going to be monetary, but every once in a while somebody will come around whose presence may be worth more than any dollar value you’d normally charge.
Some people will come around and take advantage of that. Some will watch you in practice, & think less of you because you’re willing to bend or fold or whatever for a particular individual, some will scheme on how to get to that rank with you without legitimately aspiring for any sort of relationship with substance. I’ve learned to hold my head, take one step at a time, and remain consistent and true to my values and ethics as far as my business is concerned without consideration for anybody else. I look at myself as a Golden Goose often times, where the ones that get a lil greedy or schemey ultimately lose.

Contact Info:

• Website: Thebridgeclt.co
• Instagram: @thebridgeclt
• Linkedin: Cody Dorce
• Twitter: @vipcnote
• Youtube: TheBridgeCLT