One chilly as hell, late friday night at Plush night club in Chicago, it was Chris Shields' listening party for his sophomore album, Man on Fire. It was January 20th and the weekend of his album release. He was on the grind the entire weekend promoting his album.
I walked into the club late as hell, maybe even after midnight. I had been texting his publicist, Angie, all night...patiently waiting for my damn toddler to go to sleep.
Slipped out the house, like she was the momma. Rude taxi cab driver got me there in about 13 minutes from my apartment. I walked in Plush (DJ Sparks had the whole club moving) and spotted that blue and white button up and a modest, yet iced out chain reading "Hundred Grand" that Angie had described in her text... and heard his voice rapping to a sick beat through the club's speakers.
And that's when I fell back in love with hip hop.
Chris Shields craft and love for the game brought out all his hood loves, people I haven't seen since high school cafeterias, auditoriums and hallways. It felt good.
And Chris Shields, most definitely a man on fire, made me feel good about hip hop and what's it's really about. I witnessed love for hip hop again, not punks stunting behind materials and talking about nothing. And Hundred Grand is getting love from all over the hoods of Chicago, and he's even featured on YouTube and World Star Hip Hop.
They representing that love for hip hop that keeps Weezy in the studio for 20 hours a day. The kind of love that tells a story about meeting a girl when you were 10 years old. Hip hop that was about the block, spitting bars from the chest and amazing your damn self once you run it back through the speakers.
That night I saw businessmen and businesswomen, from my hood, who out here, by any means necessary.
Vee: So how did this all start for you. Tell me what it is I don't know. From the beginning until now.
Chris:Well I came out with my first album, Lend Me Your Ear. I put it all in my home, After I did that, I sort of made everybody out here a believer. I showed the hood that I was hungry for this. I told my boy that I was hungry and I'd do whatever it took for me to get on. I knew it was time to put my face out there and so I did.... I showed my partner I was serious... Hundered Grand, our label, was born.
Vee: Why Hundred Grand? I mean, beyond the obvious reasons. Who came up with that?
Chris: I came up with that. Hundred Grand was my idea. See, where I come from, it wasn't no millioinaires. I was around a lot of dudes who was in the streets. You hold on to a hundred grand in my hood, that meant something. And everybody in my hood trying to set that bar.
Representing Maywood, IL., he go hard for the entire Chi City by just loving what he does. He's so humble that he granted my interview toward the closing of his party in the back of a noisy, hot as hell club. And I could tell he had a few drinks. Ok, maybe more than a few... But he's not to be caught off point.
Vee: So what drives you Chris? What is it that got you so hungry out here like this?
Chris: Man...(Chris paused) It's my love for music. I truly love to hear music, make music and support music.
Vee: And what inspires you to keep it moving? I mean, this is your second album; what's keeping you out here on the grind?
Chris: My son..(Chris grins from ear to ear) See how I just started smiling the moment I said that? I love him so much, he keep me going. I'm out here grinding for him.
I think it was unfair of society to pronounce hip hop dead. I mean when something's dead; chances of it coming back are, well, slim to none. Implying the peril of hip hop means it has no chance for life. And that's a lie. Because When I pop in that Man of Fire, track 10 (Move) I knew hip hop still had life. And literally, no pun intended, that track moved me. Hip hop is alive. And it's breathing through artist like Chris Shields.
I respect the hip hop dreamers out here...keep dreaming and make it happen. The artists out here spending their last on some studio time or pushing burnt cds out the trunk of their Chevys. Writing bars to their fingers hurt, spitting metaphors and spray painting hoodies to represent their craft. I see you. Respect.
Love you...and much love to Chris Shields, Man on Fire,
Vee
P.S. Man on Fire album available on I Tunes...PLUG...had to do it!!
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