Chino XL :: Darkness and Other Colors

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S NOTE: If reading a review which addresses the serious topic of self-harm and suicidal thoughts would not be good for you at this time, we encourage you to pass on this review for now. If you think you can handle it but would still like help, please dial 988 in the United States or visit the resources at the end of this article. For resources outside of the U.S. check with your local health professional. Thank you.

Chino XL has always possessed an otherworldliness to him, rapping as if he’s been possessed by some force from another dimension. His abilities on the microphone are well documented as elite, exceptional, and any other adjective you wish to assign. He’s a “Jedi MC” as Crooked I puts it. Chino has influenced countless emcees, most obviously Eminem, and yet his legacy was often boiled down to just “punchline rapper”, or worse, “that guy Tupac dissed on Hit Em Up”. Chino XL is far more than just a rapper, and he still feels ahead of his time. Even how he presented himself, as a musclebound God (the Puerto Rican superhero, no less) felt apt because when he rapped, it felt like a lab-grown monster had mastered the English language and escaped into the recording booth. Having taken his life in July, a few months later we have the posthumous “Darkness And Other Colors” that hasn’t come without its controversies. Music A&R M-80 came in for some stick for releasing this record two months earlier than his family had hoped, to try and recuperate money rather than letting any profits go to suicide prevention charities. This feels mucky, and while he has tried to defend himself, it was a shame this album had this nonsense surrounding its release, rather than something more positive and celebratory of Chino’s career.

This album is controversial in its own right, and is essentially, Chino XL following up on the threat he posed in 2006 with the therapy session song “Skin”. On it, he cites “My abandonment issues run deeper than you know, I’ll tell you all about it on the my next album, I promise, my family ain’t ready for me to be that honest“. “Darkness and Other Colors” is that album, and while it wasn’t the next album he released (that was 2008’s “Something Sacred” with Playalitical), it has been in the works for a number of years. This album is a tough listen, but primarily from a conceptual standpoint. It’s one of, if not the darkest piece of rap music ever made, beginning with Chino talking us through how he would hang himself on “Words in the Color of Death”.

The theme of death has been prominent throughout Chino’s music, all the way back to his debut “Here To Save You All”. The last song on that album,”Rise”, is all about him worrying about dying early and illustrates to the listener what that may look like. On 1996’s “Kreep”, a single from the same album, he was “Thinking bout taking my own life like Marlon Brando’s daughter”. Suicide is forever on his mind. At the start of 2006’s “Poison Pen” he states he’s going to die soon. The intro to his fourth LP “The RICANStruction” he’s stood out in the rain claiming he’d be lucky if he drowned. Where “Darkness and Other Colors” feels more controversial is that it often talks about suicide more explicitly – it’s not being disguised by a funny punchline and it gets into some really dark places. Even the silly lines like “I’m a pioneer, like forcing a dessert inside of your audio” can’t hide the raw pain it exudes. Remember that Dave Chappelle skit where he is in the club dancing to the new Tupac song, and Tupac is quite clearly not dead? This feels like the reverse of that as if Chino is speaking from beyond the grave. Understandably, this song in particular has caused some controversy over whether this record should even be released, but it has been confirmed that Chino wanted this album to be released, having worked on it since 2020.

Considering he did hang himself, it’s particularly impactful knowing that these words would eventually ring true. It also evokes a different emotion from the storytelling nature of “Suicidal Thoughts” by Biggie Smalls, instead having more in common with NF’s brand of constant bleakness. It takes me back to my own dark place, and while it is initially shocking to listen to what Chino’s rapping about, I still believe that what he has achieved with this short album (by his standards at least) is something that hasn’t really been observed since his passing. He’s successfully applied his unique and energetic brand of advanced lyricism to an album focused on battles with his mental health, which is interesting in itself, but the fact that he’s created an album that exclusively represents this side of him, and it’s as potent as you’d expect, also doesn’t come as a surprise. He’s always been a controversial wordsmith pushing the boundaries of rap, and this LP is an incredibly bold effort, that will undoubtedly require a strong stomach. It’s the one thing that’s never been done in rap – make an album about suicide – commit suicide – and release it shortly after. As a longtime fan whose only interaction with him was through social media, it’s unlocking emotions I’ve never experienced from music, transcending the usual beats and rhymes, the vibrations, the lyrics – I felt some of these songs in my bones.

