From collaborations in Richmond, to signing joint record deals, rising DC hip hop artist Chaz French is the next artist to watch.

He first came on to the scene with his mixtape Happy Belated in 2014 and has been gaining popularity ever since with collaborations with local artists like RVA rapper Dr. Millionaire, to bigger names like Wale. Most recently, French signed a joint record deal with Motown/Capitol Records and 368 Music Group, a label started by DC-native Raheem Davaughn.

RVA Mag had the chance to catch the young emcee after a performance at DC’s Broccoli City Fest to find out the rapper’s next moves. Broccoli City Festival is based in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast DC and this year’s bill included a slew of hip hop and R&B acts such as Solange, 21 Savage and Lil Yachty.

Read on below for RVA MAgazine’s interview with Chaz French:

Where are you originally from in DC?

Northeast, rich part. Up-top.

And you moved to Richmond, when?

I moved to Richmond when I came back from Texas. I had got a job up there and I just liked the scene out there- the culture: real small with a lot of people from DC. So you know it was cool, it gave me more of a down-south vibe.

Would you say it was slower or pokier? What were some key differences between DC and Richmond’s scenes?

It’s either lit or it’s not. It’s no in-between. You know? Like when it’s lit, its lit. I just like the people out there too, it’s almost like southern hospitality out there. The people are nice and it’s a love state too. I love… love, so like I- mean that’s where I had my first child.

Expand on some of the success and pitfalls you’ve seen while traveling, leading up to inking your record deal.

Success, it just depends on what you consider success. You know like, success for me is being able to wake up and go to the studio every day. Success for me is being able to be booked for shows. Pitfalls is just behind the scenes shit. For me, a pitfall is being hard on yourself. In my mind, I’m at a certain level and in other’s people’s mind I’m at another level. It’s perception. So its balance for me with everything.

So would you say you’ve had more pitfalls than successes?

I’m still alive so I’ve had more success. I’m still living.

Do you have a traveling studio?

Fuck no, when I’m not in the studio, when I’m traveling, that’s when I be going through withdrawals. Like if I’m on tour, I be like ‘Fuck, man. I need to get in the studio, somebody got something I can record?’. But now, being in a different position, when I do tour next time, I’ll be able to [be in the] studio because I’ll just bring it with me.

Who are some of your favorite producers to work with?

My own producers. Super Miles, YG Money, SK, Jah G, you know just like- I like the niggas who… we got that sound together. Kyle Banks, Christopher Minor, Da Vinci.

Do you find that now, with your elevated platform, you have pressure to switch people in and out? How do you navigate something like that?

The pressure is keeping it. That’s the pressure. The pressure is staying in that position. The pressure is not getting the record deal. The pressure is keeping the record deal. That’s the pressure. That’s where the pressure is. I ain’t worried about my folks around me. They going to be around me if I rap rhymes or I rap bits.

Did you have issues at the start of your career stating your worth or your price

That comes with timing, that comes with patience. You know, that comes with learning, rather than dwelling. A lot of people have bad shit happen to them and they don’t take it as something that can be turned into positivity. They just continue to dwell on a fucked up situation. That just comes with going through shit, knowing your worth comes with being in a fucked up situation. Knowing your worth comes with creating opportunity. Knowing your worth comes with people telling you what you ain’t worth. Knowing your worth comes with seeing shit that you possibly can end up in and straying away from it, you know? But at the end of the day, it’s all up to you.

What is your goal? What is your number one and how do you know you got there? Or are you someone that is going to continue to push the buck?

I won’t know yet until I get there. Now I have an idea of what I want to be, you know? I want to be top five, I want to be number one. I want to be the guy that kids look up to and say, ‘Man, that’s who I want to be when I get older,’. I want people to look at my career and say ‘Man, if he can do it, I can do it,’. I want Grammies, I want Coachella. I want Broccoli Cities, I want sold-out tours, I want arenas. I want everything. If I got this far, I know I’m capable of it.

This isn’t your first run at Broccoli City right

No it’s my second. I’m going to headline next time.

What was some of your favorite parts of the day?

My favorite part is getting off stage, walking around and people saying, ‘hey!’ My favorite part is looking in the crowd and connecting with a person eye-to-eye and they singing word-for-word. That’s my favorite part. My favorite part is looking to this side of the crowd and that side of the crowd and this person doesn’t know who I am but they are into it. This person knows who I am and they may not be giving me that they know who I am, but I know. Me looking [at a person and seeing] they know the words and they singing every word. That’s my favorite part.

How are you using your platform to elevate Black art coming out of your city?

I feel like, I’m Black. So with anything I do, the Black community is looking at it, especially in this area and thinking ‘Wow if this guy, can do it, I can do it,’. The other day we just brought 150 New Balance {shoes} to schools in Southeast,[Southeast D.C.]. I won’t stop there; we will continue to do that. To uplift the Black community as much as we can. Whether it be giving out shoes, whether it be giving out food, whether it be t-shirts or a free concert-we’re going to show our peers that it’s possible. I can do it; you can do it. Cliché but it means the most. I was the guy getting shoes, back in the day in school. I’ve been in the same position and predicaments that the younger generation is in. It is all about me letting them know that, the only way to do it, is to just fucking do it.

What does it mean to you to share the stage with so many other Black artists?

It’s beautiful, it’s amazing like- it’s good to see that we’re all on the right path and we’re all promoting the same thing with different messages, or different sounds or different ways of doing it.

It’s not monolithic out there at all.

Yeah, it’s just we got a Smino, then we got a 21 Savage. We got a Solange, then we got an Aluna George and Nick Grant, Chaz French and Lil Yachty. You know what I’m saying? But we’re all showing people that anything is possible, we’re all showing people that the same motherfuckers that is watching us could be performing next year. That’s what it’s about.

What’s next for Chaz French?

We’ll tour. We’re working on the fourth or fifth album. Might be in the studio with Goldlink.

Check out French’s latest single, “Way Out” below and be on the lookout on RVA Mag for more on the up and coming artist.

Words by Tico Noise. Top image credit: nicorefused. Body image credit: @ShaughCooper