Chavis Chandler is a Detroit lyricist you need to take notice of. Not too often do you find an artist who studies his craft and is raw and unfiltered in his daily life and music. He’s been featured in major publications such as WatchLoud and XXL, and he appeared on “Real Late with Peter Rosenburg” on Hot 97 back in 2014.
You started out singing before you started rapping and then merged both entities as you grew within music. Was this always something that you knew would happen as you progressed as an artist?
Definitely. I’m a pretty premeditated dude so everything that I do is normally thought out. It’s a lot of madness but it’s a method to it that people can’t normally see. It’s damn near seamless but once I finally got comfortable with my voice completely to start singing all the way through songs, that’s when I put out my mixtape “SangFoMe.” That project warmed me up and got me ready for the “One Winged Angel” project because I was able to hone in a lot more on some of the emotions that I was trying to convey in some of the hooks and on some of the songs.
How about people’s viewpoint of you, seeing that you’ve been on notice for quite some time?
With that comes an imaginary pedestal that’s really not the artist’s reality at the time. I will never see myself how people look at my music and it will never make me feel how it make the world feel because I’m too busy making it for the people.
From After-School Detention all the way up to Sang 4 Me, you’ve constantly pushed yourself to become better as a creative. What has been your favorite project that you’ve made?
Each one of them was a different chapter in my life. I feel like ASD was me being young, in high school, speaking from the standpoint of a young kid in Detroit and going to Detroit Public Schools and facing all the adversities that I had faced with people focusing on negativity and letting all of that keep them down. That was what that project was about. I was the student that made the teachers earn their money. That’s where my music still is because I still feel like I’m the kid that will stand up to the principal in front of the whole school.
The greats in hip-hop have always used the power of conceptualization to their benefit in music. Do you prefer conceptual projects or do you like the challenge of a blank canvas?
I like the challenge of a blank canvas because I get more control over what I want to do and where I’m going to go with whatever story or sound that I’m making. I wrote a song called “Electricity“ with no beat. I write most of my songs with no beat. I don’t need instrumentals to write. I wrote everything on my mixtape Call Of The Wild before I had beats and it’s because I had a story to tell and I had something to say. With “Electricity,” I wrote the whole song on a shoe-box, practiced it, and then I took it to the studio with wsKHARRI and asked him to make a full beat to it.
Over the last two years, you’ve lost weight and had a baby girl. How did these and other lifestyle changes impact your creativity?
I’m in the most creative state of my entire life. Having my kid changed me forever and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same person or the same artist that I used to be. My daughter’s mom is a singer too and she’s going to be dropping an album later this year. In all honesty, having a girl that sings, and I’m an artist, plus having her love and support me is like having two girlfriends. We connect on two different levels. She singing in the studio with me and to me, that s*** is like sex. It’s a whole different connection.
Detroit has long been the epicenter for fashion and timeless music. There is also this idea that we are separated, although we do reinforce that perception with the phrase “Detroit vs. Everybody” thanks to Tommy Walker. What do you think needs to take place in order for Detroit artists to be on one accord?
Don’t nobody gotta be cool with each other, or help each other but everybody gotta be on the same mission. Everybody gotta start working harder than they’ve ever worked before and when that happens, nobody will be able to deny us. Everybody will start to take notice once that happens. People hate on each other in Atlanta, New York, and everywhere but people still can be on one agenda. Put the work in and rep Detroit. Stop talking down and worrying about what the next person is doing and go get yours. If everybody running to the finish line at the same time, don’t that look cooler than everybody just running behind each other?
One Winged Angel is the name of your next project. What are some of the things that you’ve done differently on this project from any other project that you’ve created?
With this new album, in the 15 years that I’ve been making music, I’m completely comfortable now. I ain’t never been this comfortable with my sound and in my artistry, ever. I know how to use every tool I got and I know how to portion everything out perfectly and distribute the singing, and the rapping out so there’s a perfect balance. You getting both sides of me at the same time. I dug deep on this one and went back to my roots. I’m rapping my ass off on this project. I’m making people have to rap again. You gotta have something to say and you gotta be able to rap, period. I got three verses on a lot of my songs and the content is crazy. And with the title, One Winged Angel, I’m comparing myself to being an angel and the fact that I got one lung mean I got one wing. I can still do the same s*** that most people can do with both of their wings and I can do it better. This is the most honest and vulnerable that I’ve ever been with my music.
