Imagine if Naomi Campbell rapped like Eve, or if Foxy Brown rocked the runway like Tyra Banks. What if Kimora Lee bodied beats like Nicki, or if Iman was Lil’ Kim nice. The hybrid of modeling and rapping has been long since discussed, envisioned and attempted - like urban legend, yet never actualized - like the myth of democracy. That is, not until now with Chynna, 22, a lithe 5-10 lyricist as high fashion fly as inner-city serious. The elusive legacy of the supermodel MC is thus solidified as both glamorous and gritty, gravedigger grimy, billionaire boys club bossy, and ’bout her business beautiful. Somehow, a creative writing runway regular with street smarts, a flare for the arts, and a ton of heart pulled it off. All of our Tidal waves and Spotify streams are more musically inclined as a result. Good music upgrades the audio experience that way.
Written by ToneSwep
Creative Direction/MUA by Eve Chen
Styled by Justin Xavier
Hair by Bianca Pitman
Images by Ivan K. McCartney
Shot at Studios LIC in Long Island City, New York
Chynna’s “Ninety” EP dropped in August of this year and effectively altered the rap landscape for unsigned artistry. An indie rapper as adept at whispering sinister silos over ambient trap drums as enunciating a lyrical tantrum in Philly accent. Consistent themes overheard and understood in her music are relationships between friends, lovers, and frenemies; getting high, laying low, ability bragging, fashion industry affronts, avoiding deception, and knowing who the heaven she is while working in two industries where few have even begun to remotely realize who the hell they actually are. This, and yet there’s Cygnus range in rare form. On “Petty As Fuck” [PAF], Chynna raps: “Somehow these n!99as got boring / Needed something more important… / … I can not hear you, I’m flexin’ / bad reception, shorty text me / bad connection, baby Snap me / don’t be subbin’, n!99a @ me.” Then you’ll find her harmoniously slant-singing SEPTA bus stop poetry on the “Untitled” b-side of the same song, and even more - though somewhat playfully - on the genre teasing, project sealing “So Much More”.
In the fashion world Chynna is in high demand, a decade-occasional combination of hourglass figure, skyscraper view from the top height, coconut husk complexion melanin, the doe-eyed baby-faced innocence of a Montessori toddler, and the stare straight focus of a sniper. As collection engagements go young homie levels way the phuk up. You can find fine Chynna in everything from a DKNY Jeans campaign to a Babylon Cartel/AnmlHse collaboration; Christian Louboutins and an Angie Simmons Foofi to Profound Aesthetic’s SS16 Collection and Cushnie Et Ochs. Formerly signed to Ford Models, where she did catalogue work throughout her teens, Chynna officially arrived on the national rap landscape when viral hits like “Selfie”, “The Conversation”, and “Glen Coco” entered into the salon conversations and barbershop arguments of rhyme heads with rotational regularity. A Buddhist, Chynna’s tatted symbolism includes an Eye of Ra, a flawless mandala, and the word wanderlust in cursive script. We chilled out with the positive young lyricist with so much soul… and an undeniably contagious highbrow/spiritual/conscious hybrid vibe… at the world renowned Studios LIC in Long Island City for her exclusive DOPE MAG cover shoot. Read up or catch a double homi runnin’ this fade.
(Tone Swep: TS) Let’s talk about Philly, your city. Share with us a little about your upbringing, the early years.
(Chynna) I was born and raised in West Philadelphia before I moved to uptown. My upbringing had everything looking like a giant contradiction. Although I was deep in the hood, in my home, there was nothing but information. My Grandmother had me memorizing states and skimming encyclopedias and sh!t. My aunts made sure I traveled. And my mother and father took great care of me, separately.
(TS) What was one of the Rogers household’s family values?
(Chynna) Express yourself.
(TS) Philadelphia is a real place. Two DOPE peeps from your city we’ve had on the cover are Jazmine Sullivan and Meek Mill. What is it about Philly that just seems to breed the realest people?
(Chynna) It’s a working class city as well as majority Black. There’s a large Muslim population. It’s a unique demographic for a major American town. It breeds a different type of person. You gotta work for what you have. We don’t phuk with anyone just to phuk with them, and we ride out. We are loyal. Look at our professional sports fans (Laughs!).
(TS) What do these three Philly mainstays represent as it relates to the city?
