photo credit: 935 KDAY

Chi-Ali has quite the story and he is finally sharing it with the world through a Netflix Documentary titled ‘The Fabulous Chi Ali” as well as an autobiography “Another Kind of Freedom.” In this interview with Noah Ayala, he recalls what it was like going to jail and why he’ll never be going back.

The Bronx native got his start early in the New York City borough when he received early co-signs from now legends in hip-hop and the entertainment industry like Queen Latifah and MC Lyte where he eventually signed with Chris Lighty.

I’m from the Bronx, New York. I grew up in Co-op city. I guess around the time I was 12/13, Queen Latifah used to frequent the neighborhood, her dancers lived in Co-op. Her dancers was cool with my older brother. I was like the little cute kid. “That’s Ray’s little brother, Chi, you know. So, everybody always took to me and I just used to be around them. I was young and there was Latifah and at the time like Special Ed, MC Lyte, everybody used to be over there. These was the mother f*ckers that I came home from school and was watching while I was doing my homework, that made me fall in love with what we call hip-hop.

Ali talks his autobiography and how his life mirrors the lives of the youth in inner city surroundings and the all too-common trials that many have to face.

I look at it like I’m the average black kid growing up in most of these inner cities. I feel like I faced a lot of the trials and tribulations that the average kid goes through. Mine’s may be on a different level because I was with the music some things probably heigtened and some things not as much. BUt, I feel like my story, like mother f*ckers can identify with. Like, even if you can’t identify with every chapter of it, there’s going to be chapters where you be like, Yo, like him too?

Watch the full interview below.