Taking time out from promoting the latest installment in his popular
mixtape series, Mixtape Messiah 6, Texas rapper Chamillionaire shares
his thoughts on the continued importance of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day, what President Obama should do once in the White House and why the
police are still out of control.
Talk about being the Grand Marshall of the MLK Day Parade in Houston?
Yeah, that’s real big right there considering the time we’re at right
now where we have an African American president. We have the MLK Day
Parade which is the biggest parade in the nation, it’s big that they’d
actually make me the co-Grand Marshall of that. I didn’t even know what
it was at first to be honest. I asked if I had to give a speech or
something like that, but really, it’s just a way for them to attract a
lot younger audience. This is going to be a big deal and a historic day
with the election of Barack and Martin Luther King, Jr. is self
explanatory. It should be a big event.
So what does Grand Marshall mean exactly? Do you march in front of the parade like Drum Line?
Yeah, I’m actually going to pull out some cars from my car shop and
we’re going to have the officials riding in there. So you’ll see city
officials sitting on candy and chrome. It’s a way to get young people
involved— put a popular rapper from the city in the parade and also
some cool-looking cars.
What do you think Martin Luther King would be addressing right now if he were alive?
It’d be wonderful for him to be alive and for him to see his dream come
alive. The dopest thing is I was watching CNN and the older people that
were actually still alive during that time period, they actually got to
see Martin Luther King’s dream [come to fruition]. With young people,
they talk about a history book, but they weren’t there so, it’s a
different feeling. Like the person that was in Hurricane Katrina, that
person that was actually there, it’s a different feeling to them
because they were really there. It’s probably a whole different feeling
to those people who were around during the Civil Rights Movement. I
think Martin Luther King would be very proud to see an African-American
family in the White House. I still can’t wait to see that-his daughters
playing in the White House–that’s crazy! I can’t even envision it
until it happens. That’s why I’m going to the inauguration. People ask
me why I’m going; I’m like, just to be a part of history. It makes me
wake up everyday and feel more proud for the black man. I’m pretty sure
MLK would be proud as well.
Are you performing at the inauguration?
Nah, I’m just going. I know people said its parties and all these
people are performing-it’s not even about that for me. It’s just to be
in that atmosphere. When I’m 50 years-old and I’m talking to my kids
about it, I’ll actually have lived it. I don’t even have a plan. I’m
just going to go out there and wing it. I just want to be a part of it.
President Obama has already said that
the first thing he’s going to do once in office is to close Guantanamo
Bay. What do you think should be the first thing he addresses?
Yeah, I heard that too. I actually watched an interesting interview
yesterday, Larry King was interviewing George Bush and he was talking
about how he wanted to close Guantanamo Bay but he said it didn’t
happen so Barack was going to see how difficult it is to do that once
he gets in there. Anybody can say it, but doing it is a whole different
thing. I think that’s going to be one of the main things that Barack is
going to have to learn-he’s going to get into office and he’s going to
see so many things. He’s going to have to learn so many things and some
of his objectives will change. But the main thing for everybody is, he
can do whatever he wants but the economy is tanked so much, that’s the
main thing that’s going to make people frustrated. They’re already
giving out these $300 billion loans and it doesn’t seem to have done
anything. I think people just want answers. They want their lives to
change. We know it’s not going to be overnight, but somebody is going
to have to address what’s going on because there are too many people
losing jobs. They’re talking about all of these car companies and
record labels laying off all of these people-so if all these people
lose their jobs they’re going to come down with the rest of the people
that don’t have a job and then what’s going to happen? Like, somebody
has to find a way to change this downturn. People just want results
quick.
So in your music you talk a lot about the police. What are you
thoughts about the police shootings in Oakland, New Orleans and Houston
that have occurred recently?
Different situations are different. The craziest thing is me and boy
were leaving the Biggie premier a couple of days ago or whatever, and
we seen a girl get in a wreck. She totaled her car, she hit somebody
else and the police showed up. But the officer that was on the scene
was so nonchalant, like he didn’t care. We could tell that the guy was
just.I don’t want to just throw race into it, but I have to. My friend
and I looked at each other like, man; this guy really does not care
about us. That lets you know that even though we have a black
president, in urban America there are a lot of people that are in the
hood that still feel like the police are not for them. I still see a
little bit of that from time to time. I get pulled over all the time.
Money doesn’t stop you from getting pulled over. I see the treatment
sometimes. It’s kind of like a reality check. –j.h.
