Born Carl Chanda Mbao in the far away land of Zambia, life has taken
this young phenomenon around the world. A self-declared ‘rolling
stone’, Chanda has lived in Zambia, Spain and the United States, with
many, many other travels in between. His journey with music began at a
young age, with the classic album Doggystyle by Snoop Dogg. Later,
Chanda would become enthralled with East Coast legends, including Nas,
who would become his favorite MC. At the callow age of nine, Chanda
decided that he could rap too and he began penning his first verses.
Many rhyme books later, Chanda has now arrived.
Chanda’s time
in Spain immersed him further into hip-hop culture teaching him about
the elements, including breakdancing, graffiti and freestyling. It was
here in Spain that Chanda first recorded in a professional music studio,
first performed live shows and first released multiple mixtapes. As
part of the Spanish/English bi-lingual duo Uny2 (pronounced ‘unidos’),
Chanda Mbao learned what it meant to connect with the audience. Chanda
fuses different styles of hip-hop and focuses on using witty punchlines
and wordplay to keep his listeners entertained. For every layer of
meaning you think you uncover, look further because Chanda aims for
lyrical depth beyond the norm.
The next voyage took the teenage
Mbao to Miami where he would attend the University of Miami to study
Economics and International Studies. With these two majors, as well as
minors in Mathematics and Foreign Languages, the stress of school,
internships and extra-curricular activities seemed to take Chanda away
from music but this hiatus was an important period in helping Chanda
formulate the right plan of attack.
Now, in 2012, Chanda is
bringing you two key projects. The first, The Syllabus Mixtape, is a
mixtape that will be released via weekly downloadable tracks. The
second, tentatively titled Midnight Lightz, after Chanda Mbao’s
publishing company, will be released on May 31st, 2012. Midnight Lightz
will be a project consisting of solely original material and is well on
its way to being complete.
Chanda Mbao is looking forward to riding with you all on this epic journey.
