Derek Keith Barbosa (born April 8, 1974), better known by his stage name Chino XL, is an American rapper, and actor. He has released four solo studio albums, in which his most recent – ''
Ricanstruction: The Black Rosary'' – won the 2012 HHUG Album of the Year award
Chino also forged a career in acting, signing with Hollywood talent manager Stacey Castro and subsequently appearing in several films and episodes of television. He was a series regular on
Cinemax
Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent ...
series Sex Chronicles and appeared in several guest star roles, including
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
series ''
Reno 911!'' and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
series ''
CSI: Miami
''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Detec ...
''. His feature film credits include a co-starring role opposite
Kate Hudson,
Luke Wilson in director
Rob Reiner
Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performa ...
's
Alex & Emma
''Alex & Emma'' is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Kate Hudson and Luke Wilson. Written by Jeremy Leven, the film is about a writer who must publish a novel in thirty days or face the wrath of loan sharks. ...
and Brandon Sonnier's directing debut, "The Beat", which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
.
He is the nephew of
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll ...
of music group
Parliament/Funkadelic. Barbosa is also a member of Mensa.
Early life
Chino XL was born in
The Bronx, New York, but grew up in various parts of New Jersey. His father, who was of Puerto Rican descent, abandoned his African American mother before he was born. He was raised by his single mother.
Career
After co-founding the duo Art of Origin, the emcee was signed at age 16 by music impresario
Rick Rubin to Rubin's
American Recordings label, which was once part of the
Warner Bros. Records family. He released his debut album ''
Here to Save You All'' in 1996, which was released to critical acclaim. The lead single "
Kreep" which featured an interpolation of the
Radiohead song "
Creep" experienced major airplay by radio and
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
. Kreep charted on the
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
Bubbling Under R&B Chart for a record 23 weeks, from July 1996 to January 1997.
Chino was released from his American Recordings contract when American Recordings switched distributors from Warner to Columbia in 1997. Warner Bros. Records then signed Chino in the fall of 1997. His sophomore album was due to be released during April 1999 but numerous delays prevented the album from being released. Although in early 2001 when the album was about to be released and its lead single "Let 'Em Live" featuring
Kool G Rap
Nathaniel Thomas Wilson (born July 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Kool G Rap (or simply G Rap), is an American rapper from Queens, New York City. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as ...
was nearing early pressing stages Chino was dropped by Warner, as they folded their Black music department, supposedly due to the public legal battle with
Prince. The album, titled ''
I Told You So'', was eventually released in 2001 by Metro Records.
In 2006, Chino released his long-awaited third album, ''
Poison Pen''. The now-iconic release featured appearances by
Proof of
D-12,
Killah Priest
Walter Reed (born August 16, 1970), better known by his stage name Killah Priest, is an American rapper, member of Sunz of Man and Wu-Tang Clan affiliate who was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville, Brooklyn. He is known for his inten ...
and legendary hip hop duo
The Beatnuts
The Beatnuts are an American hip hop group and production duo from New York City. Its current members are JuJu and Psycho Les. JuJu (born Jerry Tineo on December 14, 1968) is a Dominican American from Corona and Psycho Les (born Lester Fernande ...
.
In 2007, Chino signed a contract with the Universal Latino label
Machete Music
Machete Music is an urban music label owned by Universal Music Group. The record label had been largely associated with reggaeton music, but in recent years, it has been also been signing non-reggaeton artists such as Malverde, Mala Rodriguez a ...
.
In 2009 during a controversial interview with Allhiphop.com writer Han O'Connor, Chino revealed that his fifth studio album ''The RICANstruction'' was to be released soon. The album was released via his own joint venture CPR/Universal and featured
Immortal Technique
Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics, from a radical left-wing perspective.
Immortal Techn ...
,
Tech N9ne
Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two ...
, and
Bun B
Bernard James Freeman (born March 19, 1973), known professionally as Bun B, is an American rapper. He is best known as one half of the southern rap duo UGK (UnderGround Kingz), a group he formed in 1987 alongside Pimp C. Aside from his work with ...
. ''The RICANstruction'' also featured a collaboration with
Big Pun
Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx borough of New York City in the ea ...
. The album featured production from
DJ Khalil and Focus served as executive producer.
On August 19, a song titled "N.I.C.E." that was produced by Nick Wiz was released.
On September 25, 2012, the album ''
Ricanstruction: The Black Rosary'' was released as a double disc through
Immortal Technique
Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics, from a radical left-wing perspective.
Immortal Techn ...
's Viper Records. It won the 2012 HHUG Album of the Year award
On June 15, 2013, Shanghai :30 Entertainment booked a show with Chino XL for him to play alongside local, on-the-rise hiphop artists.
In 2014, he formed a hip hop supergroup along with rappers
Vakill
Donald Mason, also known as Vakill (Born in March 21, 1975) is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. Vakill is known through his association with Chicago Hip Hop collective The Molemen, and has released three studio albums.
