Steve 'Flash' JuonTragedy has struck the rap world again. Chino XL (Derek Barbosa) was only 50 years old. A rapper since the early 1990’s and actor since the early 2000’s, Barbosa was born to be a star as musician Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic was his uncle. It wouldn’t take long for his nephew to succeed in the industry, signing a deal with Rick Rubin’s imprint Def American (American Recordings) and releasing his groundbreaking album “Here to Save You All.“
Two things struck me about Chino XL immediately on his debut — the relentlessly rapid fire punchlines he spit and his absolute fearlessness about who he’d roast. He pushed things so far that his label ultimately censored the line “I spread new rap styles like Monie Love spreads chlamydia” on the song “No Complex.” It wasn’t the first or last time Chino would court controversy with his bars, but his willingness to cross lines and be transgressive made him an underground icon even when he admitted that “FCC stands for ‘Fucking Chino’s Crazy.” He also explored the depths of depression in songs like “Kreep” and showed that he was far more than a one trick, shock value emcee.
Unfortunately his reputation made it incredibly hard to get or keep a record deal, and successive albums often wound up “label shopping” until someone would put them out, which stalled his music career and made it hard to build off the momentum of his debut. It’s undoubtedly for this reason that Chino moved to the West coast and used his natural charisma to delve into acting. Barbosa got further than many rappers do in this field not named James Todd Smith or Ice-T, landing roles in everything from CSI: Miami to soap operas like The Young and the Restless. I wish this part of his career had been better reported on during his lifetime. Here’s a clip of him playing (ironically enough) a rapper named Syndicator on the show Zane’s Sex Chronicles.
Though I can’t find a source to confirm it other than Discogs, Barbosa was “the only known rapper that (was) a member of Mensa“ and honestly that seems accurate even without a citation. Whether you agreed or disagreed with his no holds barred, anything goes, no sacred cows rap style, you could understand and feel the intelligence behind everything he wrote on paper and said on record. Chino XL was truly a “rapper’s rapper” who will go down as a lasting influence far beyond how many albums he sold or how successful his acting career was. My condolences to everyone who knew and loved him. His family has shared this statement.
The family of Derek Keith Barbosa, professionally known as Chino XL, is devastated to relay the news of his passing. Chino died on the morning of Sunday, July 28, 2024 at home. He was 50.
Chino is survived by his children, Chynna, Bella, Lyric, Kiyana; his stepson Shawn; grandchildren Emmy, Emery, Chris, Luis, and Dyani; his mother, Carole; and his former longtime partner Stephanie.
In a joint statement, his daughters reflect: “Our father had many titles – King of Punchlines, Puerto Rican Superhero – but the most important one was Girl Dad. And what he gave us most in that role was his strength, straightforwardness, and ability to be super realistic. The main thing we are feeling now is that our Dad is at peace, and so we are at peace.”
The family asks for privacy at this time. Details of a memorial will be forthcoming.
Chino XL, whose career spanned more than three decades, was a brilliant polymath and multifaceted artist – lyricist, performer, actor, and author – perhaps best known for his intricate and acerbic rhymes, which won Chino the respect of his peers and heroes, which include LL Cool J, Kool G. Rap, and Ice-T.
Says longtime friend and legendary hip-hop journalist Cheo Hodari Coker: “Metaphors, breath control, diction, delivery. Everything I know about hip-hop – the stuff I played forward in my writing, I learned because he gave me a chance to see things up close.”
Derek Keith Barbosa was born on April 8, 1974 in The Bronx, New York, to Manuel Barbosa and Carole Brown. He spent his formative years in East Orange, New Jersey, where, in middle and high school, he became a rapper-performer, taking on the moniker “Chino” based on his childhood nickname. In the late 1980s, he joined forces with budding East Orange DJ and producer Kerri Chandler, to form a duo called The Art of Origin. Chino’s professional career began in earnest when they signed to Rick Rubin’s Def American Recordings/Warner Bros. Records in 1991. After several singles, Chino XL decided to embark on a solo career.
His first album, Here To Save You All, released in 1996, was lauded by critics, adored by fans, and immediately established him as one of hip-hop’s most powerful and venerated lyricists. Though he garnered the most attention for his “poison pen,” the album featured sublime moments of great introspection and beauty. The success led to a second album funded by Warner Bros., I Told You So, featuring collaborations with B-Real, Kool G Rap, and J Dilla, among others. With Warner in corporate disarray in the early 2000s, Chino XL took the album back, released it through independent label Metro Records, forging a strong indie path thereafter with albums like Poison Pen (2006), Something Sacred, a collaboration with Playalitical (2008), Ricanstruction: The Black Rosary (2012), Chino vs. Balt with Balthazar Getty (2020), and God’s Carpenter, a collaboration with Stu Bangas (2023). Most recently, Chino XL collaborated with Rakim on the just-released song “Pendulum Swing” featured on Rakim’s album G.O.D.’S Network-REB7RTH (2024).
In the early 2000s, Chino began his acting career, which led to roles in motion pictures like Alex & Emma, and TV series The Young and the Restless, Reno 911!, and CSI: Miami.
Chino XL amassed a global audience over the past two decades, forging a fruitful career as a touring artist in dozens of countries, both solo and in conjunction with the collective Rebel Army, in which he deepened his commitment to community building, activism, and public service. Says longtime collaborator Immortal Technique: “We traveled the globe together and there was nowhere on the Earth that he was not revered.” His most recent venture, The Chino XL Experience, verged on performance art, with Chino engaging the audience directly with dialogue, music, and storytelling.
But the most recent development, and one of which Chino and his family were exceedingly proud, was his development into an author of graphic novels: Black Mass, Lucy, and Skin and Bones: The Descent of the Holy, promoting the books at retail and at Comic Con. Says Bella Barbosa: “He found a partner that he trusted and worked with on every single detail. Those books are so fully him. Everything in there is him.”
His fans, whom Chino himself gave the respectful title of “soldier-supporters,” will remember him as brilliant, quick-witted, and devastatingly funny; a dexterous performer, a sculptor of language; someone who sacrificed himself for his art, refusing time and again to compromise it.
Says Bobby Bout-It, Chino XL’s longtime DJ, road manager, and friend: “Chino always pushed for lyricism. He said ‘lyrics are the revolution. Lyrics will inspire the next revolutionary.’ But what people don’t understand is that his lyrics – whether about dealing with a child’s illness or abuse or struggles with relationships – were like therapy to his fans. His shows were as much therapy sessions as they were concerts. They were like church, giving people comfort and relief from their pain. And he got comfort from his solider-supporters, they were like therapy to him.”
His friends and family, however, will remember him most as loyal, protective and loving, someone whose voice buoyed them in life. For them, his voice remains eternal.