Original member of seminal gangsta-rap group Compton’s Most Wanted, Tha Chill along with MC Eiht, Boom-Bam and DJ Slip created some of the most monumental Hiphop records of all time. 

Although Tha Chill was only featured on Compton’s Most Wanted’s first album – “It’s A Compton Thang’ due to his incarceration for the two subsequent albums, his presence in the West Coast Hiphop scene, and the global Hiphop community has always been prevalent.
 
An acclaimed producer and creative wordsmith, Tha Chill is currently putting the finishing touches to his debut solo album “Chillafornia”; an album that is sure to bring a spotlight back to the trend-setting sounds of West Coast Hip Hop.

 
Tell me about this new album, it’s been a while….

Yea, bro, I got a new record ya’know? It’s called ‘Chillafornia’ it’ll be out February – end of February. I got a star-studded West Coast line up on it. I really had to stay in my lane with it and give my fanbase the predictable and the unpredictable at the same time – tryna get my voice hear done more time, man.
 
Who’s guesting?

I got me, MC Ren, King T, Lil 1/2 Dead, Boss Hogg, Kokane, of course me and MC Eiht got down; I got Kurupt on there. As far as producers, I produced the whole thing, predominantly, but I got some tracks from Sir Jinx, some tracks from Battlecat, some tracks from Rhythm D, Joe Sublime, I tried to do it big on that level, as far as a real raw West Coast record.
 
No doubt, it sounds authentically L.A.

Oh yea, totally.
 
Since Compton’s Most Wanted, what’s been going on with you?

Well, you know, I been doing a lot of production. I been producing a lot of groups, producing for a lot of artists. I wasn’t really doing rapping, you know what I mean? I was really heavy off in to my production.  Of course I did the stuff for Redman on ‘Red Gone Wild’ – the track ‘Get ‘Em’. Some stuff for the 213 album, some stuff for Above The Law, the MC Ren ‘RenIncarnated’ project, a lot of MC Eiht shit – just heavy off into my producing.
 
I got some groups that I’m working with – I got an old group with an old member of Compton’s (Most Wanted) by the name of Kill-At-Will, he in my group – I got a group called ‘Wanted Gang’.  It’s like a brother-act from Compton’s Most Wanted.  It’s my, my homie Kill-At-Will, my cousin and my homie Buda. I got a couple other artists I’m dealing with; I got a young Jerk group – that’s my son and his homie Toons – my son Baby Chill and Toons with the Jerk movement, you know? Just trying to stay in business, you know what I mean?
 
Sounds like you’re going full circle with everything…

Yea, trying to man, trying to.

What made you wanna get back to doing a rap album yourself?

Well, I felt like, you know…If I didn’t rap, I’d be part of the problem. You know? It’s still a lot of people that wanna hear from a Chill, or an Eiht or groups like Compton’s Most Wanted or MC Ren, it’s still a lot of people that want to hear that. So I felt that if I didn’t do a record, I’d be a part of the problem.  (Continued in part 2...)