CALEZ: THE STORY OF THE TRANSITION FROM BABY TO POPPA

Whether or not the city of Chicago itself knows it, or even if the chart topping musicians to come from the windy city know it themselves, the spring is a very important time in Chicago's ever buzzing music scene. Not only is it a time for artists to drop new heat and make their bid for their summer takeover, it's a very special and symbolic sort of time for the music scene itself, historically speaking. For instance, let's take it back to the spring of 2012, March 11th, to be exact. The day two infamous Chicago artists by the name of Chief Keef and Lil Reese shook up the entire world with the release of their seminal single "Don't Like."

A little over a year later on April 12th, one of the biggest names to illuminate the Chicago skyline since Kanye West himself, Chance the Rapper, released his breakout project 10 Day, and subsequently, the landscape of music in the Midwest, and within the mainstream industry as a whole, was altered forever.

Now, more than six years removed from the sensational age of Drill Music and the rise of notable acts such as Vic Mensa, Lil Bibby, G Herbo, Mick Jenkins and more, another Chi-town bred artist seeks to shake up landscape of modern music once again. An artist whose boots have been on the ground with the aforementioned revolutionaries since their infancy. An artist by the name of Marcale Jenkins, better known by his stage name Calez, seeks to make the jump from Baby to Poppa with his new body of work.

I got a chance to sit down with the 26-year-old Rap wunderkind to discuss a myriad of topics including his experiences growing up in the hyper-creative and bustling community of Chicago, life as a new father, and more importantly his transition spiritually, physically and musically from Baby the mixtape to his upcoming Poppa EP, which drops everywhere tonight! Though we talk about a lot in this interview, What you will uncover reading this Q&A is the fact that this young man is an incredibly benign individual with a unique talent and love for music.

What was it like coming up in the music dominated community in Chicago during the time period notable acts like Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa and more were up and coming into the mainstream circuit?

Calez: Yeah I mean, I think it’s really just the people around that you grow up and get to know. Before I got into that community, you know, I was always on my own thing, rapping and what not. And then I met a couple guys and we started a group called Breakfast Club and we, you know, we wanted to take our talents to the the next level and try to figure out what brands and what things could we collaborate on to bring what we were doing to the forefront. So we started going to the areas like downtown Chicago and we started politicking with this store called Jugrnaut, you know what I’m saying, and they had pretty much at the time, all the poppin artists that we knew or like were in kahoots with those guys — So we just went down there and freestyled — Yadda yadda yadda — Little did we know it was like a whole little world down there and the scene was still growing before we even put our hands on it forsure. Like, a block away on the next block from the store Jugrnaut is where Chance and guys like Vic Mensa would meet up and they used to rap at this Library — I never been to the Library but it was just right around the corner from Jugrnaut.

Calez: Jugrnaut was like a post where all the musicians would go and, you know, people would do their listening parties there, they would give artists clothes and stuff so it seemed like a pretty cool thing to be apart of. So that’s where we went, we went to freestyle there and just after a while, they started posting up my music and started posting some of our friends music and we started getting our name in the scene as well and just, you know just from that came so much more. It’s very, kind of like a mystical thing to explain but, you know, some of us just started linking. Like even, Kembe X, he went to my school Thornwood, my high school, he works with Alex Wiley a lot and him and Chance and Alex Wiley all have a song together — And we all started linking and it just grew into what it was, and so we were already kind of in it before it really flourished into what it is now.

So early on, Jugrnaut was instrumental to your success as far as getting your name and music out in the city and beyond?

Calez: Yeah because it’s like they put like a stamp on you and they kind of put you in the forefront and it’s like, ‘This is the guy we rocking with’ — And not only did Jugrnaut do that for me, but this other store called Leaders, and they had actually posted one of my first tapes before that tape that really brought me out to the Internet scene, which was Kid With Raps. But they actually kind of posted that and it was kind of important to me because I knew that people that I didn’t know in the community, or people that I may have not connected with would see it — And eventually, those people would come to you late on in life and be like ‘Hey man, I remember you posted this.’ And it’s like, ‘That’s wassup.’ And so those stores like Jugrnaut or Leaders have always been apart of this – I mean, pretty much every artist you know that came out of Chicago has been to either one of those stores. I’m talking down from Chance and everybody in the younger scene has been to those stores and has connections and relationships with those brands.

