A silhouette portrait, five songs and a litany of emotions make up Chi TheRealist’s latest EP, “Shadow Work.” After the unexpected death of his “mother” (grandma), the hip-hop soul rapper known for his lyricism and vulnerability is going through his self-described “cocoon phase” — but to an outsider, the music he produces is as real as it gets .
“She raised me and I owe a lot of my life to her,” Chee, whose real name is James Boykins, told TheRealist. “The EP was a very self-reflective, introspective, painful growing up experience. I had to tell her these things. This is not a project, this is my work in progress.”
Using emotion to fuel the fire behind his lyrics is innate to Boykins—rapping has always been an outlet. At first, he works his way to acceptance from his peers, from winning rap battles among messy lockers and classroom doors to crafting each verse better than the last.
“I’m no longer just the ‘fat James’ that everyone picks on, now I’m becoming a topic, I’m becoming a ‘thing,'” Boykins said.
Finding his identity while accumulating punchlines, studying Little Wayne, Drake, Jay Z and Eminem, this channel began to oscillate between validity and transparency. Boykins wrote his first song, “The Life of a Teenager,” when he was 14.
“I never knew my mother, I never met her, and I had no answer as to why,” he said. “I was bullied a lot because of it, so when the kids picked on me, I told them she was dead.”
That first song acknowledged that his mother was alive and was about wanting her love, and “I started to find that vulnerability was my ticket,” Boykins said.
Boykins went from performances and church to a high school talent show to the Cypher Arts Program, where local music director Joe Mangano took him under his wing. He learned recording, articulation and song structure and began performing monthly concerts with Cypher, always bringing something new.
Too young to perform in some venues, Boykins dabbled in poetry. He attended open mic nights every week (so much so that they stopped charging him to attend) and soon joined the Roc Bottom Slam Team, founded by program manager at The Center for Youth, Lu Highsmith. Through the slam team, Boykins met Shaq Payne, an educator at Young Audiences New York, who turned him from rapper to competing slam poet.
These open-mic nights soon connected Boykins with Daniel Ponder, the powerhouse Rochester star who would perform after poetry contests. Five years later, she invited him to join her on stage at the Lilac Festival. That performance led to another, and then another, and eventually Ponder would just call Boykins up on stage if he saw him in the crowd.
“It was two things — talent and ambition,” Ponder said. “When I see that, I just want to help in any way I can. I’m just a fan of his too. I want it as an opener because I selfishly want to watch the show. I want him on a song because I want him to make the song better. He is so good.”
She was his role model from the start, and Boykins credits Ponder with much of his technique.
“She has always been my guiding angel, filling me with so much inspiration. How to be resilient, how to present myself, how to really command a stage and take the show to another level — I learned how to do that from her,” Boykins said.
Speaking with his body and making the audience feel tension, joy and relief without using words is the root of Boykins’ energy, and Ponder has always admired that.
“He’s one of the best performers I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of people,” she said. “It’s not just his words, but his ability to connect with the audience and make everyone feel alive. You can’t help but get out of your head, let go of your problems and be fully present when you’re at one of his shows.”
Whether it’s the words he puts on paper or the zeal he brings to the stage, Boykins has never had things down to a science. They were never forced or waited in line. His emotions drive his art and his vulnerability.
“I just do it like breathing,” he said.
Shadow Work is available on all streaming services and updates from Chi TheRealist can be found on his social media.
Sarah Killip is a freelance writer for CITY. Feedback on this article can be submitted [email protected].
