JC: For this album, how have you approached it differently then the first album three years ago?

Chino: Well I didn't really get a chance to make an album the first time really. It was just kind of like songs strung together. I got such a grassroots love that people allowed it to be called an album. But really what happened was I did the song called "No Complex," and it got Source quotable and then some DJ's started playing it off of tapes and shit like that. Rick Rubin wasn't really fucking with me. Then when that shit started happening, niggas started calling Warner Brothers like "y'all got an artist that's on American and etc." Then they was like "oh we got to make an album." So I really didn't have that much time. I had like a month or so to really put it all together. So it's only really three songs on that whole album. That's like "No Complex" was a real record. "Creep" was a real record and "What Am I" was like a real record. The rest of it I was kind of just rockin'. I also like the song I did with Ras a lot. Beside that a lot of that was just I had to get it out.

JC: So do you consider even a part of your past or are you trying to forget it?

Chino: Hell no man, fuck that. I was a little nigga that didn't give a fuck, you know what I mean. That influenced a hell of a lot of artists, you know what I mean. It's like the couple a hundred thousand that sold was like the couple a hundred thousand artists that made albums after that. So you know I am proud of it and I get a lot of love. Like I met your man at a contest or whatever and his group was rockin' and I was feeling him and his group. So after they got off the stage and shit they was like "yo I really and all that." And that feels good, you know to somebody like you know these "big willie" niggas that sold millions of albums, they are not sure who really knows them. Me I know when a nigga loves me because it's hard to get my first album. So if you got it, you got it because you really wanted to hear it. It wasn't by accident.

JC: With this album and having already done the first one, where are you still pulling your influences from? Are you finding new stuff out there or are you going back to what you originally pulled your influences from?

Chino: I still kind of got the same influence. Like the same niggas who I used to love, I still love now. Nothin' really new too much except for like 15 year old kids. See some cats you talk to them, they be like "I'm not gonna let a 15 year old kid tell me what's going on." Are you out of your fuckin' mind. You remember when you were 17 and you was filled with testosterone and you was different about what you felt than now. It's the same shit. Music belongs to kids, you know what I mean. So you gotta kind of find your own expression that they dig. You got to find you to be you but I think it matters what people think. So I listen to what people think.

JC: Do you go out and talk to the kids as far as what they want to hear or do you just listen to the trends that are trying to evolve? How do you gear it towards that age group?

Chino: You just gotta be honest. You listen to what kids say maybe directly and indirectly and you kind of figure out where you fit in. You can try to be completely on the out-skirts of the music and try to fit in. That's kind of what I did on the first album. The first album I didn't give a fuck yo. And I was coming out in '96 and '97 when Biggie was talking about money and all of that. And I came exactly contrary to the whole shit, which worked for me personally because it was really who I am. But it didn't give me the catalyst to be able to speak to a broader base of people. And when you are talking about reaching people, you know you want to reach as many people as possible.

Frosty: Plus you were on a major label resource.

Chino: Yeah if you got the machine behind you, why not see what you really can do. For me I got so much shit. I'm just full of all type of influences and full of all type of nationalities and full of all type of so much shit, that really there is nothing that really could come out that I can't relate to in some kind of way. So since I feel like such a broad person, you know what I mean, there is nothing that is going to come out within that spectrum that really isn't some shade of me some kind of way.

JC: So do you feel now that it is a better time that you are coming back, considering that everybody is back into that freestyle mode, that hard lyric mode.

Chino: A little. They not as much as you think. Like people like to say like you will listen to it more or it's more, but it really isn't. A lot of people who can rock, that made a lot of money, it was flukish how they got to their position. And maybe they had to compromise to a certain extent to get to where they are, the niggas that can really rock. To me personally, it's a lot of artists out there that I know can rip, that we all know can rip, but they hardly ever do it because why should they. They start rippin' less and making more money and reaching more people. Now as long as they remember who they were, so when they fucking with cats like us three, we can be like "nigga you know that," and they be like "yeah I know." Because there is a lot of real niggas out there, like I run into cats all the time and when I run into them, like I might tell them something like I am proud of what you are doing. You are doing your thing and you and I both now. And he be like "word." So he might know that the three singles he dropped was bullshit to what he stands for or what him and I stand for but I am proud of him because he did what he got to do in order to advance his whole process. Because when the war comes, if he remember who he is, then it's all good. But it's a way better time. The stars couldn't line up more perfectly for me. I really feel good.

JC: Now do you feel that Sway and Tech brought you back out with the songs you did on their album?

