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When it comes to blending creativity, innovation, and impact in television, few names stand out like Claude Brooks. As the CEO of C To The B Productions, Brooks has built an impressive career that spans acting, producing, and creating content across multiple genres. Having appeared in over 300 television episodes, Brooks quickly transitioned from in front of the camera to behind it, where his production company has successfully developed and Executive Produced over 500 episodes of television.

From sketch comedies like MTV’s The Lyricist Lounge Show to sitcoms such as Second Time Around and reality hits like VH1’s Hey Luenell, Brooks’ diverse portfolio showcases his remarkable versatility. His career reached new heights when Paramount Network Television granted him an eight-year production deal following the success of his own series, Claude’s Crib.

In the realm of children’s entertainment, Brooks’ impact is equally powerful. As the creator and producer of the Emmy-nominated Hip Hop Harry, Brooks introduced a vibrant and educational character that continues to inspire new generations through content available on over 15 digital platforms, a live touring show, and a thriving merchandising line. Expanding his reach even further, Brooks partnered with rap legend Snoop Dogg to co-create Doggyland, a fresh and innovative 3D animated children’s series designed to entertain and educate young minds.

With a career defined by groundbreaking creativity and an unwavering commitment to storytelling, Claude Brooks continues to leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. In this exclusive interview, we delve into his journey, creative process, and the inspiration behind his impactful work.

You have an intensive background in entertainment, how did your wide range help build Doggyland?

That’s a good question. So you know, I was one of the first to use rhyming as a way to tell a narrative. One of the shows I co-created is called Lyricist Lounge. And this is back in like 2000 where the sketches were done lyrically. And so we came up with that whole angle of how to, kind of like tell a story using rhyming as a learning tool. I then took it a step further with a kid show called Hip Hop Harry, which is like Barney but way cooler. And Hip Hop Harry was a rapping bear that would teach lessons using rapping and rhyming, and that’s super embedded. Rhyming is a precursor for literacy. Like Cat in the Hat, and the call and response nature of rap. Like, “when I say red, you say, Stop red, stop red, stop.” That’s all integrated there. So this was already a big wealth of knowledge of how to craft song and narrative in the hip hop world. And so with Doggyland I just got a chance to use all of those tools that I’ve been developing for the past two decades and help take it to the next level. 

 

How has it been co-creating with Snoop Dogg and October London?

So Snoop Dogg and I go way back to our time working on the Lyricist Lounge show. So that’s over 20 years, and we’ve been friends, and we kept in touch, doing little projects and developing stuff over the years. He wanted to do a show similar to what I had with Hip Hop Harry, but with his brand, and that’s how we came up with Doggyland. He was like, “you know, I’m managing this guy, October London, who’s a great singer-songwriter, and I’d love for him to be part of the process and the development of it and everything.” So October is also a co-creator of this. And I have to tell you, working with October has just been amazing. He’s super creative, and really, really likable. Same goes, goes for Snoop. We’ll craft some of these songs together as a team, or or sometimes it’s separate. And then, you know, all hands are on deck as it gets built out further and further and further. It’s been an amazing process. It’s all smiles and fun doing this project. 

 

How do you create content for children that is easy to informative and entertaining? Especially with subject matters such as voting.

When creating content for children, we try to keep it easy and entertaining. We make sure our songs and the beats are just something that you respond to. The parents really respond to the beats, but kids know when they hear a good jam. So that’s always got to be a great base, having a great beat, and we don’t dumb down our beast to feel like this is for toddlers. We go at it just as what they would be hearing if they’re in the car with mom or dad or their older brothers and sisters, because that’s ultimately what they’re aspiring towards. We also make sure that there’s something they can follow along. So when you get to the chorus, it’s very repetitive. And normally, they’re call and response, so there’s something there for them to really latch onto. That’s generally how you get a great song going. Immediately, when it comes on, whether it’s the chorus or just the way it gets you kind of into it. 

We also do Tiktok choreography. We have choreographers, Siri and Reed, who actually do choreography for the animated characters you see in these videos, and it kind of forces the people who are watching to want to follow and dance along. So that’s another way of captivating the audience, and it’s another layer of learning. In terms of the voting matter, what we did was we simplified the act of voting in a song that was about having a voice. It was as simple as choosing between having milk or having apple juice, and making that choice known. This was a very bipartisan song. It had nothing really to do with politics. The point was to get kids to understand that they have a voice, and they can use their voice to be a part of a voting process. Just breaking it down to a very simple concept like, “are we going to play outside for recess or play inside?” We want to get kids to understand the value and fairness of voting in a group setting, where the majority vote wins. And you should kind of play along nicely, because you got a chance to vote, you got a chance to put your voice out there. And sometimes you get your way, and sometimes you don’t, and when you’re not getting your way, at least, you kind of understand the majority of the people wanted it to go the other way. The “Election Day” song about voting also opens up an opportunity for parents to have a conversation with their kids at the relevant age level of what voting means to them and their family. 

 

What is the importance of a strong creative team to execute your vision?

Well, I really can’t do this by myself, by any stretch of the imagination. And it takes a team to win in a big way. And everything kind of starts with the songs. We have a whole creative team for making songs. After the songs are made, we have a creative team that comes up with what the treatment is going to look like to go with the song, because each song needs a real visual component to go along with it. And then from there, the animation companies that we work with take things from there, but it takes all of us being on board. We’re a pretty small team here, but all of those pieces are really important in order to put out a good product.

 

How is the musical component developed when crafting an episode?

Kind of went over that little bit in the other question, but the way the musical component is crafted when building an episode is first, we have a handful of producers, and these are, like, real deal, Grammy-winning, Grammy-nominated producers who really do the real thing, which is why these tracks sound so current and great and emote so well. So we’ll have a few tracks that we’re feeling and listening to. We’ll then also make categories of various types of songs that we want to do. We’ll go from “Everybody’s Different” to a song about the back-to-school season, to a song about saying “please and thank you,” and we’ll put up these various topics. And from there, with the small writing groups that we have, we’ll then match up some of these beats with some of these ideas and get it going. And Snoop is often involved with this process, as well. We’ll kind of put our heads together and talk about some great song ideas, and maybe even listen to a few tracks and bang out some of these songs in a fun way too. 

 

When casting VanVan, how did her creativity help the vision of the show?

We developed this great relationship on social media with VanVan’s team, going back and forth with them via DM. We heard VanVan was a  big fan of the Doggyland hit “Affirmations”, so we sent her the track with eight bars of blank space so she could drop something of her own in the song. She did that and posted it to her Instagram page, and that thing just went so viral that we were like, “well, we just got to keep this relationship going.” And eventually her dad was like, “You know what she really wants to do? She’d love to play a character on the show.” By then, we really got a good sense of who she was. So that’s how we came up with the character Vancy, because we think VanVan is super fancy. So Vancy couldn’t be a better name for her. And we asked her what type of dog she likes, and she said she liked the Dalmatian, so we made a Dalmatian super fancy and feisty, but yet super empathetic, which is what she is, as well as down to earth and respectful to her parents. We took a lot of the qualities of who Van Van is as a person and added them to Vancy, the character. So Vanvy is kind of like a heightened version of VanVan, and she loves doing it, and we love doing it with her. It’s been great working with her and her family.