Early years
Ra ...
,
Copywrite,
Tame One
Rahem Ross Brown (March 20, 1970 – November 6, 2022), better known by his stage name Tame One, was an American hip hop recording artist and graffiti artist from New Jersey. He was a member of Artifacts, Leak Bros, and the hip-hop supergroup ...
and producer Stu Bangas called ''Verse 48''. They started working on an EP.
In 2015, he featured on UK singer/rapper RKZ's single 'They Don't Know Nothing'.
He is currently working on his new album, which will include a track with
R.A. the Rugged Man
R.A. Thorburn, better known by his stage name R.A. the Rugged Man, is an American rapper and producer. He began his music career at age 12, building a reputation locally for his lyrical skills. Thorburn signed with major label Jive Records at a ...
.
In late 2019 Freemusicempire wrote that Chino XL is "The greatest name-checker in rap history" Dan-O wrote "Chino XL has a career full of jaw dropping name drops that don't benefit him at all. In 1996 he was clowning OJ Simpson, in 2012 he was making fun of Muhammed Ali's brain stem. If you are going to drop the name of someone important do 2 things for me A.) don't walk it back and apologize B) make it heinous. Do it out of an unparalleled fearlessness. Shake the world up so the people who feel safe don't anymore….and when the consequences come take them like a seasoned criminal takes a sentence. Or don't do it at all."
In December 2020, he released a joint extended play "''Chino VS Balt''" with Balt Getty, under Purplehaus Records.
Discography
Studio albums
*''
Here to Save You All'' (1996)
*''
I Told You So'' (2001)
*''
Poison Pen'' (2006)
*''
Ricanstruction: The Black Rosary'' (2012)
Collaboration albums
*''
Something Sacred''
(with Playalitical) (2008)
Extended plays
*''Chino vs. Balt''
(with Balt Getty) (2020)
Singles
* "No Slow Rollin'"
with Art of Origin (1992)
* "Un-Rational"
with Art of Origin (1993)
* "Purple Hands in the Air / Dark Night of the Bloodspiller" (1994)
* "Kreep" (1996)
* "No Complex / Waiting to Exhale" (1996)
* "Thousands / Freestyle Rhymes" (1996)
* "Deliver" (1996)
* "Rise / Jesus" (1997)
* "Let 'Em Live" (2000)
* "Last Laugh" (2001) Vs (1998)
* "What You Got / Let 'Em Live" (2001)
* "Don't Run from Me / Warning" (2006)
* "Poison Pen" (2006)
* "Messiah" (2006)
* "Jump Back" (2007)
* "Lick Shots"
with Immortal Technique, Crooked I (2008)
* "Chow Down"
with Playalitical (2008)
* "N.I.C.E." (2012)
* "Arm Yourself"
with DV Alias Khrist, Sick Jacken, Immortal Technique (2012)
* "Kings"
with Big Pun (2012)
* "They Don't Know Nothing"
with RKZ (2015)
* "March of the Imperial"
with D.CrazE the Destroyer (2016)
* "Under the Bridge"
with Rama Duke (2018)
* "Ascending To Mytikas"
with Fuzzy Ed (2022)
Filmography
*''
Zane's Sex Chronicles'' (TV Series) as Syndicator 2010
*''El show'' (TV Series) as Professor xl 2008
*"
Death Pool 100" episode of ''
CSI: Miami
''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Detec ...
'' as Juan Carlos 2006
*''Gang Warz'' as Ro Conner 2004
*''
Reno 911!'' (TV Series) as Hymning Perp #3 2004
*''
The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...
'' (TV Series) as Buzz 2004
*''
Playas Ball
''Playas Ball'' is a 2003 sports, comedy, drama, and romance movie that was written and directed by Jennifer Harper and produced by Dale Davis. It stars Allen Payne and Elise Neal. The film was released on October 1, 2003 by CodeBlack Enterta ...
'' as Tico 2003
*''
Alex & Emma
''Alex & Emma'' is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Kate Hudson and Luke Wilson. Written by Jeremy Leven, the film is about a writer who must publish a novel in thirty days or face the wrath of loan sharks. ...
'' as Tony / Flamenco Dancer #2 2003
*''
Crime Partners'' as Finesse 2003
*''
The Beat'' as Crazy 8 2002
*''
Vatos
"Vatos" is the fourth episode of the first season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series '' The Walking Dead''. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on November 21, 2010. The episode was written by Robert Kirkman and direc ...
'' as Vargas 2002
*''Barrio Wars'' as Osirus 2002
References
External links
Chino XLon
DiscogsChino XLon
ITunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...
*
Chino XL: 'I'd S**t On Shakespeare by Han O'Connor (Allhiphop)
{{Authority control
1974 births
African-American bodybuilders
African-American male rappers
American male rappers
Hispanic and Latino American rappers
American bodybuilders
American people of Puerto Rican descent
Living people
Rappers from New Jersey
Five percenters
Underground rappers
Mensans
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American sportspeople