Chino XL
Erupting from the underground world Chino XL brings a presence that is etched in your mind. This East Orange New Jersey native equates his growing up in East Orange with growing up on Motown Records since such talents like Queen Latifah, Redman, Lords of the Underground only to name a couple all derived from there. Chino is definitely not a new face to hip hop, being a member of the former group “Art of Origin” inspired by artists like LL Cool J.
Chino XL possesses a street sense encased in meaningful flows. While overcoming countless challenges he still remains ultra enthusiastic about rising to the surface of his career. Chino’s natural love for the music industry makes his passion for the game that much more concrete. This artist’s knowledge of the hip hop movement is vast which makes him an expert in the game. Being down with Africa Bam Bata and the Zulu Nation while watching the evolution of hip hop completely enforces his musical talents and credibility. His talents range from all levels of the industry from playing the piano to kicking freestyles in a cipher.
Chino XL has the flows for potential greatness. Finally he acclaims himself as being ready to be felt on the hip hop forefront. Describing his style as being “relentless” Chino XL is rising and he appears to be unstoppable. This half black half Puerto Rican rapper is gunning for the top position in the hip hop world. Don’t sleep on Chino XL. He’s silently creeping on the come up from the underground to the surface.
Thank you first of all for doing this interview. When did you decide that you wanted to make your love for hip hop into a career ?
It’s so many moments when I made that decision probably when I was little and I seen LL do it. I mean I already rhymed before that but when I really figured out that I could fit in some kind of way.
I read that you were apart of the MENSA society can you explain what that is to the Hip Hop Magazine.com family.
Wow! Basically it’s a kind of like an intellectual organization let’s say for people who are interested in educational pursuits beyond schooling. And there’s a certain caliber of intelligence that you have to have to be part of the group. Personally you know I got in because my SAT was so high.
Ok what was your score ?
Pretty close to perfect.
Wow ok. What was it like growing up in East Orange, New Jersey and do you feel that you’re growing up inspired you as an artist ?
East Orange was like one big talent show, I mean in regards to music we have so many talented people in such a small area but our talent shows were like the Apollo, you know you had Whitney Houston,( I mean she was older than us I remember seeing her at a talent show) you had Latifah, you had myself, you had naughty, you had Redman, you had lords of the underground, you had channel live, the list is so extensive in my little neighborhood, and the surrounding neighborhoods. So growing up was like being signed to Motown just to be from East Orange.
That’s a lot of talent in one place. How did the group Art of Origin come about ?
Well I was playing, I play the piano or whatever and I was playing, my Uncle Bernie bought be a dx 7, I had it hooked up by my window, so I was playing some shit probably like inspector gadget and I moved into some classical piece from that and moved into some parliament funkadelic (whatever that is) and people were walking buy, nigga’s just knocked on the door and asked my mother like yo who is playing that?
lol, then one of the guys that was in the group asked me if I could come and play some keyboard on some stuff that we got, and that’s funny because this kind of digresses back to when you asked me when I decide I wanted to make it a career. I had rhymes or whatever but I wasn’t really trying to come out with it because visually there was nobody like me beside other than Tito from the fearless 4, he was the only Puerto Rican dude that had a record out I mean he was probably 10 years older than me at the time but anyway so yeah Terry Chandler who ended up being in the group The Art of Origin asked me to play the keyboard on some stuff that they had and the dude that they had rhyming that I was playing the music over was garbage, So I spit some rhymes for him and he was like you ain’t write that and I was like yeah I did and we started the group Art of Origin from there.
How much do you feel that you have evolved since the days when you were down with African Bam Bata and the Zulu nation ?
It’s funny in a way I would say it was a devolution in a sense being so young and having your ideology being so high your level of how you think life should be is romanticized cause you know they say when you young you think you know everything, in a weird way you do you might not know everything but you think you know how you want everything to be, we did the lessons you know our women were queens, our mothers were earth and we were kings, and the center of the universe and all that and um so I’ve had to in order to work with certain people and even make music people would consider listening to I’ve had to expand from a lot of those ideologies and deal with a lot of things that I wouldn’t have even dealt with at the time I would’ve looked at them as being negative
What or who inspires your music ?