Chino: Come on man, they brought me out to begin with. They brought me out to begin with. A lot of people wasn't calling me back to finish this album. And when the Sway and Tech shit happened, yo niggas, my phone was just like brrr, "yo son them three beats is still available. We about to fly out. I talked to niggas from Warner." It kind of reminded me of LL with "Mama Said Knock You Out," "what made you forget that I was raw." What the fuck do you think nigga. You think I jumped from "No Complex" to "Creep" because I wanted to, hell no. I jumped from "No Complex" to "Creep" because I knew that I had to do something in order, because I knew I was only getting two singles. And I knew American was about to leave and go to Columbia. I didn't know where I was going to be at. So I said "fuck it," if I don't take this shit to MTV I may not be able to eat. So I took it to MTV and the only reason I have a record deal, don't get it fucked up, it's not because nigga's think I can rip, it's because Warner Bros. pop department liked "Creep" and they see the potential in that kind of thing. And that's the only reason why I am sitting in front of you right now in this office. So I wasn't stupid. But I am thinking like "what the fuck did you think. Like what was y'all thinking, you know what I mean. Like y'all forgot who I am or some shit like that." So it was good. But Sway and Tech is my nigga's. They are like my brothers. A lot of time they over, I don't know, sometimes they love me way too much. But those are my nigga's and I love them and anything they ever need, they got it from me.

JC: Now with the Sway and Tech you were with Kool G Rap and on your new album you have Kool G Rap, through them have you met a lot of people or is it just being in the industry that you have come across these people and been able to work with them?

Chino: Well (Kool) G Rap I kind of know from the streets, from Queens. Him and I got like a Godfather that's the same, and I don't mean like "Godfather," I mean like Godfather whose ring you kiss, in Queens. Plus, when I do interviews, and people read interviews, when I do interviews and somebody got an influence over me or somebody that I love, I make sure, just like I say about nigga's that I don't like, I will speak on nigga's that I do like. And (Kool) G Rap is like a God to me. I love that cat. So I would say, I seen him at that video shoot and it probably helped, but not like with (Kool) G Rap. I would say that Sway and Tech loved me and they dig so much that the position that they put me in definitely makes it like "I'm gonna fuck with Chino. I hear him differently, because whatever."

Frosty: How did you get that track with him on the track? Where you guys in the studio or did the track just get laid down and you guys rocked? The track with you, (Kool) G Rap and (Big Daddy) Kane.

Chino: They were doing a new "Symphony," Sway and Tech, and I was like a (Kool) G Rap thesaurus. You know maybe in a way I brought (Kool) G Rap to them because I'm a (Kool) G Rap thesaurus. Like I know every rhyme he has ever written because I love the nigga like that. So Tech will call me 3 o'clock in the morning, "yo what's that (Kool) G Rap lyric. Yo tell my little cousin, he don't understand that (Kool) G Rap's better than these new nigga's. Tell him some lyrics." I will be like "Tech, yo come on, let me brush my teeth. Then I will come back and tell him the lyrics." So what happened was, they knew I was so big on him, and plus I was in Miami at the time, and they were flying down so I could put my verse on "The Anthem." So he was like "yo why don't you do this other shit too." Because it was supposed to be KRS, (Big Daddy) Kane and (Kool) G Rap, but it didn't work out and I got to fill his slot. You know the contract or whatever and it says "Three to the Dome." Then it says the "New Symphony" and then it's got (Kool) G Rap's publishing and (Big Daddy) Kane's publishing and my publishing split. I got that shit in a plaque like "yeah." This may not mean nothing to nobody else but to me. Listening to that shit when I was a kid (Kool) G Rap was merciless. When we did the record, we were sitting writing the rhymes or whatever, and this is how you can see a real talented person, when he got done with the rhyme he was saying some of it and he was like "yo what do you think." I am looking at this nigga like "what do I think. Nigga I am nothing. What do you mean, what do I think. I was 14 years old trying to sound like you and you asking me." And he was like "naw I really want to know what you think." Nigga, this man, who is a grown ass man, who has been making rap money since the 11^th grade, asked me what do I think. He would ask you what do you think and ask you what do you think because he's so talented that he don't have no complexes. Like he's just "what do you think" and shit like that. So we got done, he went in the booth, he did his shit or whatever. Of course my mouth was like this. He finished the rhyme or whatever and he crumpled it up and threw it in the garbage and walked out or whatever. Nigga, a yellow nigga went in the garbage, you know what I mean, went in the garbage and took the rhyme out and I got that shit in my notebook. Because to me, if there was no (Kool) G Rap, do you know who. It's like a paradox, you know how you see those movies where people go in time and if you kill one person or one person does there thing. Do you know if there was no (Kool) G Rap, how many artists we wouldn't hear. I mean there would be no Nas. (Kool) G Rap is off the hook yo. But what's cool about somebody like Nas is later on he did the song with (Kool) G Rap and you saw the whole thing come together. I think that's what sick about music, is when people put their ego's behind them and say like. You heard Pun's new album? You heard the beginning, he was like "put in a little Big Daddy Kane. Put in a little (Kool) G Rap." Nigga, he didn't have to mention Big Daddy Kane at all. He didn't have to mention (Kool) G Rap, none of that shit. But he did, to let him know, to let the artists know, to be true to himself and give back to the whole spiritual.

