What happened to Los Angeles music legend Johnny Chingas?

This story is part of Image Issue 9, “Action” is a sound and visual reminder that there is no party like LA. Read the full issue here.

Usually, he is a reshaping person. He literally changes his identity as he walks through life: Johnny Chingas. Raलl Garcियाa, which he goes on to record. Rudy Garcia He has all these nicknames. You can see her signing an agreement and changing her name and then the songs to continue the same rhythm. He was almost, of course, a chaos vibe. But it’s just a musician who hasn’t really broken any laws. There may be some copyright laws at some point. So he is becoming all these different people, characters. How can you avoid people and keep your belongings?

The boy doesn’t have many officers, or people who know him. It’s like trying to find Batman. Do you know what i mean We all know who that guy is because there are movies and stuff like that. But if you are Really Looking for Batman? It’s kind of like that. Johnny Chingas It’s a ghost, a myth, a story.

In the early 2000’s, I was going to art school and I came home to my apartment. I have a record of leaning on the metal gate of the door. It looks like an old model T-car with a small license plate called “Se Me Paró”. I see the typography: “Pachu’s Volume 1.” I understand, Oh, Snap! This is Johnny Chingas – the real deal! It is no longer a word of mouth. There is a physical object. I play it inside my house. The first time I heard the song “Cholo”, the first time I heard the song “Menudo”, the first time I heard the song “Pokito Sol”, the first time I heard the song “Q Pasha” and his popular song “Se Mi Paro”.

I’m really into the rare groves, rhythms and blues, soul records – so it hits home. But this total is coming from the Chicano, Mexican American eye. It wasn’t the first time, but it was the strongest I’ve ever heard of representing Caló. Caló is a language used here for cholos which is derived from Spanish, English and sometimes Nahuatl used by some Mexican nations. I was completely impressed by the music used in this record. I quickly realized that this person was talking to a specific audience. He is not trying to reach Central America. This is For A special person By That special person. And on top of that, the quality of the music and the recording was of high quality.

From that recording, I’m like, What else did this guy record? This is a private press label on Pachuco Volume 1: Billionaire Records. Not all of Johnny Chingas’s stuff is private-pressed. He had some accessories on specialty records, which was a huge, really popular rhythm and blues label. He was also a United Artist. And he was also on CBS. I started looking for more of this stuff. As a person with electronic dance music and early techno and at home, I started to see Johnny Chingas pop up in one of those collections – called “Retro Techno Disco”. There is a song called “Samba”. After that, I run into this 12-inch “automatic lover”, which is even more on the dance tip. Then I found “Pachu’s Volume 2”, a beautiful cover with a pair of Stacey Adams shoes. Graphic design really spoke to me as a visual artist, and as a loving typographer and graphic designer. I just started looking for more: bass tracks (like Miami Bass; he has this track called “Mini Truck Lovers”), rock songs, old-school rhythms and blues. Old-but-goodie-type tunes.

One day, I went to Mount Washington to find Johnny Chingas. There was a boy selling records outside his front yard. I roll in her bag. “Do you have any Eastside stuff?” I asked “I do. There’s a box here, check it out.” I find this track in Billionaire Records called “Night Stalker”. Being from Los Angeles, knowing the history of Knight Stalker – they caught Knight Stalker on the street where my brother lived – I took the track home. It is a colorful vinyl – red with black and white stains. Looks like a killer. And Johnny Chingas is rapping straight there. He’s really spitting, and the pits are hitting hard. 808 beats. Reminiscent of the Arabian Prince in some NWA bits, Dre Bits. Hard West Coast rap beats. And he’s rapping about Richard Ramirez, the serial killer, Knight Stalker.

After that, I found a track called “LAPD” and it was about Rodney King’s beating. At that time I was really like, I have to find everything: any cassette tape, any CD, anything on YouTube. Everywhere I looked, I was confused, because the thing inside me was, this person needs to be – and deserves to be – within music, but also outside of music to be critically listed and spoken. Political, socio-economic, hood field, art field, music field. People who understand all these things. Thus it is necessary to consider the person, explained. Through all these nuances about your practice.

Chicano tells graffiti stories in the neighborhood. They have compiled many different images, and it is time or not to create this image to tell a wider story. A lover of music and history, Chicano culture, being a good art practitioner in Latin American culture, it came to my mind: I can make this sound graffiti. With the same approach, but it can exist in pure voice. I always wanted to keep a mixtap out. But I wanted to collect the story of Johnny Chingas. A cassette tape in which you place a mix tape is an electromagnet. So I thought, This is an electromagnetic graffiti.

I put it on double cassette tape, which also refers to Eastside Early River culture – those parties will be recorded and those parties are long. They kept these two cassettes outside – I was always stunned to see this extra-large jewelry case, the two pieces inside the flyer, the date it arrived, and so on. I took that template and expanded it. I just went to full power. There is a painting. I made 100 copies of this double cassette. And I gave it to friends who were in Johnny Chingas – some hardcore crater diggers, some galleryists, some artists. It was never for sale.

This tape has become a tool for learning new things. This is what really helped me to get more information and knowledge about Jonny Chingas and his practice. Recently, I exhibited the first ever Sonic mural “Johnny Chingas Sonic Mural” with vinyl records and tapes at the record store Sonido Del Valle. [at 2108 1st St.] In Boyle Heights, where Jonny Chingas is best known. The performance took place on Saturday, February 19, from 3-5 pm, after my performance I unveiled the turntables to bring and share their own Johnny Chingas records, tapes, images and stories. J Vibe – “Beatmaker of LAPD”, “Too Much Work, Too Little Sex”, Beatmaker of “Mini-Truck Lover” – co-worker of Johnny Chingas – performed. I don’t even know how he knew. But he rolled up and he broke the knowledge with us.

While I was performing, it hit me: Dude, that’s amazing! I think it lasts. I was talking about tracks during performances if people didn’t know this stuff – I’d like to share this information: Johnny Chingas was an ideological performance artist, news reporter, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record label owner, Mexico, Chicano. , Husband, father. A real bohemian. Future thinkers. Johnny Chingas paints a picture of what it’s like to live, to stay inside, to go to the bar. He can give you a sense of what Barrio is, what Barrio thinks, what Barrio feels, what it is – a true reflection of Eastside, the southwest gray neighborhood.

I’m really proud of the “Johnny Chingas Sonic Graffiti”. The only unfortunate part of the project is that I learned about other things that I would like to include.

Gary “Ganas” Gary (born 1977) is a Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary artist, artist, DJ and record collector. Her artistic practice is informed by her living experiences across the US-Mexico border, recognizing and drawing attention to the rich and vibrant culture of daily life. He is the founder of Mass Exitos Music Collective, host of the double program Mass Exitos Con Ganas, and co-founder of Disco Rollas, a record label and collaborative project dedicated to the cosmic sound and music history of Latin America.

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