(Chynna)
Stevie Williams: He’s a God. Skating was a very prominent part of my teen years. So many of my friends were into skating that this particular name almost seemed like a myth.
Allen Iverson: Come on, now! He is the one! My favorite baller ever next to Nash. He’s a legend, not just for his amazing skill, but the cocky nonchalant attitude about his own ignorance. It’s so wrong that it’s right, what can I say?
Cassidy: One of the best to ever do it, wish he could have thrived completely.
(TS) Three of your rap staples are that you’re very lyrical, you’re very direct, and you switch the flow up often, sometimes on the same song. Like on “PAF”, that last verse is rapid spit. Talk a little about your style as a Hip Hop artist.
(Chynna) I don’t have much of a style. I just enjoy phuking around with different sounds, flows, speeds. I tend to gravitate towards the darker, almost rock influenced beats and let what I hear dictate what and how I rap. For me it’s telling a story. I guess that’s my style. Story telling rap.
(TS) Where are you label-wise? At one point we knew you as being linked to A$AP Mob. Is remaining independent the plan, are you signing with a major eventually? Break it down for us.
(Chynna) I’m staying independent for as long as it makes sense. I’m not on any label or with any group, I’m just minding my business until the right opportunity presents itself.
(TS) “Untitled” on the Ninety EP showcases your more ambient vibe, almost has a Jill Scott-like sound but lyrical. Catch a double homi running this fade… Will we hear more of this style from you, like on “So Much More”?
(Chynna) Untitled, yes. Absolutely. That’s my emotional side in retrospect. So much more… not so much at all. It was an experiment. It’s more along the lines of something I would write for someone else to execute.
(TS) Last year, Cara Delevingne left modeling. She’s quoted as saying: “The fashion industry makes me sick.” You have worked as a professional model - not an IG chick but an actual beauty contract fashion model - since you were 14. It’s a tough industry, right? Discuss some of the politics of being in that billionaire-run glam game.
(Chynna) Oh, you know fashion is modern day slavery. There’s a million things wrong. It’s still racist, it’s still hard to break into on any level. It’s grimy; ulterior motives are at an all time high. And credit is hardly given where it’s due.
(TS) What are some of your goals as a model? Women of color have made such a pivotal impact on the modeling industry in the last 15 years. Givenchy’s latest campaign is almost exclusively headlined by women of color.
(Chynna) My only real goal is this - as my tattoos grow, so will my accolades. The more global companies I’m able to work with, who allow my ink to show, the more of a statement I can make. The world is changing, as is the American standard of beauty. It seems like the majority of younger people do have some kind of tattoo. Clean cut is becoming the strange thing to see now, and I’m here for it. I wanna continue this lil’ movement and hopefully grace a Vogue cover with two sleeves.
(TS) Do you design as well? Working with you in New York, it’s clear you have an eye for fabrics, looks, styles. Are you going to come out with your own collection?
(Chynna) (Laughs!), No. The only designing I have interest in is my merch, and making it unique and special to me; making sure my influences show.
(TS) Mixing your worlds - modeling and Hip Hop - who are some of your favorite rappers and fashionista’s?
(Chynna) Favorite rapping women would have to be Trina and Lair.
(TS) There hasn’t been a true runway model who was an actual MC, until now. Until you. Imagine if Naomi Campbell could spit like Eve? Or if Foxy Brown was a runway star like Tyra Banks. At 22 you’re in this prime position to really revolutionize both art forms, especially factoring in your tattoo movement. What is your take on that?
(Chynna) It’s extremely exciting but just also worrisome. Both take complete devotion, but that’s impossible for me to do. Executing them both being the most important, I gotta really focus. I got lucky though. This isn’t a bad problem to have, really. It’s just time to take both as far as I can and break even more boundaries.
(TS) I’d like to close with a conversation on Black Lives, and how they Matter. From Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, to Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. The murders of Black men at the hands of city police feels more like an executed plan than a problem with proper police training, which is what these crimes have been written off as. What’s going on, Chynna? What’s the solution?
(Chynna) Now me, I’m a conspiracy theorist. I’m not gonna scare ya’ll with my hypothesis this time. We know Black Lives Matter, and we know white people are ignorant. The best thing we can do is educate, not so much just super publicizing the more jaw dropping cases of racial injustice but making sure all racial injustice is taught to the masses. Show that it’s not just out of control in certain areas, but that it is truly a national epidemic. Simply stop scaring everyone, to start.
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