WORDS Reynaldo Herrera PHOTOGRAPHY EstevanOriol.com

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY OF ISSUE #46 WITH DOWN AKA KILO!

He’s the bad guy. He’s the pelon who steals your lunch money and then jacks your rims. He’s the tatted down vato who inevitably starts a brawl that shuts down the party. At his worst, he’s the murderer who drives down your block and blasts away at anyone in sight. Who is he? He’s the cholo.

Yet the cholo is also the good guy sometimes. He’s the one that backs you up in a fight. He’s the one with “hook ups”. And he’s the one you want to kick it with at the party because he knows how to have a good time.

Today, the cholo has gotten a worldwide makeover courtesy of rapper Down AKA Kilo. Kilo’s hit song “Lean Like a Cholo” has everyone from four-year-olds to abuelitas humming and leaning to his tune. Lean back on your couch and peep Kilo’s views in our exclusive interview.

When would you say your career as a rapper was launched?
Probably when I started recording in an actual recording equipment.

What makes you innovative and distinct from other rappers?
I think it’s the style that I bring. My voice is different. I keep it more grimy and more real. I try to make it more universal and commercial for people to relate to.

In your hit “Lean Like a Cholo” how are you trying to portray the cholo?
What happened with “Lean Like A Cholo” is that I changed the definition of a cholo in the mainstream. Rather than showing him as a dope slanger or a fool who blasts on people, what I do is make him look cool. What I’m doing is showing him as someone who is normal and just likes to dress like that. They are from the hood and I made it to the point that all the little kids want to be a cholo now. I’m not telling kids to come out here and gang bang. I’m just telling them it’s a way of being. I took all the bad and turned it into good—which is just starting a dance for the homies.
I’m giving kids that grew up in the hood the chance to see that though I may seem like a thug from the hood, I can still do good. I’m giving people hope that a Latino from the hood can do good. Even though I didn’t graduate from high school and went to continuation school I still came up. I’ve been in jail, but at the end of the day I turned all my bad into good and that is what I tell kids everywhere—that they can make it too. When I was a kid, I had nobody to tell me what was good. Everyone was gang banging. At least kids now have fools like us telling us what is good. My parents are straight first generation mexicanos from Mexico. They didn’t know what we were doing when we were throwing up signs, but now they know. We were pioneering and doing this cholo rap shit you know.

I heard that you have other businesses such as bakeries…
Yeah, that’s true big dog. I run my own bakery and business and my whole family is into it now. I’m an entrepreneur homie, I like running my own show. I like to invest my money and show my raza what’s up, that we can do it too. We can live in a nice neighborhood and have nice cars. I did the panederias for over 10 years now.

Any relation to Chingo Bling and his tamale selling operation?
[Laughs] Nah dog. My shit is real. That fool just does it to clown and for fun dog. I do it for real.

So you grew up with your buddies referring to you as “Down.” Why not just go by that? How did “Kilo” come into play?
Kilo is nothing more than an alias I use for my Spanish speaking peeps. They did not know what Down was, so I just did my own thing with Kilo so that they can understand. When I go to Mexico they can think of me as Kilo, all my paisanos in Mexico. So they don’t hate on me and call me a pocho. Kilo is more universal and I can use it anywhere I go.

What is your definition of an ese in one sentence?
To me it is a Mexican-American growing up in the barrio sporting khakis, a bald head, and a white t-shirt with locs.

You define yourself as the Brown Superhero. What makes you a superhero?
I just felt there is a need for someone like us to go balls out and compete with all the big dogs in the industry. We haven’t had any one representing us for almost twenty years—ever since Kid Frost. Now we have my hit that made the top 10 on the Billboard charts, and is selling a grip of ring tones. It’s one of the biggest songs in the history of Latino rap.

How has being a minority affected you in the music business?
I think it has helped me actually. A whole new face, a whole new culture, and the kids are loving it. In Cali, everyone knows what a cholo is and now we have taken the cholo to another level. When you go to cities like Wichita or Kansas City you have all these people interested in us. They don’t even know but they are still leaning like a cholo. I think this has really helped me to be honest with you. It sets me apart from the 50 Cents and Snoops.

You have collaborated with many other rappers such as Snoop Dogg and Cypress Hill. How did it go?
It was tight doing shit with these cats, working with legends. They’re all cool people and awesome artists.

Have you toured anywhere outside the United States?
I’ve gotten a lot of offers from places like Japan, but right now my concern is getting things laced up here. This is where my job is at. I’ll worry about that later, I want to blow up here first.

You have been referred to as the Latin version of Easy E. How do you feel about this and do you think you have paved the way for other up coming Latino rappers/artists?
My flow is constantly compared to Easy E. Our voices are very much alike. However, my intentions were never to sound like him because I tried to be myself. That’s who I am: myself, but still, it feels great to be compared to a legend like that. I grew up listening to him. But being myself helped me break down a lot of walls. When my song was on the radio, I was getting offers from every major label to sign. I know they are looking for the next Latin rapper. I already showed them that we can sell a half a million downloads and go gold on ring tones off just one song. My song did what 50 Cent ain’t doing right now.

You have already collaborated with many traditional Mexican artists such as Lupillo Rivera. At the same time there is an ongoing rift or cultural gap between recent immigrants and Chicanos?
Do you fear alienating your younger fans by doing more traditional Mexican music?
Yeah, Lupillo Rivera, Jenny Rivera, Los Razos…I’ve worked with the best of the best, from Snoop Dog to the East Siders. Just about everyone…MC Ren—after working with him he hasn’t done a song with any other ese. And all that to me is big. I grew up listening to these rappers.
I don’t think [I alienate younger fans], I think the raza already adapted to what we’re doing.

Along those same lines, there’s the whole rivalry originating in the prisons between paisas, norteños, sureños…What’s your take on this?
I can’t call it and I can’t comment on it. There is nothing you can do about this. This is the way things are. My whole thing is raising my son to be right and to do music and do positive things. I don’t want to get involved with that. I can’t stop it, no one can stop it. All I can do is give good advice to the new generation of homies so we can all come up.

What do you have to say to the people that say you’re promoting a negative thing by singing about cholos?
It’s not a negative thing. What would people rather me be doing? I could be doing dirt still. There are a lot of good people in the barrio and I’m bringing the good of the ‘hood to the public. Maybe when I was younger I was doing negative things, but now I know I’m doing positive. I’m not wanting bad to come out of what I do. I want nothing but good.

Popularity: 2% [?]