GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Local freestyle rhyme champion Creed Chameleon says he's "trying to redefine the term 'local Hawaii music.'"

Creed Chameleon’s
rappin’ to isle beat

With the release of "Defy," local freestyle rhyme champion Kris "Creed Chamelon" Rojas hopes to make the jump from underground hip-hop into the realm of mainstream awareness.

'Defy' CD release party When: 10 p.m. Friday Where: The Living Room Cover: $10 Call: 538-3808

The 25-year-old Waipahu resident paid his dues by slugging it out in cyphers with some of the best Oahu had to offer. He got dissed during his first battle, but earned respect when opponents learned he was just 16 at the time.

Rojas, who works at Pearlridge and splits the rest of his days between music and a 15-month-old son, spent two years working on "Defy." Only 500 copies of the album will be available at Stylus Honolulu, Too Gruvz Records and via his MySpace.com profile page. He spoke with the Star-Bulletin on Labor Day, eager for the weekend (and his CD release party) to arrive.

Star-Bulletin: So give us a little background about yourself.

Creed Chameleon: I was born in Guam, but I moved so much. I lived in Singapore for a bit, I lived in the Philippines. I lived in the Bay Area and I lived on the East Coast. I used to get into a lot of trouble, but now I'm cool. I'm Cuban, Chinese, Filipino.

SB: How did you get into hip-hop?

CC: It all started from my cousin. He liked the Beastie Boys, Run DMC, KRS-One, and introduced that type of music to me. I loved heavy metal, but was just in awe with (hip-hop). When I was 10 years old, I wrote my first rhyme. It was the corniest.

SB: Who do you consider your greatest influences?

CC: KRS-One, Big L, Jay-Z. Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, the Beatles. I like Atmosphere and Living Legends. Even Emirc -- his old stuff influenced me. I looked up to Emirc back in the day.

SB: Has the hip-hop landscape in Hawaii changed since you got started?

CC: There's always a constant change. You got to keep moving on to different things. For me, I'm just trying to branch out the music so other cats have the opportunity to step up too.

SB: Tell us a little about "Defy." Is it your first full-length album?

CC: This is actually my first effort for other people in Hawaii to listen to. What's dope about it is it's been recorded on ADAT eight-track. It's that old Tribe Called Quest recording style. The next project is going to be with Pro Tools, and that's going to be crazy. It'll be way different from this album.

SB: What can people expect during the CD release party?

CC: Honestly, expect the live hip-hop s--, like how it's supposed to be. It's going to be me rhyming, I'm going to get my man DJ Packo on the two turntables and he's going to be scratching, and I got my boy Educated Guess that's going to be on the MPC.

SB: What's next? What does Hawaii's hip-hop community need to do in order to get to that next level?

CC: As far as the underground hip-hop scene goes, I respect it. I'm trying to redefine the term "local Hawaii music," you know? Everybody think local music is Hawaiian music. I want to redefine that.