Pop Style: Chi Ching Ching

Interview by Jesse Serwer, Photos by Gio—

Welcome to LargeUp’s new street style feature, Pop Style. Every other Friday, we’ll be talking sartorial shop with the most impeccably dressed men and women of the Caribbean and the diaspora, from familiar faces to everyday people pon di corner. Along the way we intend to show the world what we’ve long held true—no one’s got style and swagger quite like the islands.

Chi Ching Ching
Occupation: Dancehall artist, dancer, Kingston celebrity
Spotted in: Yppenplatz in Vienna, Austria

Tell me about your fashion sense. You’re wearing a zipper in a way I’ve never seen before right now.

Mi walk wid a zip inna mi ears. You know why Chi Ching Ching walk wid a zip ina him ears?

Why is that?

Because mi a run di ting. Mi a run di business an mi nuh waan no man tell me no foolishness inna mi ears or chat no shit inna mi ears ’cause mi a run di business. A mi seh slangs and songs an going for grands, mi nuh have nuh AC but mi have fans. So when negativity a talk, an badmine a talk, and people weh no wish good fi yuh a talk, mi just put a zip inna mi ears an [tell] them no seh, look ya, a zip inna mi ears, no shit inna mi ears. Chi Ching Ching! Mi woulda dumb if mi nuh talk.

Tell us about where you’re from.

I’m from Jamaica, from a place name Stony Hill. Just around the corner there’s a golden spring. That’s in St. Andrew, in the Kingston area of Jamaica, that’s where Chi Ching Ching come from. I was born in Jubilee Hospital and raised on Oxford Road, and then I grow up in Stony Hill Golden Spring. So yuh dun know, Chi Ching Ching is the face of Kingston, Jamaica.

Catch Chi Ching Ching and Selecta Addy of Eccentrix Sound live tonight at Badeschiff in Vienna, Austria. See the full Ching x Eccentrix tour dates here, and keep up with Ching on his Twitter.