I would say anything new like if I hear a drum pattern that some trip hop group from Germany or a cadence I might hear a cadence from some mc anywhere man anywhere just kind of be like oh that’s interesting it doesn’t make me wanna do like what I heard but it makes me want to take it up a step.
That’s interesting. What are some of the misconceptions that might surround your career ?
The first thing that comes to mind is you like people like consider me like a monster, I am a monster when I’m listening to my shit, or when I am writing my shit I am a monster so it’s hard for me to not I mean steer away from that perception cause that is what that is when I’m touching the Mic, or when something is wrong, or when you know but pretty much if you met me on the humble you would see that I’m not exactly like the music would make you think that I am. And also in some ways people might have seen some projects that I was attached to as not successful there ideas and my ideas of what success should be is probably completely off target. Like I never wanted to be you know,#1 in the lime light this and that that and this where people just assume that’s where everybody wants to be so when you not there they thing you didn’t make your mark me and what I wanted to do I made every mark I wanted to. And it’s not until now that I want to take the throne away from some people that got it.
Anybody in particular...
Nah, just in order to be successful people move out the way, there’s not room for everybody so it’s like you gunning for somebody’s spot, u know you get into a spot like musical chairs and once you get out that spot somebody else sits down for whatever that time period is it doesn’t last forever till they play the next song.
What would you say was you’re most challenging obstacle and how did you get the strength to overcome it ?
I had a daughter that was born with cancer umm I’m like a super hero I work out every other day I don’t take nothing but like aspirin,(so I don’t get sore)and you know for the first time I couldn’t control it at all I couldn’t do nothing but pray and allow God to do what it is he needed to do the doctors what it is that they need to do or whatever and that was like the toughest year of my life, I thought that I had been through some shit but having a gun to your head or losing all your money, or you know or a woman breaking your heart or whatever there is there’s nothing compared to the loathing that you know you may lose you child, and you know that was the hardest thing I ever had to go through and you know were blessed they removed the tumor and she’s 100% and that time was the hardest and incidentally the time when I recorded back to basics, I was living in the hospital going back in forth.
I am so sorry. How does your family embrace your career ?
Well my family is compartmentalized you mean like my mother? Well I’ve had a lot of harsh things to say about my childhood, my mother doesn’t really, of course she can’t argue with it cause it is what it is so she’s not that fond of it, as far as people coming up to her saying her son is a genius at what he does, she likes that, So as far as my music being taken as literature she like that.
Who would you like to work with in the future ?
I got my little list but I’m trying to come outta my circle right now, umm personally I think the world wants to see a record with me and Eminem, I think the world would like to see a record with me and 50 cent, I think the world would like to see a record with me and Jay z I think it would be interesting, Never got a chance to do a song with Biggie unfortunately, never got a chance to do a song with pun so next time we talk when my album comes out you gotta say dead or living and we could have a little segment here, lol Producer wise Timberland I got a remix out her that Timberland made the beat but as far as him just making a record for me I never had it.
What does” reaching the top” means to you ?
Reaching the top to me I just want to solidify my place in history, that’s what I want to do I want people to see what I have brung to the game undeniable and I want people to say yo every time what this music is supposed to be, this yellow nigga put everything he had into it every skill, every fiber everything that he could think of he gave that shit to us, when everybody else is trying to get buy and trick us into buying they product he gave everything he had, I’m like a boxer that fights 30 rounds when everybody else is only fighting 3.
Now a 2 part question what are your goals as an artist ? What would you like to accomplish in your lifetime ?
I am gonna answer the second part first, I believe in starting everything with the end in mind, and when I first started out writing uh lyrics, for hip hop, I thought to myself that I wanted to be like a wizard that got to the point where everything that I said somebody could learn something from, someone who people want to quote and that I would be some where and people would just send people to talk to me you know what I mean, being able to explain or touch somebody through words, get them through any hard time get them through any obstacle whatever they’re trying to do I can bring something to it with something that I’ve written or something I could tell them on the spot, ok and what was the first part again
So then what are your goals as an artist ?
