Chaz French, The DMV Underdog
With such easy access to music, I was asked recently “Is it hard to find good music with so many people claiming to be rappers and artist? ” I quickly replied, “No !” With my reply, I thought about the artists we have discovered who are true to the game and actually giving us rap. Going over our list of rappers and artist, I soon began to wonder about good ol’ Chaz French. The DC native is an energetic rapper who didn’t come across my radar until my attendance at a JID & Earthgang concert in Atlanta mid-2017. As one of the opening acts for “Never Had Shit” Tour, Chaz French immediately caught my attention with his catchy songs, his lyrics and most definitely his energy. You can tell a lot of people weren’t familiar with him that night, but like me, they made sure to get familiar.
It’s now months later, and guess what? I’m still checking for Chaz French. His two most recent projects are in my playlist “True Colors” and “ Kill Vol. 1 (DMV Original Playlist)” and are must-haves to appreciate and understand the hype for Chaz French.
His latest project released in November is still in rotation, “Kill Vol. 1 ( DMV Original Playlist)”; is a short 6-track project with hometown love all over it. With features like Fat Trel from DC, Matt McGhee, and Innanet James from Maryland, it’s really a “DMV ” playlist. The intro to the project is an opening letting you know exactly what this project is about, it’s “Kill”- a simple term of an agreement. Every one of these tracks is “Kill”. The upbeat, grungy and hard project is consistent from the beginning to the end. The beats will have your head bobbing and the lyrics will cause you to make the ugly face, simply because the tracks are “Kill”. Chaz French gives us a fast cadence in between tracks showing his rapping ability but he also creates a song that you find yourself instantly rapping along to. Chaz French is the perfect rapper for our time in Hip-Hop now. I think he can be greatly appreciated by the true rap heads who love clear lyrics, and a meaty track containing actual content but can also be recognized by the cult-like fans of the mumble rappers. As the project comes to an end, the last song on the project is the only song with just Chaz on it and no feature. On this last track titled “Kill”, Chaz holds it down by himself in this reflection/motivational track that makes you want more from the D.C. rapper. Chaz French only gave us a 17-minute project, but it rides straight through and gives you no reason to skip. This is only 17 minutes, imagine a full project.
Once you get hip to Chaz French’s past projects, continue to let this rapper be on your radar. As the “Never had shit” tour comes to an end in Vancouver, Canada, looks like Chaz will have more time on his hands to give us some heat. By the looks of his twitter, he’s already got something cooking and been hitting the studio in between the tour. Keep an eye out, he’s slowly but surely making his way to the top and gaining fans along the way.