Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Derek Keith Barbosa, better known by his stage name Chino XL, is an American hip hop lyricist, battle rapper, and actor of Puerto Rican and African American descent. Chino is known for his technically accomplished style, consisting of self-consciously over-the-top punchlines, exaggerated egotism, complex rhyme schemes, and use of multiple similes, puns, metaphors, and word play. He is a member of the intellectual collective MENSA and has collaborated on various projects with some of the most well known in Hip Hop. Chino is also an avid bodybuilder. Chino started rhyming in 1986, as said in his song "Don't Say A Word".
Aside from music, under the guidance of Hollywood talent manager Stacey Castro, Chino also forged a career in acting, appearing in several films and making guest appearances on the Comedy Central series Reno 911! and the CBS series CSI: Miami. He has starred in films alongside Kate Hudson, Luke Wilson, and Rob Reiner and had a solo project debut at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival.
Career
After co-founding the duo Art of Origin, the emcee was signed at age 16 by music impresario Rick Rubin to Rubin's American Recordings imprint, which was once part of the Warner Bros. Records family. He released his debut album Here to Save You All in 1996. The debut was released to critical acclaim and major airplay by radio and MTV.
Chino is specifically targeted and verbally attacked by rapper 2pac near the end of the 1996 diss track "Hit 'Em Up", due to Chino's song "Riiiot!", which had contained a mention of Shakur which Shakur believed mocked him 45 seconds into the song: "...[in this industry] i'm trying not to get fuc-ed like 2pac in jail."[Chino XL Riiiot]
Following Prince's departure from Warner, Chino was released by the label as well, and he released his second album. I Told You So in 2001, and his third album Poison Pen in 2006.
In 2007, Chino signed a contract with urban Latin record label and Universal imprint Machete Music.
In 2009 during a controversial interview with Allhiphop.com writer Han O'Connor, Chino revealed that his fifth studio album The RICANstruction is to be released in 2011. The album will be released via his own joint venture CPR/Universal and will feature the likes of Immortal Technique, Tech N9ne, Ras Kass, Crooked I and Bun B. The RICANstruction will also feature an unreleased collaboration with D12's Proof and a song with Big Pun. The album will be executive produced by Focus... and also feature production from DJ Khalil.
On August 19, a song titled "N.I.C.E." and produced by Nick Wiz was released.
So far, there are only 4 confirmed tracks on RICANstructrion: "N.I.C.E.", Nahh", "90 Bars of Intervention", and "Buried In Vocabulary" featuring Horseshoe Gang.
