Albert Martinez: From Barber To Aspiring Rap Star

Albert Martinez, isn't just your average barber. The Woonsocket resident and full-time employee at Headquarters Barber Shop on Elm Street is also an aspiring music artist, rapper, and singer/songwriter whose songs you may have heard on local radio. Martinez has put out more than 50 CDs, and performed with well-known national acts including KRS1. 

Martinez, known as Chino or Chi, (pronounced Chee,) was originally from Brooklyn, New York before he moved to Woonsocket, where he has lived for 22 years. 

Chi does most of his songwriting at work. Employees, including Martinez's friend Jose, who owns the shop, often get the chance to weigh in on material before it goes on a track.

“It’s kind of cool to watch the process,” Jose said. “He could just be sitting there… he finds a chorus. Compared to most rappers he’s on top of his game,” he said. 

Chi has been active in putting out mix tapes, doing music videos and performances to promote himself.

“He’s doing everything to get exposure,” said Jose. “He’s going hard at it.” 

Much of Chi's work was done as a collaboration with fellow artists Lex and Blakk as part of the group Dark Skyz. In addition to the group's extensive discography, Chi has worked on music videos for his songs, including “All I Want Is You,” “Put Me In Your Network,” “At The Top,” and “Light Up (free style).”  All of his music is available on YouTube.

Chi was raised listening to many different types of music with his stepfather, who had a taste for everything from hip hop and R&B to jazz. He attended but did not graduate with his peers. He says that although he never did drugs, at the age of seventeen, he got himself into trouble delivering them and was sent to the Rhode Island Training School, where he obtained his GED. 

It was there that Chi got his inspiration to write lyrics and started showcasing his talent as a rapper/songwriter. His music is based on the struggles he goes through in every day life in becoming an artist, as well as on what goes on around him.

At Rhode Island Training School he also met his future co-artists and fellow Woonsocket residents John Lewis and Kellen Melton, known as Lex and Blakk.  The three later got together and formed Dark Skyz. 

Chi has been working on his music since 1996, and he recorded his first “exclusive” track with Lex and Blakk in 1997. 

“It was really casual at first,“ Chi said.  “There weren’t too many people out making music,“ he said of the music scene in Woonsocket during those years. 

After another run-in with the law resulted in a four year stint at the ACI, Chi decided to take his music career seriously and go solo. For the past three years he has been collaborating with local producers with the help of manager George Avila, working alongside Audio Liquor Entertainment, CEO Entertainment, Brick Star's Entertainment and Music Feen as well as DJ D-Wun from Team Franchise Entertainment. He has done more than 70 performances as a solo artist at bars, clubs, and the Convention Center.  Last summer, he performed at a rock festival in New York. In addition to shows in clubs across Rhode Island, he has traveled and performed with fellow artists in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Washington, D.C.

Chi has opened up for both local and big-name artists such as Red Café, Juelz Santana, Loyd Banks, Edo G, Freeway, Slaughterhouse as well as performing on stage with KRS1 and many more. He has been on radio stations such as 95.5 WBRU, 90.7 WXIN (Rhode Island College Radio Station), 90.3 WRIU (University of Rhode Island Radio Station) as well as internet radio stations such as the musicfeen.com. 

Although he is trying very hard to make himself known, as an unsigned local artist, Chi said it’s very hard to make money, especially in Rhode Island.

“We get paid for some of [the performances],” Chi said of the different bars and venues he's visited.  “The clubs make you work.”

As a new artist, Chi and his crew have had to sell all of the tickets for their own shows. “Most of Rhode Island counts on promos.”

With all the money, time and effort he's put into pushing out his music, Chi says he could have owned a very nice car by now.

Being in the music industry may take a lot of work, but the main emphasis is on the importance of networking and putting yourself in the public. Making connections is very important. 

“It’s all about making yourself available,” manager George “G” Avila, said.  “You never know who you're going to meet. Networking is a key thing in this business.”

“We’re definitely very serious about what we do,” he added. Avila believes in everybody looking very professional and producing “nothing but good music.”

Last Sunday, Chi shot a music video at one of the private properties in the city for his first official released single, “I Feel Good.”  The song is about living through life and every day struggles and feeling good about it.  The song is the first single off his current EP project called “Want More Do More,” produced by local RI music producer CF James.

Both the song and the music video for this single are expected to be online within the next two weeks.  The songs can be heard and downloaded from Amazon, iTunes and Datpiff.com.

Although Chi is branching out and doing his own music, he, Lex and Blakk still belong to the group Dark Skyz.  He has the band name tattooed on his fore arms with “Dark” on his right arm and “Skyz” on his left.

Chi’s music can also be heard online on Facebook and YouTube under Chi Hitz TV. His next performance is scheduled for Aug. 7 at Sully’s Pub in Hartford, CT for the “Top Mics” event, which will showcase 40 local unsigned artists, giving them a chance to win spots as their own headliners. 

“You got to be out there and make noise,” Avila said Chi's journey and strategy towards being a professional music artist.  “You can’t be heard in the basement.”

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