Chyna Streetz Speaks on Her New York City Upbringing and Recent Music
WORDS WITH WORD$ INTERVIEW #7
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Yo, it’s the Pope, 1000WORD$.Â
This is an interview with the legendary Chyna Streetz. She is a rising rap sensation from New York City. Her music speaks to her experiences growing up in the city, where she learned to navigate the challenges of life through rapping. Growing up in a city where hip-hop culture permeates the streets, she found solace in the music and began to write her own rhymes at age 13 as a way to express herself.Â
Chyna's music is a reflection of her life, which has been anything but easy. Her ability to bring classic New York grit into the modern era has earned her a loyal fanbase, and her raw lyricism has caught the attention of industry insiders. As she continues to make waves in the rap scene, there is no doubt in my mind that Chyna Streetz has already cemented her place as one of the most exciting artists to watch in the coming years.
THIS IS WORDS WITH WORD$.
1000WORD$: What's going on, man? It's 1000WORD$, I'm here with Chyna Streetz. What's up Chyna? How you been?
Chyna Streetz: What's good? How you doing? Wassup wassup wassup?
1000WORD$: I'm good, I'm chilling, I'm chilling. For the people that are gonna read this, let the people know where you from Chyna.
Chyna Streetz: Chyna Streetz. I'm from Brooklyn, Queens, BQE, New York City. Whichever one you want to say, that's me.
1000WORD$: How was it growing up out here in New York, Chyna?
Chyna Streetz: I loved it. I loved it. It's like a melting pot of everything, so you can't really get bored easily. I've been other places and I got bored within the third week of me being there. Because I'm born and raised from there, it's like every day is something new to get into. So I loved it.
1000WORD$: How was it going to school out here? How was the culture in school, when you was going to school?
Chyna Streetz: For me, it was kind of weird because I'm hella light. So I had to deal with a lot of bullying. Like being yellow, that wasn't always the thing to be so I dealt with that. But other than that, school was cool for me. I wasn't on a loser list or anything haha.
1000WORD$: Aight, cool. What was your first interaction with hip-hop? What caught your attention?
Chyna Streetz: My first interaction with Hip-Hop? It's actually a couple of em. I can't really put it into one aspect, but the first time I knew Hip-Hop was for me was Salt-N-Pepa. I was listening to "Very Necessary" and that shit just turnt me out, I was like, "Wow, this is crazy."
1000WORD$: At what age you discover you could put words together?
Chyna Streetz: Eight. I was eight years old.
1000WORD$: Where were you? If you can remember.
Chyna Streetz: I was in second grade and my mom used to always ask me, "Why do [you] always need notebooks?" I used to tell her that I needed notebooks for school projects and shit, and she was like, "What the hell do you need another notebook for?" And I would just tell her, "Okay, my teacher asked for a new notebook." And I would just write down random melodies that I would just make up out of nowhere. And then over time, that just became a habit for me, if I make up something in my head to just write it down. So I would say eight.
1000WORD$: When did you compose your first song?
Chyna Streetz: Well the first rhyme I ever wrote, I was 13. I would say 13, yeah.
1000WORD$: Do you remember what you wrote?
Chyna Streetz: Nope, hahaha. I mean I do but it was corny. It was one of those corny rhymes that you just write that nobody ever remembered. I literally read my rhyme off the paper, so I didn't even memorize it. But [if i did] it would've needed to [have] the spark. What it needed is a spark inside me.
1000WORD$: Where would you go in the city, like Queens and Brooklyn, to get music? I know you grew up in the mixtape area right?
Chyna Streetz: Uh huh.
1000WORD$: Where would you go get these mixtapes at?
Chyna Streetz: It was a mixture of both. You would either go to Fulton or you would go to Jamaica Avenue, or Broadway Junction too. Broadway Junction used to have all the bootlegs.
1000WORD$: Haha.
Chyna Streetz: You used to get all of them at Broadway Junction. But for me, it was definitely Jamaica Avenue, or even Green Acres. Green Acres had this store called The Wiz and we used to just be in there. They used to have it [where you could] listen and whatnot. It was the best.
1000WORD$: Bro, fire. Yo, Green Acres was that mall on Long Island, right?
Chyna Streetz: Okay, living in Queens, I don't really consider the Green Acres to be Long Island because Long Island is deep, you know? It's Valley Stream but if you from Queens, you don't really consider Valley Stream to be Long Island, but it is.
1000WORD$: I remember going over there when I was young. They had a big flea market in the parking lot across the street from Newport Mall. I used to go to that shit with my moms.
Chyna Streetz: Yeah, every Saturday they would have that dumb shit. I used to hate it.
1000WORD$: Hahaha. Yo, fast forward, for the people that are reading, what's the name of your first project that you put out?
Chyna Streetz: The name of my first project that I ever put out was called "Weird Girl Antics."
1000WORD$: And for the people that's reading this, what year was that?
Chyna Streetz: That would be in 2018, that I put out my first EP.
1000WORD$: And how was the process recording that?
Chyna Streetz: The process was actually kind of dope because, for me, this was my first time actually putting together a body of work and putting it out. I had always put out singles, little one-offs, just to let everybody know like, "Hey, I do this." But me putting that together was more of an accomplishment for me than anybody else. It was just like, "I did it! I put out a project!" That process, recording, was more so a reward, personally. That's how I look at it. My first project was a reward to myself.
1000WORD$: What was your first job?
Chyna Streetz: My first job? What the hell was it? Lemme think...I was sweeping hair in the salon.