“Sermon in Crimson” is packed with quotables, I’ll just share some of the verse:

“Wordsmith, murder rhetoric unleash your next fear
If I’m not the illest I’m the illest at least until the illest gets here
It’s never been about making a project to release (Nah)
It’s about making a project to release, Chino the Unstoppable Beast
Mother Nature let me breastfeed, so who’s gonna test me
When I bury you like Adolf Hitler buried his own Jewish ancestry
Cold and ironic, vitriolic, I’m not plotting to die tonight
Key strike your Helvetica bold in italic ariel but you are not my type
Type 2 diabetes. I just typed the word diabetes twice
What I write as a spiritless demonic device, that it’s decidedly rotten that we’ve been robbed of a physical life of Sean Price
I got a mind that is ice, freezing, driven, still living in cages
Here To Save You All to God’s Carpenter, I’m the awkward author that is ageless
Bronx, Jersey to Cali, the streets that Chino that ran on
With ink blots I’m writing verses that are hotter than a jalapeno tampon
Relatively speaking, the alphabet is my slave kin
So many verses written in my phone, the bottom of the screen is caved in
I’m feeling no feelings, known for spilling the truth even if it hurts
Don’t piss Chino off. That’s a sermon in four words. I said
I’m feeling no feelings. Known for spilling a truth. Even if it hurts
Don’t piss Chino off, n****, that’s a sermon in four words“

Chino had some serious health issues, and what this album successfully shows is that the only rapper that could ever stop Chino XL is Chino XL. His bars remain top-tier thirty years into his solo career, and he increases his words per second on “Byzantine Darkness” with a relentlessly written and delivered verse. It’s more like his songs from “God’s Carpenter” record where he’s just going ballistic over tough beats, often at a furious pace.

He had a point. When Jay-Z said in 2003 “if skills sold, I would lyrically be, Talib Kweli” it makes you wonder just how priceless a Chino XL must be. The only rapper who was part of Mensa – constantly bemused at the state of lyricism in modern Hip-Hop. This constant bleakness in his worldview is something that has been present in his music, but for some, his depression was almost hiding in plain sight. Like many others, I first associate Chino XL with punchlines, metaphors, and similes. Hilarious and outlandish ones – there are not many funnier rappers than Chino XL. But for every showcase of intense wordplay wizardry, there are some of the most honest, heartfelt songs you’ll ever hear. Whereas contemporaries such as Vinnie Paz or RA the Rugged Man would stop the verbal abuse and vivid imagery for specific songs to tell a powerful story, Chino could blend the two styles, often effortlessly. I don’t recall ever hearing Chino referred to as an emo-rapper probably because his rhymes are so densely written and aggressively conveyed, with metaphors and similes distracting many listeners from his continued battle with depression. There’s no hiding from what he’s talking about on “Blue Obsidian” however, which sees him share his experiences of neglect and again, go into some frank admissions that can be a tough listen, particularly if you relate to the subject matter:

“I’m the highest risk of self-harm according to most kids statistics
How could I not produce some form of kinda mental illness?
Silently suffered in endless pitch black cold total stillness
The hoarse voice from screaming, the ripped fingernails from clawing
The starvation from sitting in my own piss
I was six-years old, man like Pharrell how the fuck was this allowed to happen?
I developed other personalities in that claustrophobic space
Thank God I found writing as a mental distraction
I planned to buy that house in Plainfield where that child was fractured
Demolish him, maybe the demons are vanquished and I’ll feel healed just a fraction
But I doubt it”

Hearing the hook’s cry of “Don’t Give Up” is heartbreaking, but will hopefully provide hope for many listeners. Family trauma is a recurring topic, which Chino revisits on “Burn in Ivory” with a damning attack on his mother before it unravels into a more familiar set of braggadocio raps. Many Chino XL fans will have favorite verses and favorite songs, and I’m going to say that “Lumps of Silver” has already cracked my Top 5 Chino songs. Every time I hit play, it makes my eyes well up. It’s the pained electric guitar (props to DJ GI Joe) and Chino’s singing that does it, as he again, reflects on his pain, his childhood and how his music will always be around, even if he isn’t.

