Chinx Drugz has been in the music game for quite some time, but many of you are probably just hearing about him in the last year or so, thanks in part to his frequent collaborations with French Montana. The Far Rockaway, Queens native came up with the late Stack Bundles over a decade ago, but was away doing a 4-year bid when Stack saw the peak of his celebrity. Unfortunately, Chinx was also locked up when we lost Stack. Upon his release in 2008, he kept grinding, determined to keep Stack’s legacy alive. Now in 2013, he’s got singles in heavy rotation on the radio, a new EP and a whole new outlook on life. Oh, and a new name. In an incredibly candid new interview with the Village Voice, Chinx (no longer using the ‘Drugz’) discusses his drug-selling past, his struggles and more. Check out a few excerpts below. (Then check out his freestyle on Flex’s show last night here if you missed it!)
Marisa Mendez
On if he ever got any advice from Stack:
Nah. I wouldn’t say he ever gave me advice. The closest thing to that is we had an argument. We were both were still on the ground level working it. We needed a studio at the time and like, we didn’t have the money to do so. I had an idea like, “Listen we can go take this from him and rob him” and he was like, “No, bro. We’re not doing that.” I’m looking at him like, “We need this. This is for us.” I had an argument with him like, if you want something out here you gotta take it and he’s like, “Nah. I don’t want it that way.” That shit stuck with me forever.
What his single “Feelings” with French Montana was inspired by:
You asked me if I ever get stressed out? That song wasn’t just some sh*t I did to the beat because I thought it sounded cool. I really felt like that when I made that song. Honestly, I was going through some shit with music. I felt like there was a lot of things that wasn’t going in my favor and it was like eating me up. Then I snapped out of it like, what you kill you eat. I’m complaining to myself, like who gives a f*ck how I’m feeling? It was a lot of personal sh*t. It’s not everybody’s turn at the same time.
His drug-selling past:
I just stopped hustling last year. I would come back from fucking Europe, wherever, and go back to the projects and sit on the bench and answer my phone and get my money. That was last year. That’s why if you look at the “Feelings” video, French drops me off in the projects. Some little kid is worried about a “million-dollar rapper” and he doesn’t realize I live in the same projects. That’s real life. I don’t live in the projects now but for a while, that was the situation. When you out in the streets doing fucked up shit, fucked up shit comes back to you. Like it’s fucked up to sell drugs to your neighbor’s mother. Like when you really think about it the shit– I’m not knocking those that don’t see that–but that’s the type of shit I was doing. I didn’t look at it like I was doing anything wrong to that lady. Her kids would be in the hallway and I’m doing that shit. That shit don’t balance out. For what? So I can get some sneakers and an outfit? Flash some money in front of some hoes? That kid is gonna remember his Moms was a crackhead. If you really think about it, it’s karma.
