By: Bryant “B-Boy” Worthing @bboyworthing | Artist: Childsplay Kidd @ChildsPlayKidd
Watching the surroundings in Richmond, California can lead to good and bad for anyone that lives in that area, for Childsplay Kidd he never forgets where he came from even though he left his hometown in effort to live a better life.
“It was funny when I was watching Straight Outta Compton this summer it made me realize 75 percent of the stuff that happened in that movie I actually say in my life growing up,” Childskidd Play said. “Like for real though.”
The Rich is divided into three parts the North, Central and South where gang violence and a hustlers mentality are as common as finding a liquor store, the notoriously dangerous city in the East Bay also has its bright spots and thats one thing the Kidd makes a point of in his raps.
“Its not about being a street cat, its bout being me,” explained Childsplay Kidd. “I believe that 100 percent firm. I go to the point in my music where I asked myself is this music I am making helping someone with their life or am I perpetuating the culture that caused me to loose so many?”
Born Marq Anthony, staying away from the negatives back home started with sports mainly football where Childsplay Kidd played quarterback at Pinole Valley High School in Costra Costa County. He went to high school with popular emcee IAMSU and ran in those rap circles as a kid where battles and punchlines were an everyday thing in the hallways. After high school relocating to Seattle played a major role in finding a better life for himself and his family. Finding a safer place to live and a more balanced economy has given him the foundation of finding stability and finding himself in his music in a thriving Pacific Northwest hip hop scene.
“Definitely happy to be in Seattle,” Childskidd Play said. “The influences in my music and life in general the streets of Richmond had a big influence on me.”
It started in 2011 with the mixtape 1500 produced by Frank Boi out of Oakland, California, who himself had done a lot of work for The Game, gave Childsplay a lot of steam and he called the most personal work he has done yet. The follow up to that mixtape was the Real to Real EP that gained a lot of attention throughout the West Coast continuing his momentum for the new joints he is working on now, as of this week the entire CK team is heading back to the Bay to work on a new music video. Needless to say the music hasn’t stop even with a relocation to the top of the coast from the Bay.
“If I die tomorrow I just want people to know I was 100 with this interview, because I have to sleep at night” Childskidd Play said.