Talk to me a little bit about the process of creating your first breakout project Kid With Raps? Where was your skill set at? What were some of your influences, and how did you bring it all together?

Calez: I was, at the time, producing on Fruity loops for a minute, I wanna say since I was like 16-years-old. And so I was making beats, and making a lot of Chicago Juke music. So I was doing that for a minute, and I always had passion for hip hop before I was doing that — But I got into that for a minute (Juke Music) and so like around, I wanna say high school I was like I want to try to get back into rap. You know, I got inspired to get back into that craft and just like, you know fresh kids like The Cool Kids — A big Chicago group that we all look up too out here, they were doing something fresh and different that didn’t seem too far from our reach. They weren’t making these big sounding records like Kanye, they weren’t too far out. They had like fans and a fan base and you know, people appreciated their music.

Calez: So I started listening to them a lot and I think people like Drake was coming up at the time so it was a lot of inspiration going on for me at least at that time. I think even like, it was like a lot of people — I want to say like, over the course of a year it was like Tyler The Creator and a lot of fresh sounds coming up — And so I just wanted to take my mental picture of what I thought would work and kind of put it into the sonics of what I thought would sound cool and sound right. At the time we were still trying get plugged on the Internet scene because we knew that the blog scene was kind of popping or whatever — And so yeah, I made this song based off all that inspiration called “Middle Finger” and it was kind of a like boom-bap, Hip Hop, old school rap but I wanted to make it fresh so I had some new sounds in it and from there came expansion once I dropped that.

Speaking in terms of the present, your sound has evolved immensely from some of your early beginnings with tracks like “Middle Finger” and we can hear a lot of melodies and different vocal textures and layers to the music, on top of the lyrical content, that really provide a complex image of you as an artist. Talk to me a bit about how you continued to advance your sound and what helped you to expand your musical imprint?

Calez: Well, I can go even before then — Like before getting into music I always used to be excited to ride with my Grandma because she would play like the best old school music and soul music — And like, it kind of just bought something out of me as a child, you know, to be attached to certain textures and certain sounds — The way a person hits a note and it makes you feel and it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling — Or the way a couple of stacks might sound or how someone blends a melody with another melody — I think that all came from, you know just Soul records — Just listening to people like Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye and, I forgot the lady’s name (Alicia Myers) but she sings “If you play your cards right.” — And stuff like that inspired a bunch of my base for my musical experience.

And those experiences carried over into your new music, in the sense that, you wanted to create something that was genuine and could evoke that type of emotion from the perspective of the sonic value of the music?

Calez: When I used to hear melodies and things that would make me feel a certain way they would kind of tie to a feeling I had and make me feel a certain way. To have your own life experience — It’s something very natural that comes with my expression as a musician. To make a drum sound a certain way because of what I’m feeling or the pace of the song — Or how I want to tie these bars together, it’s really just an expression — All of my music is an expression for how I feel. That’s been my approach to making music. Just trying to explore my own my mind, it’s therapeutic — It’s more so personal in that sense. Whenever I go into the studio I just try to create from a clear space and try not to think to hard of what I am going to do next. It kind of developed into something else, it was just natural when I got back in I didn’t really try to force anything. The music is always bigger than yourself, it takes a certain turn.

What was the process of creating Baby like? Where were you at mentally, spiritually, musically?

Calez: Baby – At the time I was making the project, my fiance was pregnant and we were having our first child — She’s one now. Having a kid is not a joke, when it comes it gives you a shock. It just made me look deeper into who I was. We’re taught a certain way when we grow up, and then as we get older we kind of find our own way. Not only was I having a baby, but at the same time I was still a baby being born into this new idea of my own life. I just wanted it to speak to people and give them a reflection of myself. That project seems like a shedding of my old self and a new me being reborn.

