Chuck Dimes is the smiling face among the mean-mugging thugs. In an era where every rapper wants to sell drugs, kill someone or make the next bubble-gummy disposable dance song, Chuck Dimes is a breath of fresh air – and fresh rhymes.
"I'm not following the formula," says the Fresno-bred emcee. "The stereotypical things you see in hip-hop – bitches, hoes, money, all that – I'm veering away from that. I'm taking it back."
Drenched in old-school boom-bap ethos, back when hip-hop was fun, rappers were creative and emcees were masters of their craft, Chuck Dimes reminds his listeners of hip-hop's golden age. "I'm not glorifying any negativity," he says, point-blank, keeping-it-realer than the rappers who chant such things in their songs. "There are some negative connotations in my raps. But it's in an honest direction. Personally, I just feel like I have a lot of morals and ethics. I just feel like anybody as an artist, regardless of if you're mainstream or underground, you still have a responsibility to the listener."
Honesty. Reality. Positivity. These are the things Chuck Dimes is bringing back. And people are noticing. He's shared the stage with names such as KRS-One, Little Brother, The Hieroglyphics, Pigeon John, L.A. Symphony, Living Legends, Defari, Mars Ill and Playdough of Deep Space Five.
"A Fresh Start," his latest release and his first proper full-length solo CD, finds Chuck Dimes coming into his own as a man. On it, he's paints pictures of everyday struggles with his words. Struggling to make it day by day. Struggling with relationships. Struggling at work. Struggling with life in general. It's all about a young man evolving into a grown man.
In Chuck's case, he just happens to spit rhymes over beats. It's the kind of stuff fans of Atmosphere, Little Brother and Brother Ali will enjoy, the kind of stuff that anybody will a pulse can feel.
Chuck got started in high school, taking cues from some of the gangsters from around his way. But that wasn't him, so he set out to carve his niche. With a sharp, precise flow and a very infectious presence on the mic, he began to stand out among the thug-clogged lines of his city's rap scene.
After running around in the rap circles, winning over crowds at local shows and open mics and collaborating with a number of crews, Chuck is now going at it alone – and standing tall. He's looking inward to give hip-hop listeners what he thinks they want and need in 2007: A voice of reason, truth and talent in these watered-down times where every rapper is a cartoon version of what an emcee should be. "I'd rather just be myself," he says. Can he get a "Word Up?"