(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to "Generation Rising."

I'm Anaridis Rodriguez.

Here at "Generation Rising," we host conversations that celebrate our diverse communities and also explore solutions to the challenges they face every day.

Joining us tonight is a very special guest, Charles Carvalho, known to many as Chachi, an unofficial mayor of Pawtucket, but he is a Pawtucket native, multi-talented performing artist, and dedicated advocate.

Most recently, Chachi made history, becoming Pawtucket's first chief equity officer, and his latest album release, "Legacy," has been embraced by audiences around the world.

We are in for a treat tonight.

Also, a "Generation Rising" double feature.

Stick around for Chachi's special performance later on in the program.

Chachi, so good to see you.

Welcome.

- It's really good to see you too.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

- You are about a year into your role as the Chief Equity Officer.

- [Chachi] Quickly approaching a year.

- Making history, you know, being appointed to serve the city in this way.

Tell us what that entails, and what's your reflection being almost a year into the job?

- Yeah, some days, you know, it feels like I've been there for seven years, and many days, it feels like I've just got there, because there's so much to learn, and the job didn't exist prior to me taking over.

It's been so interesting, but it's been challenging as well.

A big learning curve, just adjusting from the education space into city government, trying to understand all the nuances of the different moving parts to build relationships across the different departments, but it's been great.

I love the city and getting a deeper understanding of how the city works has put me in a position to be able to better serve my community.

- How do you support Pawtucket as the Chief Equity Officer?

- Yeah, so in my role, I have an opportunity to work with a lot of small community-based organizations to assess the needs that exist there, to also make sure that all of the opportunities that are available to the residents of Pawtucket are available to all residents of Pawtucket.

So trying to be a bridge in terms of expanding communication into folks that exist in the margins, and then working across different departments to ensure that policies, procedures, and that the city is moving in a direction of being more inclusive, more diverse, and more of a reflection of the community.

- [Anaridis] Have you been able to achieve that in your short time?

- [Chachi] I think so.

- [Anaridis] What's your vision?

- Yeah, I think so.

In the short time I've been there, we've been able to create and launch some new programs, specifically aligned with empowering the youth.

We've formed some partnerships with some larger nationally-based organizations to provide more resources to the community.

We've had an opportunity, currently, at the moment, the city has its most diverse staff in history under Mayor Grebien's leadership, and I'm just happy to serve on that team.

The administration, the team is great over there.

They're very supportive, extremely hard-working.

The clock doesn't stop in City Hall.

So it's been fun.

It's been an adventure.

- It's also been, I would say, special for you as a Pawtucket native, right?

You were born and raised in Pawtucket.

You come from a Cape Verdean family.

There's a big Cape Verdean community in Pawtucket.

How does your lived experience inform your role?

- Yeah, so when my parents migrated from the Cape Verde Islands in the early '70s, the vision of what the American dream was was different than what that means today.

You could come from a foreign country, not speak any English.

You can get a factory job and have enough means to own a home, own a car, and have a good life.

You know, now that the thriving industrial revolution that it was at the time where those mills had lots of jobs, that doesn't exist anymore.

So I think trying to strategize ways to empower the young people, creative industries, thinking ahead to the industries of the future, and how to inform the young people around us to just pursue the realistic American dream as it exists today instead of what it was for generations past.

I think it's a difficult job, you know, to guesstimate, you know, where the jobs are gonna be in the future to make sure that the folks in your community are aligned with those jobs, that they're taking the steps, getting the education, getting the skills, and then advocating within the government, within the schools to be able to make sure that we provide those opportunities for our children is a critical component, I guess, as part of like the long-term vision.

Another piece is, I'm still, you know, not completely comfortable in government work, right?

I don't have, like, a deep foundation in politics.

It's never really been something that I was, like, you know, inclined to pursue, but I think the roots of my education background, coupled with my coaching background and love for community and arts, made it a natural progression into this space so that I could best, I guess just be, you know, representation matters.

So when kids from the community see someone like me in that role, then hopefully for that kid who does envision themselves in city government, does envision a career in politics, can see a clearer pathway through me.

So, I hope to just inspire a generation of young folks who want to be civically engaged, want to be the next city council members, want to be the next mayor, want to be the next, yeah.

- I'm sure you have, and I'm sure you will.

Music and community certainly seem to be the intersection where you live.

You also have another exciting endeavor, which is your partnership with Brown University titled "Local Traffic."

Can you share more about this residency and what you hope will grow from it?

