Interview with Chali 2na
Posted on 16. Aug, 2010 by JD in MUSIC, PHOTOS, VIDEOS
theDougie Exclusive: An Interview with Chali 2na
Chali 2na loves hip hop. As a former bboy and current emcee-slash-graf artist, it’s without a doubt that he lives hip hop to the fullest. With quite the resume to his name over the past nearly twenty years – from his founding days of Ozomatli to rockin’ it worldwide with Jurassic 5 – he continues swimming along the hip hop landscape with his latest endeavor: the second installment of his Fish Market series, Fish Market Part 2, out now. In this Dougie exclusive, the former Jurassic 5 member talks about his latest album, doing a song with Shakira, the real reason behind Jurassic 5’s break-up, and the one thing he loves more than his music.
Chali 2na: My father gave me this name when I was about 7-8 years old, probably [because of] the commercial in American culture, the Starkist Tuna. The logo is Charlie the Tuna – my father used to call me that when I was a kid and it basically stuck all these years.
theDougie: Do you like tuna?
Chali 2na: Yeah, love it!
theDougie: Right on. So how did you get started in rapping?
Chali 2na: Just being a participant in hip hop. I was a graffiti artist really first and loved the culture so much that I was trying all kinds of stuff – from break dancing and stuff like that to being a graf writer, because I’m a graffiti artist to the fullest. I think me just trying […] and being able to do it made me like it even more, so I think I just pursued it because it was fun – it was something I loved to do.
theDougie: Do you still do graf?
Chali 2na: I do, I stay on top of the visual art aspect stuff to the fullest. You could see some of my work on Chali2na.com in the pictures section.
theDougie: Who were your musical influences when you were a kid?
Chali 2na: Soundtrack of my life was a lot of the 70’s soul, a lot of reggae music and stuff like that. Anyone from Bob Marley to Marvin Gaye, Al Green, people like that just coming up – I just was amazed by a lot of these artists because of their amazing accomplishments.
Chali 2na: A lot of those. My favorite memories with Jurassic 5 was being able to slide into different festivals and shows that people would normally think rap wasn’t gonna be near at and we were actually there so… Playing Bonnaroo for the first time was the biggest and funnest things I’ve ever done with them.
theDougie: Do you have any crazy tour stories with J5?
Chali 2na: Oh my God, do I! But I’ll expose myself as an ass if I told you some of those (laughs)
theDougie: What about the BEST memory?
Chali 2na: I think the very first time we went to Europe. We went to Europe for the first time and toured around the UK and saw the demand for our music – that, I think, was one of the funnest, the most amazing times and I was like, “Wow! We got a record playing on the radio out here, we got videos, all this love” and we can go back home and no one knows who the **** we are. (laughs)
theDougie: Well now they know who you are! So a lot of people were wondering, what brought about the Jurassic 5 split?
Chali 2na: Just internal problems between friends. It wasn’t really anything like business or anything. Jurassic was two different groups met up as one group; two or three lingers of past relationships and friendships and just years of many disagreements here and there that eventually just took its toll on the group. It was like we basically had 14 years of service to the people, a lot of time put in, so when it came the time for it all to end, it was a hard thing to swallow but because you’re so used to having so much fun. It is what it is, you gotta succumb to the situation, you know.
theDougie: Is there any chance of a J5 reunion in the future, maybe along the line?
Chali 2na: I don’t know. I can’t say no. I mean, I can’t say yes, ‘cause I don’t know. I can’t say no – I don’t know what the future will bring.
theDougie: Would you like there to be a reunion?
Chali 2na: Of course! I’d love for us to do some stuff together again.
theDougie: You’re a founding member of the band Ozomatli. Did you ever go on tour with them?
Chali 2na: Oh man, the first three years of Ozomatli’s existence was some of the craziest times I’ve had in my life. We used to tour crazily.
theDougie: What’s the craziest thing that ever happened there?
Chali 2na: Wow (laughs) a lot of different kind of stuff happened, those shows with Ozomatli, because it wasn’t always hip hop, the thing that we did. I was able to experience a lot of different encounters with different styles of artists – just different situations that were attracted by just the group Ozomatli because it was so eclectic, there was all kinds of stuff going on. For instance, we did the instore in Miami – the first couple of years Ozo existed – with Tito Puente before he passed away [...] and then it was Destiny’s Child and Ozomatli at the Virgin Megastore for the instore with all these people before – and stuff like that wasn’t happening with Jurassic at the time […] It’s always situations like that, where you just run into the oddest people who liked the band.
theDougie: Let’s talk about your latest album, Fish Market Part 2. What was the inspiration behind this album in particular?
