I would have to credit my brother Ill-J of Sun Valley Crew for getting me into Hip-Hop. His group was very prominent during the 90s, so him and his peers were a big influence on me. I started making beats with the music generator game for the playstation 1 but I didn't really dabble with any music making software until Juss Rye and Slimm of SVC taught me how to use ACID Pro just in time for their 3rd album "All Natural". My beats debuted for the first time on that album.
2. Where did you coin the name CHRiZO?
I really don't know exactly how or why I thought of this name but I didn't want to have a cliche' hiphop name with nouns, adjectives and/ or numbers attached to it. I didn't want to stray away from my name which is Chris. I didn't want to sound intimidating. I guess CHRiZO sounded friendly to me and it seemed endearing. It's what I'd call any friend of mine if their name was Chris. I thought of it when I was a freshman in college and it stuck. Everybody started calling me CHRiZO. Some would call me iZO. Of course, others would jokingly call me Chorizo because of the strikingly similar spelling. I've always had fun with this name.
3. top 5 influences
DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Ryan Armamento, Mastaplann, SVC.
4. What do you think of the rap beats before, compared to the rap beats today?
Well, I liked them better before! Nowadays, most beats sound pretty similar to each other; using all the same drum kits. Plus they're too clean and "synthy". Not too many people do Boom Bap beats anymore. Back then, beats had a little bit more grit and grime. It had a raw feel to it. It was just a bit more hard hitting than what I'd hear nowadays. Don't get me wrong though, a lot of today's beats are still brilliant. Maybe I'm just old school.
5. What do you think about fliptop? Hahahaha!
Flip-Top is the best! The sheer number of people attending the events and the millions of hits they get on youtube is undeniable. The MCs really give it their all knowing a lot of people are watching them. It was a pleasure for me to judge the first ever Fliptop battle between Nothing Else and RBTO. Too bad they lost the tape!
6. Shout-outs to?
Turbulence, Lockeddown, True Asiatik Tribe, Loonie, Team Sunday, Clay, Flip Music, Konektado, Wika, Specks, Three down, and EVERYBODY!
7. oh and did had you colab with francis m?
Arbie Won just finished his United Freestyles Vol. 2 back in 05/06 and he let me pick which song I wanted to remix. I picked the Francis M song "The Light" feat. Loonie and the SVC song. I already made a remix of the Francis M song before but I decided to make another one for my birthday just 3 weeks before he died. Too bad he never got to listen to it. I was supposed to work on some more songs with him. He already had a beat CD of mine and he specifically picked out this one beat entitled "Legend". In fact, it was what we talked about the last time I saw him alive. May he rest in peace and may his legendary memory live on. Francis M forever!
THANK YOU SO MUCH MR. CHRIZO SENERES FOR THIS TIGHT INTERVIEW! AND BELIEVING IN THREEDOWN. MORE POWER! -Ken Yamaguchi
WANNA HEAR HIS DOPE BEATS?
FOLLOW THIS LINK: http://www.myspace.com/chrizobeats