Talk to me a bit about this new project. Whats the methodology behind it? What do you want to accomplish with it?

Calez: It’s called Poppa, this is more so a reflection, just getting out of that phase I was in with Baby and believe in this new direction I’m taking as well. The Music is a reflection of that confidence, the records might come off a certain way but it’s deeper. Everyday Chicago life — a deeper message a different feeling behind that.

What does the Poppa EP symbolize to you?

Calez: I think it was the beginning of last year, the music I was making was very on that same scale of Baby, it was kind of a humble type of music I was putting out, it was expressive but it was humble. But something happened in my life that was like, 'Man I want to have that confidence, I have a daughter now, it ain’t time to play.' It’s a very strong put your foot down type of record. Let’s give this all we got — If this is our chance to play for the NBA then let’s play our hearts out — And that is what this EP is, it’s kind of the beginning of a new era for me.

What can we expect, physically speaking, from the Poppa EP?

Calez: It’s five tracks right now right now, it’s up for pre-order now, it’s hot n ready. Some of the most challenging things about music, you want to make music and you want to hope that – And like I said I started on this last year — So you want to hope that it kind of resonates with the time that you’re putting it out. And so I wanted to make those records and make sure they have some play time and that they can grow with people.

Calez: Usually I produce a lot of my stuff — This one I kind of stepped back and let one of my guys and good friends, Drake Connor – He produced on one of my older projects and we kind of came together and he kind of had the sound I wanted to work with. I got some features on there as well.

How would you describe the new direction this project is heading in? What is your goal with this project?

Calez: I intend to like get out and face the world, you know, face the world with the songs. You know, like I said earlier, most of the songs I used to make were very personal and close to me — So this new direction is really trying to give the music, to kind of be a little more nice and share the music with the people in a new way. Also, The things that I write, and the collaboration, all of that factors into it, and the things that I write are more so trying to make a connection between the life that we’re living and the life that I’m living — The life that lives for music, pretty much. Yeah, it’s just a new direction it’s a new challenge for me — And that’s kind of what I am doing, kind of just challenging myself to be more mindful of the type of direction, and the type of industry, I guess you could say that I am stepping into.

What was your favorite part of creating this project?

Calez: My favorite part of creating this one was — The music is just fun you know, I’m not too in my own head I’m more so just kind of having fun and kind of letting go of what I thought I needed to do as an artist and just get out there and make the best decisions at the moment and just go with what I feel — And just have that confidence in myself, just have that confidence and seeing myself and hearing those records back in that way, it was really cool.

What’s your favorite record on the project? The one you can’t wait for people to hear?

Calez: Prolly the intro record, because like I said don’t produce a lot on this project, but I did produced on the first record — It’s a double part record, I want to say, and it has a fun balance to it — When people hear it they will know what I am talking about. It kind of signifies the transformation that has happened between my projects and so that’s what I am excited about it and that’s why I’m excited for people to hear it and yeah that’s probably my favorite record as of now.

What are some things we can look forward to hearing from Calez post Poppa EP?

Calez: I want to say, I want to work with more Chicago artists — I really want to work with Saba, I really like Saba’s music, you’ll problem hear me and Saba — Me and Chance probably, you will definitely hear me and Alex Wiley forsure, more of me and Mick Jenkins — A lot of my guys, Legit, I think his name is Skinny Hendrix, I think that’s what he is going by now. I want to get in the studio with more producers as well out here. And, you know, if I can make things happen the right way then you will probably hear a lot more, but those off the top of the head are people I want to work with — My guy UG Vavy.

What do you want to let the people know right at this moment?

Calez: What I want to let the people know is too just have fun — Have fun with this new music and you guys keep creating as well, because we all need to keep creating. I appreciate everyone that listens to me.

Stay tuned for the official release of Calez Poppa EP tonight at midnight! #DROPSMEDIA

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