Founding member of rap legends Jurassic 5 and the Grammy Award-winning Ozomatli, Chali 2na will visit Australia in early 2015.
Chali met the other founding members of both groups at the famous open mic nights held at The Good Life Cafe in South Central Los Angeles in the early '90s, and he credits this, alongside an interest in graffiti, as being the distraction he needed in order to stay away from the drug and gang culture that was prevalent at the time.
Firstly can you tell us about how it all started for you at The Good Life Cafe?
My group at the time, the U.N.I.T.Y. Committee, was myself, Marc 7 and Cut Chemist. We were connected to another group as well called Dark Leaf. One of the members of Dark Leaf told us about The Good Life Cafe and its open-mic night, and once we all visited it it became our only obsession. The place and its rules challenged our creativity by setting perimeters that helped us become better artist by finding ways around them. We couldn't curse, so it helped our writing and performing in ways that the average rap artist missed out on in my opinion.
What was it like to be in South Central LA at that time?
Our half of J5 didn't live in South Central at all. We lived north of the 10 Fwy; Hollywood and Silverlake areas. Really nice areas compared to the hell that my family moved from in Chicago. The other half of J5 were from there, so people usually think we are all from there. But South Central, pre and post the LA Riots, was a dangerous and deceiving place because of the gangs. Deceiving because compared to other places in America, LA is a beautiful place, ghetto or not.
Was gang culture something that affected a lot of rap artists at that time?
Gang culture affected the city as a whole. Not just artists. Crime and murder was at an all time high in LA around those times. But none of us were ‘gangsters’ at heart, so it was very easy to stay away from participating in those sort of activities. We've had very close friends and family fall victim to senseless violence, jail time, drug addictions and even death being directly connected to it or being an innocent bystander. I think we chose to display our music from a more positive perspective simply because we weren't those types of people to begin with.
Can you tell us a bit about your collaboration with Hilltop Hoods and how that came about?
We met the Hoods crew when their single ‘The Nosebleed Section’ was out in Australia. Loved their sound and used their beat to freestyle over in the J5 set. Years later they had a concept for the song and called me. I immediately said yes!
Your most recent EP was released earlier this year, can you tell us about some of the influences and sounds that went into it?
The influences for the sounds in my EP series basically come from all of the different music my family listened to while cleaning the house on Sundays. From soul and R&B to reggae and salsa music. I've been positively affected by all of these sounds and it made my ear a bit eclectic if you will.
Your son features on ‘Jungle Sometimes’. Will he be going into the family business?
Well since then he's changed his major from History to Music so I hope so. That's one of the subjects where I can definitely help him with his homework...lol!
How long do you think you will be rapping for? Will you do this forever?
Forever is a tricky word. But I look at people like BB King and The Rolling Stones and I say ‘well... It can be done..?!’ But to be honest I'd love to retire and paint for the rest of my days at some point. Just not yet... lol!
Chali 2na plays at Salt On The Beach in North Fremantle on 31 December, South of Pertch Yacht Club in Applecross on 1 January and Brisbane's The Hi-Fi on 2 January.
