KEY POINTS:
With eight-carats worth of diamonds in his ears, hip hop star Chingy is living the good life. He sits down with nzherald.co.nz to talk about growing up in the ghetto, giving back to the community and girls in jeans.
It's been two years since you were last here. What's been going on since we last saw you?
I was working on my new album, Hoodstar. On the road, shows, interviews, the normal stuff that goes on in this business. But mainly working on my new album. I recorded a lot of it in my house, in the studio in my basement. We recorded some of it in Atlanta and California.
So what is exactly is a hoodstar?
A hoodstar, to me, is a person that comes from the hood and gets a chance to get out and do something with their life. Have a little fame. Living a good life, other than being in the hood and not doing too much.
You've talked about coming from the ghetto. What was your childhood like?
I grew up in a rough neighbourhood. We moved around a lot. The neighbourhood I grew up in had a lot of drugs, guns, gang-banging, poverty. I had goals in my life and one of them was to be in the music business and that kept me motivated to do music and what I was doing, instead of just being scrapped in the neighbourhood and falling under all the negativity that was going on.
You seem to have avoided the whole gangsta rap style.
Yeah, I make all types of music. I choose to make more uplifting music.
What do you think about that type of music and the culture that goes with it?
It's been around and I ain't mad at it because I grew up with music like that. And I make music like that too. It's going to be around.
You worked with a whole range of producers and artists on the album. Who do you really look up to in the industry?
It's people I'm inspired by. Russell Simmons, Ice Cube, DJ Quick, Run DMC. I grew up to their music and as you can see, they have longevity in the business. They still come out with records and got into movies and whatever. Now I'm in the business, it's good to know it can be done and it can be done for a while.
Is that something you'd be interested in, going down the movie path?
It's secondary to my music but I don't mind it. I did some TV shows and a movie before. It's cool. It's check.
Your latest single is Dem Jeans. Are you a fan of girls with a bit of junk in their trunk?
Yeah. You got to be a fan of girls with junk in their trunk, you know? I just love women. Women can make jeans look really nice, their curves and everything. The song explains itself. It's just about nice-looking women that make jeans look good, fit them right. You see it everyday. We just came up with the song in the studio, listening to some beats.
The show tomorrow night is a collaboration with Vodafone. What do you make of the digital music revolution?
It's cool. Technology's changing the world. You're going to be able to see the show on your phone. You weren't able to do that ten years ago. If you've got a favourite artist or something and you want to check out one of their performances, then that's cool with me.
So you're not against people downloading music?
I would prefer them to buy the albums and not download the music. If they're paying to download the music then that's cool. But they should only be allowed to download one or two songs, not the entire album.
Your bio says your quite a fan of sneakers?
I don't have 4,000 pairs though. Probably a couple hundred. Somebody just put that in there on their own.
So you're not a real sneaker pimp?
No I am. I love shoes and sneakers but 4,000 pairs is a lot. I ain't there yet. Give me a year, two years. I like Louis Vuitton shoes, they're my favourite.
You've started a foundation Chingy for Change, tell me about that?
It's to help less fortunate kids. Two, three months ago I gave away four college scholarships to these kids so they can go to college and pursue their dreams, that's what the foundation is all about. On holidays, Christmas and holidays like that, we help people that can't have a Christmas and don't get to open gifts, to have a nice Christmas, playing with gifts and stuff. [The foundation] was important to me, once I had the chance to give back to the community.
* Chingy plays tomorrow night at Auckland's St James. Tickets are only available via Vodafone.
* For more on the digital music revolution check out tomorrow's TimeOut in the Herald.