- Yeah.

It's interesting.

Brown has created, like, a cool space for me.

You know, in an attempt to have more outreach into the community, I had an opportunity to sit in a few panel discussions there, some collaborative work to envision what the future of the Lindemann Performing Arts Center would be, and after a few engagements, a few conversations, and establishing a relationship with the leadership team there, we started thinking about this bridge on how I can be an extension for local artists into the Brown space, and then create a pathway for Brown to have some stakeholdership in the community as well.

So the idea of Local Traffic is a series of events that started last year, the tail end of last year, that are gonna extend throughout the summer.

We've already hosted two events.

One was called Soundcheck, where we actually soundcheck the Lindemann with a live concert.

Another one was called "Labor of Love," where we had an opportunity to curate an event in support of all of the engineers, architects, all of the folks that actually built the building, and now we're working on a week-long program in the summer called Global Cafe.

That's gonna take place the second week in July.

It's gonna be book-ended by two days of a concert that I'm really excited about.

I'm not gonna share who's big.

- You got headliners already.

- Yeah, and then- - That's awesome.

- A week-long professional development for local artists.

That's gonna be almost like a, I guess, professional development camp, where artists will not only have an opportunity to, like, develop skills, learn some new resources that could potentially help them, but at the same time, collaborate with artists they haven't worked with before on some new music.

So I'm excited about that.

- That's exciting.

How can people keep track?

- I guess probably just directly through me.

So, if there are artists that are local and are interested, just, you know, ChachiHipHop.com would be, like, my website, and @ChachiHipHop on all social media.

And, yeah.

Reach out directly.

I guess I'm still old school in that sense, where it's like, you know, it's like a direct link.

You know, if you want to be involved in anything I'm doing, just reach out.

- Just find me.

I wanna talk about your music, but before we get there, I also wanna mention Culture Shock, because this is such a huge opportunity for the city of Pawtucket, and I just love how you're able to bring so many different people together and just expose them to all the beautiful things that are happening in our state, all the beautiful music that they can experience, especially young families.

Tell me about Culture Shock and what else you have going on, because you actually, I define you as like a jack of all trades, master of many.

Right?

- Yeah.

Well, you know, I'm still just trying to figure it out, right?

I guess, you know, the fact that I'm in a new role and always trying to explore opportunity.

I'm always trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Music is always at the core.

It's like the space where I always run to when I feel unsure of what's going on in the world or unsure of myself.

Music has always provided, like, a space where I can vent, where I could be creative and see myself as a success.

So I try to make sure that music is, you know, embedded in everything I do.

The idea for Culture Shock was just I just wanted to give young artists their first festival experience.

You know, as a kid from here, I didn't get that chance until I was an adult, and I didn't really feel like I was receiving support to chase the dream of being an artist until I was an adult.

So, if I can, you know, minimize some of the stress associated with local young artists, trying to figure it out, if I could just be a bridge and help ease the process for them, and where they could just kind of like let down the guard and not have to take on the role of booking agent, manager, and all of the other things that you have to do.

Social media manager, right?

All of the things that an artist needs to do for themselves, and if you could just show up, perform, be treated like a superstar.

So that was, like, the idea behind Culture Shock, and then, at the same time, I also wanted to bridge some, like, generational gaps and genre gaps that exist sometimes in the concert space.

If you go and see like a big band, like your favorite band, usually they book bands that sound just like the big band that you're going to see before, and I've always been a fan of, like, you know, going to a rap concert and having like a reggae band open up or going to, you know what I mean?

So, having a mix of genres was the key to making sure that that was a completely inclusive event.

So, it's worked since 2018.

We stepped back in 2020 because of COVID, and then we released a virtual version in 2021, and yeah.

We're still rolling.

I feel like the engagements at Brown feel like an extension of the Culture Shock as a festival, but, you know, we'll see.

We'll see where we go.

Hopefully, we'll be able to pull it off again this year.

- And that usually happens at the end of the summer, right?

- September.

Yeah.

- September.

All right.

Let's talk about your latest album, "Legacy."

You've been recording music for a really long time.

- [Chachi] Yeah.

- Tell me what's different about this album.

How is it different from other works that you've done before?

- This one specifically was, you know, our studio was shut down.

You know, big shout out to my partner Edgar Cruz, Vertygo, who hosts things down at Beatbox Studio.