Chali 2na: Trying to have some fun. Fish Market is a series that was created by myself and DJ Dez in order for us just to have a lane whenever we wanted to put out some music. We’ve been around since the days of record labels kind of running things and now it’s a very intimate driven society that we live in. It’s slightly different nowadays; it’s not the same as it used to be promotion-wise and everything. I just wanted to be able to put out music in a style that didn’t necessarily fit the mold of the ‘everything, cookie-cutter’ system. The mixtape avenue is definitely a way to be able to still constantly do music and just have fun with it. The first mixtape was Fish Market and it was basically, “I got a bunch of fish on sale for you guys. Would you guys like some?” ‘Cause the collection of songs that I had did with other people that I didn’t necessarily want some of my fans to have to go find – you could just pick a fish market and there it was. And when I saw the lane was open, I’m like “Okay, Fish Market Part 2 is gonna be a lot more funner, a lot more exclusive shit, just having fun and that’s what I was kinda planning to do.
theDougie: You’ve collaborated with many artists over the years – on your latest album alone you had Planet Asia, X-Clan, J-Live, and Akil. Who haven’t you worked with yet that you would like to work with?
Chali 2na: Stevie Wonder. I’m just a fan. I’m such a fan of music that it’s like, you know […] Shit, I’d do a song with Shakira. I’m at the point where now I feel like I try in every aspect, almost every way that you could put together a rap song or almost every way that there’s a hybrid rap situation I think I’ve been in it, so to speak. Nowadays it’s like, my last years on this earth, I’m gonna try to experiment as much as possible, so I always try to do all kinds of odd shit, ‘cause I think collaborating with the hottest people […] – as long as it’s dope, I’ll do a song with just about anybody […]
theDougie: Of all the tracks that you’ve done throughout your career which song do you hold as your favorite?
Chali 2na: I got favorite songs for different meanings besides them being my favorite tracks, one is a song I did called “There’s a Party” with George Clinton. It’s George Clinton – it’s not probably my dopest song or what have you, but it’s George Clinton, I can’t front on that shit. (laughs) I love that song! It’s that kinda stuff like that. I think the song I did called “Join the Dots” with Roots Manuva is one of the best recordings that I’ve done for sound […] that and the song I did with K’naan and Mos Def called “America.” I think those two were the best recorded songs I’ve ever done. Shit, there’s just so much! The song I did with Raphael Saadiq – it’s Raphael Saadiq, you know what I’m saying?! It keeps going; I had a lot of fun doing a lot of these songs – there’s a lot of these big guys who… a lot of people I’ve done songs with are a lot of people I’m a fan of so it’s been a pretty cool ride.
theDougie: So now that your album dropped, what’s up next for you?
Chali 2na: Just massive touring – I like being on the road, that’s really what I connect with best, this whole hip hop game is just perform so I love to create the music as a soundtrack and a commercial tool is what I like best. Hit the road as many places as I possibly can and spread the word about Fish Market Part 2, about Fish Outta Water and just about everything I’ve done. So I’m just gonna try to tour and push these projects as much as I possibly can. I’m doing some collaborative work with a band called Galactic, been trying to put together a cool project together. I’m doing a lot of collaborative work with just different people, like lately I told myself, “Man I need to do some more underground work, so what I do is work with a lot of cats that I know who I love their shit but haven’t had a chance to do, like a brother named RocC from Oxnard who’s down with the old Stones Throw family slash Oh No and Madlib and all those dudes. Rad dude, good friend of mine – we started this little bunch ago over the Internet. We just [went] “What you want on this?” “Throw a verse on that!” and it started and turned out to be pretty damn dope. So stuff like that… I’m trying to make people aware of the fact that I’m a painter ‘cause that’s something I’ve been doing a lot of oil painting on canvas and I wanna spread the word on that as well. Been doing a lot of voiceovers; I just did a voiceover audition for AT&T – shit like that – I’m trying to spread the whole vibe by taking advantage of as many opportunities as I possibly can.
theDougie: My final question: What’s one thing that people would be surprised to know about you?
Chali 2na: That I love my family more than my music; that in the end, if all this shit stopped tomorrow, as long as my family’s intact and I can still be a provider for my family in some sort of way. I pray – I’m a very religious guy in the sense of believing and trusting in a higher power, so it’s a prayer that I make everyday that I ask God to… for me to be successful in this life, to successfully provide for my family in this life using the gifts and talents and circumstances and blessings and the situations you provide.
theDougie Exclusive An Interview with Chali 2na on The Dougie.