1000WORD$: How old were you?
Chyna Streetz: I was 14.
1000WORD$: How was your first experience performing? Where were you when you first performed? When was the first time you ever hit the stage?
Chyna Streetz: Okay see, that's a difficult question because the first time I ever hit the stage, I was four-years-old. So yeah, like straight outta Pre-K. I was always one of those people that was known as a talented person. So I never really knew what it was to be - I don't know how to put this....I was always thrown in the spotlight. I never had a moment where I wasn't thrusted into the spotlight. So I didn't really look at it like when was the first time you were on stage? Like I've been on stage my whole life. It's kind of weird cause from the first time I can remember, I remember my mom, she had took me to this school to get tested for exceptionally smart kids, and I went, and they put me on stage, and asked me to do certain things. To me, just being on stage is a normal thing. I thought everybody got this type of treatment. I didn't really know that it was a difference.
1000WORD$: What do you got coming up next?
Chyna Streetz: My next thing that I have coming up would definitely be my album, "From Hell to Chanel," entirely produced by 183rd. After that, I have a couple more projects. I can't speak on those yet, but definitely got two more projects coming for you guys after this, "Chanel" drops.
1000WORD$: What keeps you inspired?
Chyna Streetz: My peers. My peers keep me inspired. I'm around some of the dopest people ever. They keep me on my toes. When I feel like there's nothing else to rap about, they'll drop some ill shit and that just gets me right back in my bag. So I will definitely say my peers, and life experiences. Life experience is the best thing to write off of, definitely.
1000WORD$: So this past weekend, Chyna, we sat down at The Harvard Crimson building and had a conversation. How was that experience?
Chyna Streetz: Honestly, that was one of the best things I've ever experienced in my life thus far. It was surreal for me because I always wanted to be in the Ivy League school. Like I said, from [when I was] young, I was always an exceptionally smart child, I just wound up going to jail early in life. So I didn't get to experience what I wanted to experience. I was kind of stuck between two worlds if that makes sense. I was the smart chick that was doing hood chick shit. As crazy as that sounds, it's true. I was the smart chick that had no business being over here with the hood n****s, but for some reason that felt like home. Like the smart chicks didn't get me and the hood chicks needed me around cause I was smart, if that makes sense. You always need a smart chick around.
1000WORD$: How long was you in jail for?
Chyna Streetz: I did six years in jail.
1000WORD$: Yeah?
Chyna Streetz: From 17 to 23.
1000WORD$: How was that culture shock when you walked in?
Chyna Streetz: Well for me, honestly, it wasn't really a culture shock. I was literally living in my trauma response. So it wasn't even a difference for me in that aspect. It was just like, "What the fuck is going on?" You don't really look at it as a culture shock until you're outside. When you're inside, you're just in it. There's nothing. You can't fight it, you can't leave, you can't escape. There's no escape to that. It's not like when you're on the outside and you don't want to be around nobody, you can just retreat to your zone. Like no, there's none of that. You're in the drama 24/7.
1000WORD$: What I meant to say was maybe not the culture, [but maybe] you walking down the hall or whatever, knowing that this is where you're about to spend the next six years of your life. What switched it?
Chyna Streetz: No, that's what I'm saying. There was no switch. It literally went from streets to nothing. There's no amount of time that you get to bounce the fuck back. It's just like, your here, that's it, figure out how to survive. There's not a transition, like no, you're thrust into that shit.
1000WORD$: Walking out at 23, how did that feel?
Chyna Streetz: It was the best feeling in the world. The best feeling in the world. I can't even describe how happy I was. I felt like Meek Mill when he was running. If I can describe it, that's real feeling. That's a real thing after six years. And where I was let out from, there was a facility in Manhattan, in a village called Bayview. Basically for the women I was locked up [with] that lived in New York City and shit like that, it was called the Staying Out program. And got to go there just to be closer to your house. So my mom came and picked me up. She was sitting right outside. I was literally looking over the balcony to see, and I saw my mom's car right outside. I was like, "Yo I'm coming home. I'm coming outside right now." And I went to intake, you know they checked you out, and I ran out of them gates like Meek Mill, I'm not even gonna lie.
1000WORD$: Fire, man. From jail to touring all over the States and all over the world, to being written [about] in an Ivy League school. That's so inspiring, Chyna.
Chyna Streetz: Listen, this is what I'm saying. I'm gonna say this on a record because this is a real thing. [Rome Streetz] always tells me to tell my story and I never do because I'm like, "No, I don't want to be known for that. I don't want to be known for being the girl that went to jail and made it." But then, I didn't realize that that is a story. People do need to hear that so they know that life doesn't stop just because you got locked up. Life doesn't stop just because there's certain things in your life that have happened. You can still go after your dreams. All that age shit, it doesn't matter. All that other shit, it doesn't matter. Do you have the talent and do you have the drive and the goddamn discipline to get yourself where you need to go in life? And honestly, now I want to talk about it. I actually do want to try to inspire people to go after what the fuck they want to go after. You don't have to be susceptible to fail. You don't have to literally stay in the same dumps. At the end of the day, life is good. You don't have to make it a bad thing.
1000WORD$: Facts. When does your next album come out?
Chyna Streetz: My album should be coming out at the end of this month. If not the end of this month, the first week of April.
1000WORD$: Appreciate you Chyna. Thank you so much for this conversation, legendary conversation. Thank you so much, Chyna.
Chyna Streetz: Listen, thank you for having me. I appreciate you for having me boy, you know.