Mad at the World: 1994 Chino XL Interview, Part 2

No complex
PART 2: SOURCE CENSORSHIP, CHAPTERS AND VERSES, AND THE PURPLE HAND

What do you think is holding you back as far as people gettin' open to your music?
I've been getting some flak that a lot of people like what I say, but it's not really "entertaining." I just do my own shit. I'm gettin more diverse now that I'm solo and away from Kaoz. I'm not going to limit myself and everything doesn't have to be so dark. I'm halfway gettin off that, especially since now that's becoming a trend.

Once you started makin demos was it hard gettin it out there and tryin to get signed?
It was a three-fold problem. First, the fact that it was all this scary shit we had. Then I always rocked fast and people used to complain about that. The third problem was people couldn't identify with me from the way I looked, being mixed. That was then but now you have Cypress Hill and the other Puerto Rican rappers. Still even now it's hard to get certain areas...people always sleep on me cause the way I look. That's kind of fat because that's my wolf in sheep's clothing. When I ripped the Good Life, Ahmad and the Freestyle Fellowship kids were like " We [Art of Origin] did not expect you to rip like that." We've always had problems, everbody didn't love us, but we used to rip shit. It's like any MC would be like, "YO! Them niggas is dope." For the average person who is there to be entertained, we weren't the type where you could get into it and it be a crowd participation thing. It would be like we were just up there doing our own thing. Things were very party oriented then, so it was even harder.

What are some of the MC's out there now that you respect?
Definitely Common Sense, Organized Konfusion, without a doubt. Raggedy Man, and my boys coming out soon, Rhem Slete....um....I like Redman's new shit.

From all the ill shit you say have you ever had any complaints about your lyrics being offensive or whatever?
Yeah. Regindald Dennis wouldn't print "...you'll be producing MC Trouble's next record" when he gave me punchlines of the month. He felt people would beef with me. MTV banned the "Into the Pit" video because I said "My beat force fucks you like Jennifer 11." On the new shit ("Purple Hands" b/w "Dark Night" which was scheduled to be the third single but has been changed) of course, "I kick pregnant bitches in stomach's at baby showers" and "Should've nailed Jesus ass to a handprint" (which is the Art of Origin logo).

In "Dark Night..." you say "I make the blood spill till I avenge Tracey's death." Who is she and what is that all about?
It's kind of a long story. In the book Xorism, it has a lot of chapters and verses. For instance, I'm really Chino XL 6:25. That's chapter 6 verse 25. In that it said, "He that is unknown is known to cause all foes he chose disaster." I always liked the battlin aspect of rhymin. I wasn't out to entertain, it was like if there was a MC who was supposed to be all of that I just wanted to go vic him. Kaoz was 6:23 which was about "The ending of a game." That's how he was and...he's full of shit anyay so we ain't got to talk about that. In chapter 9 verse 11 (9:11) it described this beautiful entity that would com and be part of the works of art of origin and how should we leave on the same number as the day and all of this other shit. There was this girl (Tracey) who was a good friend of mine and Kaoz was dating her and we started callin her 9:11. We started really getting into this book and everything that was involved with Art of Origin came from the book. About three years later, just as the book predicted, she got murdered on 9/11. When I said, "I make the blood spill..." I don't necessarily mean with a knife. What I mean is the lines I say that really sticks someone and strikes a nerve, that's how I spill the blood. I'm not going to stop hittin shit off that's real close to people til I feel in my heart...then I can exorcise the fact that she got murdered out of my own system. If you want to print this, the person that murdered her is Peter Jefferson and you can print FUCK YOU.

In "Purple Hands..." you say "June 25th ain't a myth that you can tamper with...". Is that somehow connected to the 6:25?
There is a science behind that. It's like every June 23rd (6:23), which was KAOZ's number, something bad would happen to him. One hear he got mugged. Another year he got in a car accident. Always something different. It got to the point where he just started staying in the house ever 6/23. Every June 25th, which is my number, everything would be good.

Explain your logo, which is a purple hand.
In Xorism, they described all of these different pieces so we drew them how they described them and sat there and tried to make something out of it. A hand is all we could come up with. Plus in the book it mentioned the hand this and the hand that so we figured that's what it had to be.

Why the color purple?
The book is bound in that color and it's mentioned all through the book.

THIS WEEKEND: PART 3: LABEL DRAMA AND BULLSHIT DJ'S