Frosty: Speaking of Pun, how did that whole thing come about where I've seen you in the video in a couple parts with a lot of heads in that one scene?

Chino: We were on tour together for a while, through Virginia and their manager Mickey Benson is a good friend of mine, who used to manage me for a while to. And somebody from (Fat) Joe's camp called somebody from Warner and said "they are shooting the video and we would like you to come by and shit." There's some scene's that they didn't use that was way better. I had my flag and shit like that. But I just wanted to show love because, you know at first I was kind of like had my, not reservations, but I felt a little like "damn yo, how did he just get to kick in the door like this and a year ago I was fighting the same battle as a Spanish person with the lyric shit." And then as time went on I started to see what a dent it made for somebody like me to come through. I can't believe it passed. It hit me real hard.

Frosty: You being from Jersey, how did your whole connection with the West Coast come about? Like when I first heard you, I didn't know nothing about you. Then I figured, you know I'm not going to say influenced, but I know a lot of the West Coast underground. Like for instance, when I first heard Company Flow I thought they were from the West Coast because of the way they brought it. So when I heard you I knew you weren't from here but like I didn't hear the incredible East Coast influence like everybody trying to be like (Kool) G Rap type of thing. I was wondering how you got that connection with Ras (Kass) and I know you have been around a lot of West Coast heads?

Chino: The first group I used to be with was signed to a West Coast deal and damn I don't want this to come out the wrong way, there is a certain script that you got to stick to on the East Coast in a sense. And I really didn't fit into that script, you know what I mean. I wasn't the darkest muthafucka. There wasn't know Spanish people rockin'. People thought I was from fuckin' Cali anyway when I walked around. If you notice, Jersey is a segment that is very influenced by New York sort of, but kind of influenced by the rest of the country more. If you look at the artists and just what they look like, like myself, and Treach, and Red, very kind of like Southern and just kind of like the way we get down. But anyway I came out here and I was privileged enough to be rockin' at that Lyricist Lounge with Bobbitto and them and then coming back out here and rockin' at the Good Life with Ahmad, Ras and Freestyle Fellowship and all of that. Actually Aceyalone is the one who brought me to the Good Life, because I didn't know nothing about it. He was like "yo you should come to this shit and see how people feel you." So I went there. But I think it's that me being Latin and the braids and the rapidness and just being more about content than delivery and flavor like. And then the whole thing with Tech and them niggas. And then I just started liking the weather and I started staying out here more and more and it's closer to my money and shit like that. It just happened. Because a lot of people out here would listen to me, way more than East Coast would because they wasn't trippin' on me being Spanish and being White and they wasn't really trippin' on it because there is people who look like me out here. So I got to get listened to without prejudice. So I just started fuckin' around out here.

Frosty: Kind of that thing you are never a hero at home type?

Chino: Sort of. Plus Jersey, I love Jersey man but it is the best place to be from and the worst place to be at sometimes. Jersey is off the muthafuckin' hook. There is no place like it. You know how Red be like "rappers come into New Jersey and be gettin' fucked up." You ain't here they stole the Def Jam bus in Jersey and was driving it all around. Jersey is raw son. You gotta bring it to the East Coast the way they want to hear it at the time. Now they are a lot more loose and they will listen to you when the respect. If you get respect and you are from Denver, and they respect you in Denver and you got a shit load of power behind you, then they will listen to you. So they are gettin' a little more loose with it. But in '96 they didn't want to hear nothin' but guns, money and weed. Especially in my neighborhood. The niggas I run with, I'm going to keep it real with you, the niggas I run with was not feelin' none of what I used to do. Niggas used to be on tour with me and be like "Chino, why are you rockin' like. What are you talkin' about. Why are you doing it this way." Because where I am from, listen I ain't no different from the rest of these niggas. The way I grew up and the niggas I hang out with, all of that. Being on the street and all of the that. The difference is I didn't think that that's what you had to bring to the music. It's like you got sports niggas, you got musician entertainer niggas and they you got drug dealer niggas. Never shall the three meet, I thought. Plus I had a lot of respect for a lot of the West Coast MC's too. It's a lot more purity in art form rather than presentation, with the lyrical cats. I kind of suspect that Organized Konfusion came out here and spread a lot of that. Like say you had a group that was like Freestyle Fellowship and they was doing they thing. And then they kind of might of thought that that was like a West Coast thing. And then like Organized Konfusion flies over and they are like "yo y'all niggas are hot." Like "they're from Queens and we're right." Sometimes you need a little bit of affirmation that what you are doing is the right thing.

