The other day I came across an article on a Houston based rapper named Chingo Bling. His new album is called They can’t Deport Us All, a controversial title in today’s political climate and a sure way to get national coverage, which it has done.
Chingo Bling is an independent rap artist, who describes his core audience as The Taco Circuit, a scene that exists, as the article puts it, “where ever there are Mexicans.” By focusing on Mexicans as his target market, Chingo Bling’s Big Chile Entertainment has been able to carve out its own niche and develop a successful independent record label.
His label, started in 2001, has been growing steadily since its founding. Chingo Bling, born Pedro Herrera III, started out selling mix tapes out of the back of his truck. In 2004, he released Tamale Kingpin, selling 17,000 copies of the record according to SoundScan.
They can’t Deport Us All, released August 14th of this year, has already sold 6000 copies; an impressive amount when you consider that Paris Hilton, with all of her money and star power, only managed to sell 7500 copies of her album. They Can’t debuted at number 11 on Billboard’s hip-hop chart, and number 4 on their Heatseekers chart.
While They can’t Deport Us All has gotten Chingo Bling national attention, it is also made him the target of conservative journalists and bloggers. It seems that his decision to incorporate immigration related themes into the marketing of his new album has also gotten him some unwanted attention. According to Wikipedia, Chingo Bling alleges that his family’s good and taco truck has been shot at, vandalized and was eventually stolen. He also says that he’s received racist death threats.
Despite the negative attention he has received, Chingo Bling is enjoying growing success. He has signed a new distribution deal with Warner/Asylum that lets him distribute to a wider market while still retaining ownership of his masters. He has also gotten a lot of media coverage, including articles in The Source, XXL, Complex and appearances on MTV. He is also recognized by many hip hop artists with mainstream success, like Nelly, Paul Wall and Chamillionaire.
We’re posting this because it’s an example of how an artist can manage their own career and get the type of exposure that they need to be successful. To sum it up, here’s a quote from the article in which Chingo Bling talks about his approach:
“It’s very fundamental,” he says with a laugh. “My theory is, you can’t worry about the finish line. It’s like basketball: Instead of worrying about winning, you should worry about dribbling the basketball. A lot of kids worry about getting signed instead of worrying about posting your blog, getting on YouTube, putting up posters on poles, passing out fliers. I’m not above that. I have no shame.”
