Syracuse rapper King Lo talks past, upcoming music

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During his freshman year at Nottingham High School, Luis Chalas rapped freestyle bars in the cafeteria hallway against his opponent, a fellow student. He came out victorious.

Once he won the rap battle, his friends began encouraging him to become a rapper.

“Everyone was telling me go pro, go pro,” he said.

And he has. Fourteen years later, Chalas, whose artist name is King Lo, plans to release his singles “Ride 4 Me” and “Love Better,” before the year ends. The Syracuse-raised rapper had planned to spend the summer creating his first full-length album and touring across the country, but transitioned to releasing singles when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Chalas has been focusing on networking with artists and producers around the world and developing his musical identity as a dance hall rapper.

Born in Syracuse, Chalas regularly listened to prominent 90s rappers like Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. He began taking Kung Fu lessons at Fu-Shaung Temple in West Syracuse when he was 8 years old. While taking lessons, Chalas met his longtime friend and collaborator Marcell Washington, who Chalas sees as an older brother.

Washington noticed Chalas’ observant personality and willingness to learn. Chalas was surrounded by gang culture growing up, but he did his best to avoid it, Washington said. Instead, Chalas focused on martial arts and music, writing lyrics in high school about his personal struggles.

Throughout high school, he lived in and out of an apartment with his older brother, Felipe, along with Washington and his cousins. Chalas saw the apartment as an escape from his home life and the place where he could make music with Washington, whose artist name is TBE Mus’ab.

When Washington went to jail in 2011, Chalas could no longer create music with his team. The two resumed making music in 2018.
This time, Chalas and Washington were creating music through their record label, Team Beast Entertainment, located at WestSideWAV studio in West Syracuse. Chalas began experimenting with his music, changing his style from his normal “pain-stricken” raps to a more upbeat-sounding dance music.

Before the pandemic, Chalas worked with producer KJ Run It Up to produce the song “With Me,” which was one of Chalas’ dance hall songs from his EP “You’re Invited.” He also connected over Facebook with music engineer Jesse Leonelli, whose artist name is AK Kastro. Leonelli worked with Chalas on his song “I Luv You,” also from “You’re Invited.”

“I noticed with King Lo, it all comes in one take,” Leonelli said. “(His work) is always clean every time, it’s not even a lot of work on my part to make this stuff because we put (the music) in and it comes out great every time.”

Chalas has spent time during the summer working on his upcoming single “Love Better.” Annabelle Gordon | Asst. Photo Editor

Chalas has continued to make music with Leonelli during the pandemic and has networked with artists around the globe, such as rapper FissyXL from South Africa.

This summer, Chalas was often at WestSideWAV studio making beats with Washington. They’re working on the song “Love Better,” which Chalas said his day-one fans will appreciate. The song will show how much the artists have grown since they first started making music, Chalas said.

Along with releasing two singles in the coming months, he plans on touring next summer and releasing his album in the next year.

In the future, Chalas hopes to elevate Team Beast Entertainment’s label to a larger scale and become a better rapper, both on the charts and in the studio. He also wants people to listen more to rappers in Syracuse. Although he has seen local talent find success, like rapper Scorey, who just signed with Polo G’s new record label, Only Dreamers Achieve Records, he knows that success takes time.

“(Scorey has) got everybody fired up and motivated. His music is perfect,” Chalas said. “It is what’s at the top of the game right now (in Syracuse), so we’re all just following in his footsteps and trying to make sure we’re putting out good music.”