You know, we had to close the doors due to COVID, but what that did was it created a space for us two to just kind of lock in together, and we were like, man, we've never worked on a, and he's an incredibly talented producer, but we never worked on an entire project together, just us two, and this is my business partner that we've owned a studio together for a long time.

So we were both going through a lot of personal issues, like the whole world was during that time in 2020, and it was an opportunity for us to just release, and we challenge ourselves to exist outside of the box of what folks were accustomed to hearing from us, and we tried new things.

I, like, sang a little bit, and we tried to play around in some different genres, and it was beautiful, and each song we did felt like it belonged with the previous one, and so, yeah, I'm happy.

I'm excited about that project.

We didn't really do much to promote since releasing it.

We kind of just allow it to exist in the space that it's in, and hopefully folks gravitate to it, but, yeah, it's an important piece for me.

I did a lot of reflecting personally, a lot of reflecting on family, on the role that my father had, and the last song on the album features my older sister, Nancy, Sultra Divine, who lives in Kentucky, and features my father, and at that point, in 2020, it was 10 years after he had transitioned, but we were able to resurrect a small piece of recording that we were able to, like- - [Anaridis] That's beautiful.

- Build music around and created a new song.

- That is so beautiful.

Music seems to be a very personal journey for you, and that's why so many people can relate to your music.

I was listening to a little bit of "Cape Verde in America," and I kind of felt that story.

We only have a few minutes left.

Can you share with us what your performances will be about and where that story comes from?

- Yeah, so that whole, you know, it took a while for me to, I guess, be honest in my music.

You know, when I was younger, you know, hip hop, like the artists that I looked up to were, like, braggadocious.

They felt like superheroes, and, you know, through my journey of creating music, when I started understanding how, when I was able to, like, connect with myself through song, other folks connected more with my music.

So I guess just trying to be, like, as honest as I can with my insecurities, with the things that make me feel happy, the things that make me feel sad.

Whenever I do songs that feel like it's a true reflection of my emotions and my feelings, I know people resonate to those more.

So, yeah.

A couple pieces, you know, that I do, and it's just a spoken word, just like a confirmation of that, you know?

Stories of my family, of my upbringing, of myself, of my hopes, you know?

- I love that.

That's so real, so real, because we're all going through it, right?

And we can find that we can go on that journey with you to reflect and also find purpose, and, you know, what we're here to do.

- [Chachi] Absolutely.

- How can people stay in touch with you and keep up with your music and listen to your albums?

- Yeah, like, I'm doing some cool things right now.

I'm part of the Equity Leadership Institute.

I'm part of the new cohort there.

I'm a brand ambassador for the Transform Rhode Island Scholarship.

Big shout to Tris.

Every high school student should apply for that scholarship this year.

A million dollar scholarship.

It's amazing.

I'm working in City Hall.

I can be found there Monday through Friday.

- [Anaridis] During business hours.

- During business hours.

Beatbox Studio is usually super active as well.

I'm involved in a lot of local sports programs and a few boards, but ChachiHipHop.com.

WeOwnTheMasters.com is kind of the governing body behind all of the things that I do, and then on all social media is just @ChachiHipHop, but, yeah, if anybody's interested in learning more about me or connecting, that's the best way.

Bandcamp.com/ChachiHipHop is a great way to support, if anybody's interested in purchasing any of my previous albums or mixtapes, or stream on any of your favorite digital platforms, and it's just Chachi Carvalho.

- I could sit here and talk to you all day.

- I could talk to you all day too.

- You know, but we've run out of time, at least because we wanna give you time for your performance.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- So sit tight.

Don't go anywhere.

We will have a special performance by Chachi Carvalho right now.

- I am strong.

My bones may ache, and my mind may be weak at times, but I am strong.

I am of the ancestry of dream chasers who rode sunsets and moons, who inhaled endless oceans and imagined hope, who left behind cold histories in order to be the fathers of brilliant futures.

I am strong.

I am of the firsts.

I am a creator of life.

I am the biggest oak tree in the forest, and I am strong.

They try to chop me with steel, and they try to turn my branches into weapons, but I stand still.

The wind embraces my pain, and the sun reminds me to smile because I know who I am.

I know where I am from.

I know they do not fear my presence.

They fear my potential because I know that they know that I am strong.

Thank you.

- I would like to thank our guest, Chachi Carvalho.

You can listen to more of his music on your favorite streaming app, and you can watch this episode and all our past episodes anytime at watch.ripbs.org, and be sure to follow us on these social platforms for the latest updates.

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