Signed by Rick Rubin before he was old enough to drive, mentored by gangster pimp turned NBC NYPD detective Ice-T, carrying crates for Bambaata and being an OG member of Zulu nation, Chino-XL has been around for a minute. His career seems to have experienced heavy swings, which are apparently reflective of his personal life. Almost blowed up is a common phrase attached to his name and personally, I’ve always been a curious fan. So big thank you to spinemag for pointing us to an informative interview conducted by allhiphop, very on point. As a bonus I uploaded his track “When Thugs Cry” from ’98. I really wanted to upload “Kreep” but I’m too lazy to rip my tape single. Link (via spinemag), When Thugs Cry
[...] Great post by Dan Charnas describing the misunderstanding that led to the Chino XL / Tupac beef. Brings back lots of memories, like rushing to get home in time to catch Rap City knowing they would play the video for No Complex (by the way, Charnas’ characterization of Tupac as a poet more so than an mc is on point, in my opinion). No need to rush anymore. Isn’t youtube great? Someone even upload the video for Kreep. Link (via) previously: Chino XL Is Confident, For Good Reasons; Chino XL also featured on Audiocast No. 041106 and 011106 [...]