JC: So do you feel that you still get more of a response out here then back on the East Coast or is the East Coast finally catching up?

Chino: With some things. But definitely with the whole Latin thing. But I am different too, you know what I mean. At the time I didn't understand what people was trippin' off of. I didn't realize how much I brung. Like, "this nigga looks different, rhymes different, wears sliver we wear gold. He plays niggas out and makes jokes about people. His rhymes are way over our heads half of the time. We don't what the fuck he is making references to. I don't have time to sit and listen to this nigga and love this nigga right now. I don't get it." So I got more respect for that then I did. You know I got more perspective of it now. I say it's definitely picking way up.

JC: Now as far as, you even referenced on the new album, everybody just wants to hear the dis records and all that, it never seemed to come back and haunt you, aside from just Tupac saying "fuck Chino XL" in his song "Hit'em Up." How did you think you have managed to dodge that? Do you just work it in such a creative way that people have found it more humorous than personal?

Chino: I don't think anybody thinks anything I do is humorous. I think if people thought what I did as humorous, man when I walk in the room nigga, it's like it ain't even like, you know what I mean. You are walking around the convention with me and niggas will be looking at me like a monster just walked in. And I think that's because I have always stayed so true to form. And I have been approached with major shit, like a lot of shit that niggas would just jump on for the moment. And a lot of things I won't take because I don't anybody to own my chips. See once somebody owns your chip and the war comes, you can be silenced. See I will take it to the grave, I'm gonna say the fuck I want to say, within reason. I mean I got shit that y'all niggas would never hear. I got shit that I wish that I never said, you know what I mean. I don't think it never really came back to haunt me because ifyou really think about it and the shit that I have said, I haven't really. Ok, you heard the 50cent shit. You gotta listen to the difference. My shit, "my company is fucking me like Arsenio did Eddie Murphy. Like Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston's marriage, one big joke." You did not hear me attacking dogs who I loved and who niggas thought was the greatest in the world and who you couldn't dis because they were just monster's, it was a whole other thing. Plus it wasn't really disses, it was like little jokes. Plus I got mad love for niggas. And I didn't come out of nowhere. Niggas was like "yeah I know Chino. That nigga from Jersey. He used to rock at Club 88 when Treach and Red was bangin'. He used to carry crates for Afrika Bambatta and the Zulu Nation. That nigga is real cool with Ice T. That nigga Chino, I know that's a cool nigga. He be bangin' with the niggas in Queen's." So it ain't like I just popped out of nowhere trying to play everybody out. And plus I made jokes of entertainers. I didn't dis other rappers that was trying to make money, because them niggas would kill me. I didn't dis no rappers really, or lyricists. It was entertainers. It wasn't no different than what people was saying on the news. Man rappin' niggas know I got love for them.

JC: If you had everybody in Hip-Hop listening to you, what would you want to tell them?

Chino: That there is ups and downs and you have to appreciate the downs as much as ups. And this is some weird shit but, if you don't get love from a particular group of individual's, especially where you are from, it's because you are scripted for something greater than that. And if you were to be accepted by that particular group, you would never be able to fill your full potential because you would be stuck there and you would be happy to be accepted by them. I think every artist and producer needs to really, really know that it's OK if there is a certain amount of. I mean the cool niggas in high school are not cool anymore. It's the same exact thing. And maybe you are not cool today and people don't understand what you are doing today, but they will catch up. Ask Jay-Z. Niggas didn't understand that nigga and look now. He always was ridiculous, he was ridiculouser. So it's taken him years for people to just. Like Xzibit, I am so happy for that nigga. I am happy for that nigga man. To me he is the first graduate of the whole Wake Up Show shit. Everybody has done their little shit, but Xzibit is in there. And he deserves that shit. And if you knew Xzibit then and you know him now, he is the same nigga. So when my time comes I just want to be the same way. SDU