I wanted to study this album further, to see if it was indeed darker than his previous albums, or if it was just more transparent with its themes. As previously mentioned, Chino has talked about suicide on all of his albums. Whilst digging into the lyrics for old Chino XL records, I was reminded that it’s still Fuck Genius (formerly Rap Genius). In case you wasn’t aware, they built their website on thousands of stolen transcriptions from volunteered submissions to OHHLA.com, and you can still see proof of it in songs like 1996’s “Partner to Swing” (check the corrinor typo) and “Freestyle Rhymes” (“esas”/essays).

Studied Cool J, studied Kool G, studied Ice-T,
Now I meet little homies that say they study me.

– Chino XL on 2012’s “Take It Back”

What I managed to find was some interesting shifts in both language and topics. An example of this is how Chino is still firing off rhymes with alliteration, but on average, he’s doing it 9 times in a song compared to twice that on “Poison Pen”. Chino’s use of alliteration has gradually increased over his career, highlighting how he always aimed to raise the levels of lyricism with each project. For context, Nas is someone I’ve studied over the years and he averages 12 words per song across thirty years, and Chino averages 14 words over that same period.

Chino has also gradually reduced his levels of explicit language and shifted away from the very frustrated figure he was on his first album, toward reflecting on his legacy and wrestling with his identity, which was particularly prevalent on his double-disc “RICANStruction: The Black Rosary” album. Perhaps most obvious about his latest album is that the theme of Escape and Transformation has disappeared, as Chino comes to terms with his life and legacy. Hope is also at its lowest, and the words he is using on “Darkness and Other Colors” are certainly delivered as if all hope has gone from his life.

I could study Chino XL for many weeks, months and years, because even though his discography isn’t the largest, it’s rich with technical trickery, a vast vocabulary and tells us a lot about him. If you search this album on streaming services, it’s actually listed as a collaborative effort: Chino XL x Bodybag Ben, although Bodybag Ben produces half of the record, not all of it (more if you include the three bonus tracks). He still deserves a shout-out amongst all the furore surrounding this release, because his production fits Chino just as well as it did Stu Bangas in 2023. I generally associate Ben’s name with typical underground street rap, but each song here is more interesting than spitting game or selling drugs, and his beats sound better for it.

One could theorize whether the trajectory of Chino XL has come full circle. Playing this album and then returning to his debut, he becomes resurrected “Here To Save You All” and thus, lives indefinitely on a loop through his discography. “I Told You So” affirms his status as a great emcee, with “Poison Pen” excelling with his storytelling songs. “RICANStruction: The Black Rosary” was mostly about him coming to terms with his identity as a Puerto Rican and seeing hope and survival fall away as a result, before “Darkness and Other Colors” laid bare Chino’s most naked truths. His life is on record, and so is his death, which for some listeners may be uncomfortable, but that’s often what Chino excelled at, and so few artists manage to achieve during their careers and/or lifetime. Make the listeners feel what you’re saying, whether that makes you laugh, shocks you, or makes you uncomfortable. His music has helped me during my own battles with depression, and I know it has helped others. The fact he could do this while also operating in the top 1% of technically gifted emcees, is a testament to his talent and proves his legacy will remain in the hearts of all his fans. May he rest in peace.

I’m a highly accomplished spitter murderer who spent my entire life literally out-rapping n****s – FACTS.

– Chino XL on 2024’s “The Red You Deserve”

USA: If you or someone you know is considering suicide, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (https://988lifeline.org/) is a 24-hour, toll-free, confidential suicide prevention hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. It provides Spanish-speaking counsellors, as well as options for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.

UK: If you’re in the UK, whatever you’re going through, you can call the Samaritans any time, from any phone for free. The number is 116 123. https://www.samaritans.org/