RIP Christopher "Chilo" Cajigas

This one hurts so many we can only hope it inspires as much. Chilo started sending me music back in 2016. It was usually a friendly greeting followed by a link to his latest song and then a little promo blurb. We exchanged emails back and forth a few times, but never really got into a full-fledged conversation. In writing about his music over the years and following him on social media, I came to learn that in addition to rapping and doing spoken word poetry, he was a teacher. I imagine he was a great one. Though we never spoke, I like to think of my writing about his music as engaging with it as closely as I could, especially in the cases of Faces of the Meek and Fearless and No Such Paradise and "Come Get This Humanity." 

Chilo was a regular at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and a resident of Riverhead. We're from different communities. I don't know how much life experience we had in common, but I do know that whenever his music struck a chord with me, it had sustenance on a level I don't often get from music. That's not a knock on music, which is a huge part of my life, or a plug for poetry, which I don't read much at all. I think it's more about language and love and freedom being equally powered, interconnected entities at the center of the human experience, being the best that civilization has to offer. I think that's what I got from the Chilo performances, songs, and albums I most enjoyed. 

He never sent me this, but apparently, just a few months before he died, he performed at Carnegie Hall. The piece is called "We Fight Hate With Love." 

  

Sunshine blessed the community

In a unity of togetherness
He says he remembers it
Hearing the horns in the background when he was born
How the people all gathered around to offer their well-wishing
Blessed by the clergy, his parents swore
To always keep him and his siblings safe
They had such high hopes for the places he would go
The people he would meet
The family he would raise

And the communities he would empower

And a child will play as children do
The music and the melodies they made him move
He felt the grooves

The lows and the highs

And it all came together with the notes and vibes

He loved to explore, love to go outside

When the sun hit his face, smiles open wide 

In a type of world where the weak don't survive 

He greeted strangers in the streets and socialized
Socialized

His aura attracted others
Yet some parents told their children not to play with his kind

Because he was "different"
And that hurt him inside
Being "othered"
Yet his mother always told him to be a kind, sincere person of honor
And he obliged
Still at times he found bullies on the playground

Called names, teased, and shamed

Until one afternoon unexpectedly saved 
By an elder whose experienced words proclaimed

We are only as strong as our weakest link
Our strength lies in collective unity
And no matter where it is that you call home
Nobody out here can make it all alone

And there is something to be said about assisting

Communicating with, and considering the village as a whole
Responsible in our roles 

So that the members are always respected

Cause in community, we are all connected
We are all connected

He was affected by the words
And even believed them
Ended up thinking about them that night during the evening

As well as a new word he had learned that day in school
Appeasement
And so he thought about how he would combat the cruelty 

And the lunacy that he faced outside 

Because he was not blind to how this world is not kind

And after a while, it took him some time
But finally he realized 

That we fight hate with love
We fight hate with love
And at that moment, it was as if something had hit him from above

His heart was open

He was resigned and determined to fight hate with love

Word up

Pa'lante

RIP Christopher "Chilo" Cajigas. Per the Riverhead News-Review obituary, "Memorial donations can be sent to Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 E. 3rd St., New York, N.Y. 10009; and Belongo/AfroLatin Jazz Alliance of N.Y., 215 East 99th St., New York, N.Y. 10029."

Theravada - The Years We Have

"Where I'm At" begins, "Can't be going on a whim, it's getting thin for that notion. My father cannot use his limbs." Next, "Conditions/Climbing" echoes the sentiment with "Jab step on Jamal Crawford. More money in the summer, dripped out every autumn." You could read the juxtaposition as "Here's my most personal album to date, but rest assured my frame of reference remains basketball and fashion." I, on the other hand, am reading Jacques Vallee's UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union, requisitioned tonight from the Lido Beach West book box. For curious minds, Engels' Condition of the Working Class in England should still be there along with some pamphlets written in Russian, that is, unless the couple out there taking engagement photos on this buggy evening really knows what time it is. All that being said, my favorite song couplet on The Years We Have is not the introductory set but the "Learning Curve" on "Sucka MCs" or the "Windows" past "Day By Day By Day." He ends "Learning Curve" conceding, "You knew the real me in that 05 Altima. It's gonna cost you more if I gotta get it to Baltimore. We not about to take that drive to Florida." A few bars into "Windows," he proclaims, "Since Marcberg and Glassjaw, coldest out of Nasssau. This is what I rap for. I'm about to cop that RAV4," to which I say same bro, and also, Daryl, if you're reading this, he's definitely in the running.