My goal this time around, is to really bring everything full circle, I stand in an awkward position to bring a cohesion that no one else could because you know I am half black and I grew up like a black man and I am half Latin, So I am a Latino artist I’m from the eats coast but I’ve always been considered a west coast artist so I’m bi coastal, you know I speak as a son ,I speak as a father, and I speak from so many different views that I’m the type of person that could do mostly any kind of record and not be questioned as much as another person would.
How do you handle the haters ?
I understand them, you know what I mean, I believe in no pun intended, when people cheese you can read it, when a person is coming at you talking about they don’t like this and they don’t like that you can tell where they’re coming from when you put yourself in their shoes, you know if I was the dude I wouldn’t like that either if it’s unattainable to him or threatens his existence, I understand that, the whole hater thing I see it from a completely different side of the game, I’m not gonna judge anybody for any flaws I can’t recognize in myself, I know when I’m upset about something and I’m just venting and at the same time don’t be mad at somebody for doing something that you wasn’t gonna do, If somebody samples candy girl from New Edition’s album and sells 50 million, don’t be like oh that shit is whack I could did that, you weren’t gonna play yourself like that, So if they were willing to bow down and do that, that’s them you know you was never gonna do it. So you know it’s a lesson I had to learn myself.
What influence would you say the Sway and Tech morning show had on you’re career ?
Well in the beginning it was reaffirmation on what I was doing was right, and that everything you say should be the best that it could be. Then later on right now as far as the influence now an I’m working with them in such a close way, it’s just every record is important, and what you saying with a bunch of dudes that’s just gonna be underground, when you spitting on the radio, when you spitting in a cipher, complete different tool then when you making your record that’s definitely a lesson that I learned it’s a whole other level of control.
If you could describe your style in one word, what would it be and why ?
Relentless, because when I either get on the topic or I get on a tangent like the only reason I stop is because the time ran out, or the bars ran out, or the dude in front of the pro tools fell asleep.
Alright so what can we expect from you what’s to come from Chino XL ?
For me to raise a lot of eyebrows, for me to be in places and positions that people can’t believe I got there, but don’t be surprised because I’ve had a lot of love from people in the industry, they just was waiting for me to be ready, So when you see me in videos with Paul Wall, and Mike Jones, or you see me on Jimmy Kimmel or you see me with KRS Ones, because I’ve always had relationships with these people and they always had a lot of respect for what I did, but I wasn’t trying to get pushed to the front, and now that I’m trying to get pushed to the front everybody’s like ok.
Chino XL possesses a street sense encased in meaningful flows. While overcoming countless challenges he still remains ultra enthusiastic about rising to the surface of his career. Chino’s natural love for the music industry makes his passion for the game that much more concrete. This artist’s knowledge of the hip hop movement is vast which makes him an expert in the game. Being down with Africa Bam Bata and the Zulu Nation while watching the evolution of hip hop completely enforces his musical talents and credibility. His talents range from all levels of the industry from playing the piano to kicking freestyles in a cipher.
Chino XL has the flows for potential greatness. Finally he acclaims himself as being ready to be felt on the hip hop forefront. Describing his style as being “relentless” Chino XL is rising and he appears to be unstoppable. This half black half Puerto Rican rapper is gunning for the top position in the hip hop world. Don’t sleep on Chino XL. He’s silently creeping on the come up from the underground to the surface.
Thank you first of all for doing this interview. When did you decide that you wanted to make your love for hip hop into a career ?
It’s so many moments when I made that decision probably when I was little and I seen LL do it. I mean I already rhymed before that but when I really figured out that I could fit in some kind of way.
I read that you were apart of the MENSA society can you explain what that is to the Hip Hop Magazine.com family.
Wow! Basically it’s a kind of like an intellectual organization let’s say for people who are interested in educational pursuits beyond schooling. And there’s a certain caliber of intelligence that you have to have to be part of the group. Personally you know I got in because my SAT was so high.
Ok what was your score ?
Pretty close to perfect.
Wow ok. What was it like growing up in East Orange, New Jersey and do you feel that you’re growing up inspired you as an artist ?
East Orange was like one big talent show, I mean in regards to music we have so many talented people in such a small area but our talent shows were like the Apollo, you know you had Whitney Houston,( I mean she was older than us I remember seeing her at a talent show) you had Latifah, you had myself, you had naughty, you had Redman, you had lords of the underground, you had channel live, the list is so extensive in my little neighborhood, and the surrounding neighborhoods. So growing up was like being signed to Motown just to be from East Orange.
