Rapper and actor Derek Emmanuel Barbosa, who performed under the name Chino XL, died on July 29. He was 50; no cause of death has yet been announced. He made his first album (Here to Save You All) in 1996. Hopping from one record company to another, he made four solo albums, and released such singles as “No Slow Rollin’,” “Kreep,” “Deliver,” “Poison Pen,” and, most recently, “Ascending to Mytikas.” Chino also acted in The Beat, Alex & Emma, Reno 911!, and The Young and the Restless, among others. He told All Hip Hop that “I sleep in character pajamas. Not when I’m trying to be sexy, but the reason I do that is because I am so serious and that whole Chino XL thing is so intense that I need to completely take that shit off, and you can’t be tough in Sponge Bob pajamas. See, that’s the difference in being a grown man now and being secure in who I am cause I woulda never let that shit go before, but I don’t give a shit, ’cause if a nigga break into my house, he’ll just get his ass whipped by a nigga wearing Sponge Bob Square Pants pajamas.”
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