{"id":17080,"date":"2019-02-06T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T17:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=17080"},"modified":"2019-02-04T12:34:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T20:34:08","slug":"chali-2na-turns-passion-for-graffiti-into-music-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/02\/06\/chali-2na-turns-passion-for-graffiti-into-music-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Chali 2na turns passion for graffiti into music career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

He meant to be a painter, but LA-based MC Chali 2na just couldn\u2019t help it. From the hip hop group Jurassic 5 to the Grammy-winning band Ozomatli, 2na (pronounced \u201ctuna,\u201d real name Charles Stewart) is now preparing to tour his latest solo EP, Instrumentality<\/em>, the fifth and final instalment of his Against the Current<\/em> EP series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe solo thing that I bring is a bit of both worlds,\u201d says 2na, \u201cas well as a bit of my own world, alongside my band The House of Vibe, who helped me translate these adventures. It\u2019s a fun show, its dynamic, it\u2019s a party, and all those, including the people that are onstage, are involved in that party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graffiti was 2na\u2019s first passion. He warmly welcomes artists who take on the craft with their own unique interpretations and methods, but is disturbed by corporations that take up prime spaces for street art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe medium itself used to create the painting, first and foremost, is one of the tell-tale signs of graffiti,\u201d says 2na, \u201cart that was illegally created in circumstances where art didn\u2019t exist, or shouldn\u2019t exist, at first. Now those same tactics have been, in my opinion, sometimes ripped off by these big corporate companies; I trip about all that. Where they choose to advertise now are places where graffiti artists would have taken up, and still call themselves \u2018beautifying.\u2019 I like the street aspect of it, the vigilante beautification of an area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Los Angeles-based MC Chali 2na was turned on to hip hop through graffiti (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

His passion for painting led 2na on an unexpected career path, introducing him to every aspect of hip hop culture. Although he may have only started rapping as a hobby, 2na wouldn\u2019t change a thing about the life that he\u2019s built for himself through music, and it all started through his interest in graffiti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never thought, honestly, that rap would be what got me known, or would cut a way through the world for me,\u201d he says. \u201cMy whole intention was to try to do it from a visual art perspective. I was trying to go to school, I was gonna be, whether it be some commercial graphic art, or whatever… I love to paint and things of that nature. That was my goal. I can rap, I can pop, I can breakdance, you know, whatever stuff, but that was just hobby stuff. For those things to take precedence and be the main source of my income for 10 or 30 years is a trip for me, but I\u2019ve embraced all of it and I\u2019m extremely grateful for everything. If somebody asked me, \u2018If you could do this over, what would you do different?\u2019 I\u2019d be like, \u2018Nothing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chali 2na
8 pm Saturday, February 9
$20, Capital Ballroom
thecapitalballroom.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He meant to be a painter, but LA-based MC Chali 2na just couldn\u2019t help it. From the hip hop group Jurassic 5 to the Grammy-winning band Ozomatli, 2na (pronounced \u201ctuna,\u201d real name Charles Stewart) is now preparing to tour his latest solo EP, Instrumentality, the fifth and final instalment of his Against the Current EP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-february-6-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17082,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080\/revisions\/17082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}