That’s a lot of talent in one place. How did the group Art of Origin come about ?
Well I was playing, I play the piano or whatever and I was playing, my Uncle Bernie bought be a dx 7, I had it hooked up by my window, so I was playing some shit probably like inspector gadget and I moved into some classical piece from that and moved into some parliament funkadelic (whatever that is) and people were walking buy, nigga’s just knocked on the door and asked my mother like yo who is playing that?
lol, then one of the guys that was in the group asked me if I could come and play some keyboard on some stuff that we got, and that’s funny because this kind of digresses back to when you asked me when I decide I wanted to make it a career. I had rhymes or whatever but I wasn’t really trying to come out with it because visually there was nobody like me beside other than Tito from the fearless 4, he was the only Puerto Rican dude that had a record out I mean he was probably 10 years older than me at the time but anyway so yeah Terry Chandler who ended up being in the group The Art of Origin asked me to play the keyboard on some stuff that they had and the dude that they had rhyming that I was playing the music over was garbage, So I spit some rhymes for him and he was like you ain’t write that and I was like yeah I did and we started the group Art of Origin from there.
How much do you feel that you have evolved since the days when you were down with African Bam Bata and the Zulu nation ?
It’s funny in a way I would say it was a devolution in a sense being so young and having your ideology being so high your level of how you think life should be is romanticized cause you know they say when you young you think you know everything, in a weird way you do you might not know everything but you think you know how you want everything to be, we did the lessons you know our women were queens, our mothers were earth and we were kings, and the center of the universe and all that and um so I’ve had to in order to work with certain people and even make music people would consider listening to I’ve had to expand from a lot of those ideologies and deal with a lot of things that I wouldn’t have even dealt with at the time I would’ve looked at them as being negative
What or who inspires your music ?
I would say anything new like if I hear a drum pattern that some trip hop group from Germany or a cadence I might hear a cadence from some mc anywhere man anywhere just kind of be like oh that’s interesting it doesn’t make me wanna do like what I heard but it makes me want to take it up a step.
That’s interesting. What are some of the misconceptions that might surround your career ?
The first thing that comes to mind is you like people like consider me like a monster, I am a monster when I’m listening to my shit, or when I am writing my shit I am a monster so it’s hard for me to not I mean steer away from that perception cause that is what that is when I’m touching the Mic, or when something is wrong, or when you know but pretty much if you met me on the humble you would see that I’m not exactly like the music would make you think that I am. And also in some ways people might have seen some projects that I was attached to as not successful there ideas and my ideas of what success should be is probably completely off target. Like I never wanted to be you know,#1 in the lime light this and that that and this where people just assume that’s where everybody wants to be so when you not there they thing you didn’t make your mark me and what I wanted to do I made every mark I wanted to. And it’s not until now that I want to take the throne away from some people that got it.
Anybody in particular...
Nah, just in order to be successful people move out the way, there’s not room for everybody so it’s like you gunning for somebody’s spot, u know you get into a spot like musical chairs and once you get out that spot somebody else sits down for whatever that time period is it doesn’t last forever till they play the next song.
What would you say was you’re most challenging obstacle and how did you get the strength to overcome it ?
I had a daughter that was born with cancer umm I’m like a super hero I work out every other day I don’t take nothing but like aspirin,(so I don’t get sore)and you know for the first time I couldn’t control it at all I couldn’t do nothing but pray and allow God to do what it is he needed to do the doctors what it is that they need to do or whatever and that was like the toughest year of my life, I thought that I had been through some shit but having a gun to your head or losing all your money, or you know or a woman breaking your heart or whatever there is there’s nothing compared to the loathing that you know you may lose you child, and you know that was the hardest thing I ever had to go through and you know were blessed they removed the tumor and she’s 100% and that time was the hardest and incidentally the time when I recorded back to basics, I was living in the hospital going back in forth.
I am so sorry. How does your family embrace your career ?
Well my family is compartmentalized you mean like my mother? Well I’ve had a lot of harsh things to say about my childhood, my mother doesn’t really, of course she can’t argue with it cause it is what it is so she’s not that fond of it, as far as people coming up to her saying her son is a genius at what he does, she likes that, So as far as my music being taken as literature she like that.
Who would you like to work with in the future ?
I got my little list but I’m trying to come outta my circle right now, umm personally I think the world wants to see a record with me and Eminem, I think the world would like to see a record with me and 50 cent, I think the world would like to see a record with me and Jay z I think it would be interesting, Never got a chance to do a song with Biggie unfortunately, never got a chance to do a song with pun so next time we talk when my album comes out you gotta say dead or living and we could have a little segment here, lol Producer wise Timberland I got a remix out her that Timberland made the beat but as far as him just making a record for me I never had it.
What does” reaching the top” means to you ?
Reaching the top to me I just want to solidify my place in history, that’s what I want to do I want people to see what I have brung to the game undeniable and I want people to say yo every time what this music is supposed to be, this yellow nigga put everything he had into it every skill, every fiber everything that he could think of he gave that shit to us, when everybody else is trying to get buy and trick us into buying they product he gave everything he had, I’m like a boxer that fights 30 rounds when everybody else is only fighting 3.
Now a 2 part question what are your goals as an artist ? What would you like to accomplish in your lifetime ?
I am gonna answer the second part first, I believe in starting everything with the end in mind, and when I first started out writing uh lyrics, for hip hop, I thought to myself that I wanted to be like a wizard that got to the point where everything that I said somebody could learn something from, someone who people want to quote and that I would be some where and people would just send people to talk to me you know what I mean, being able to explain or touch somebody through words, get them through any hard time get them through any obstacle whatever they’re trying to do I can bring something to it with something that I’ve written or something I could tell them on the spot, ok and what was the first part again
So then what are your goals as an artist ?
My goal this time around, is to really bring everything full circle, I stand in an awkward position to bring a cohesion that no one else could because you know I am half black and I grew up like a black man and I am half Latin, So I am a Latino artist I’m from the eats coast but I’ve always been considered a west coast artist so I’m bi coastal, you know I speak as a son ,I speak as a father, and I speak from so many different views that I’m the type of person that could do mostly any kind of record and not be questioned as much as another person would.
How do you handle the haters ?
I understand them, you know what I mean, I believe in no pun intended, when people cheese you can read it, when a person is coming at you talking about they don’t like this and they don’t like that you can tell where they’re coming from when you put yourself in their shoes, you know if I was the dude I wouldn’t like that either if it’s unattainable to him or threatens his existence, I understand that, the whole hater thing I see it from a completely different side of the game, I’m not gonna judge anybody for any flaws I can’t recognize in myself, I know when I’m upset about something and I’m just venting and at the same time don’t be mad at somebody for doing something that you wasn’t gonna do, If somebody samples candy girl from New Edition’s album and sells 50 million, don’t be like oh that shit is whack I could did that, you weren’t gonna play yourself like that, So if they were willing to bow down and do that, that’s them you know you was never gonna do it. So you know it’s a lesson I had to learn myself.
What influence would you say the Sway and Tech morning show had on you’re career ?
Well in the beginning it was reaffirmation on what I was doing was right, and that everything you say should be the best that it could be. Then later on right now as far as the influence now an I’m working with them in such a close way, it’s just every record is important, and what you saying with a bunch of dudes that’s just gonna be underground, when you spitting on the radio, when you spitting in a cipher, complete different tool then when you making your record that’s definitely a lesson that I learned it’s a whole other level of control.
If you could describe your style in one word, what would it be and why ?
Relentless, because when I either get on the topic or I get on a tangent like the only reason I stop is because the time ran out, or the bars ran out, or the dude in front of the pro tools fell asleep.
Alright so what can we expect from you what’s to come from Chino XL ?
For me to raise a lot of eyebrows, for me to be in places and positions that people can’t believe I got there, but don’t be surprised because I’ve had a lot of love from people in the industry, they just was waiting for me to be ready, So when you see me in videos with Paul Wall, and Mike Jones, or you see me on Jimmy Kimmel or you see me with KRS Ones, because I’ve always had relationships with these people and they always had a lot of respect for what I did, but I wasn’t trying to get pushed to the front, and now that I’m trying to get pushed to the front everybody’s like ok.
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