Skip to main contentFor some people, 24 hours in a day just ain't enough time to get everything done. Everybody knows someone like that--the workaholic who never seems to sleep. The guy sitting across from me at a Northeast Portland restaurant is one of those people. He's laid-back, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. When he talks, he doesn't seem to be in any great hurry or to have a care in the world.
But if you pay close attention to what he says, and how he says it, you can tell the gears in his brain are in constant motion. Sometimes the stillest waters run deep.
His business card tells you that he calls himself Starchile. But exactly what Starchile does isn't all that clear. According to the card, he works for O.G. Promotions, hosts the TV hip-hop show WhaWhat and is both director of promotions for local clothing company Steez and CEO of record label Three Kingz. The card, however, doesn't mention the Sunday-night underground hip-hop show he hosts on Jammin' 95.5; his day job at Portland State University; Karma, the monthly party he hosts at Berbati's; or the fact that his debut album, Twist: Genesis Chapter 1, dropped less than two months ago.
So who--and what--is this guy who calls himself Starchile?
"I'm just me, man," he says with a relaxed laugh. "First and foremost, I'm an MC, not a rapper. If a rapper forgets his verse on stage, he just giggles and goes to the next song and stops the DAT. An MC don't need no beat. I don't need no music to rock no crowd. If I mess up and forget a verse I just freestyle my verse--that's what I'm known for doing."
A PDX native, Starchile (born Idris O'Farrell 26 years ago) started rhyming at Wilson High School, before graduating in 1993. On April 1, 1997, his life changed forever when he went to the doctor for what he thought was the stomach flu.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," he says, recalling the turning point in his life. "I was sick, and I didn't go to the doctor until I got to the point where I couldn't hold any food down. The doctor asked me, 'How did you get here?' I told him I walked, and he said, 'That's not possible. The toxin level in your body is so high there's no way you could've walked in here. Your kidneys aren't working. You have to go to the hospital right now.'"
Starchile says six months of dialysis and, eventually, a kidney transplant (with his mother providing the needed spare) gave him a renewed faith and the conviction that drives his ferocious work ethic.
"I know it can go away that quick," he says. "I work hard, but I'm blessed--I'll put it like that--to do this much stuff."
His frantic schedule came to a head two months ago, when Twist was released.
"It's not your typical Portland hip-hop album. This is a hip-hop album," says Starchile, emphasizing his view that Twist is more than the homegrown curiosity some other local hip-hop records have tended to be. For years, P-Town rappers have struggled to get props on a national level, but few have ever achieved more than a regional rep for their mic skills. The problem, as Starchile sees it, is that "too many people are trying to be the best rapper on 15th and Alberta," without setting their goals higher.
Produced by O.G. One, Torry Ward, Jumbo and No1Else and featuring DJ Reckless, Twist has an old-school flavor that emphasizes a player's lifestyle instead of thug life. It's an album with lyrics more concerned with getting the crowd moving than racking up a body count.
"I ain't ever killed nobody, or sold no drugs, so that's not what I was talking about," says Starchile. "The funny thing is, most of the cats that be talking about it ain't did it either. They was in the church choir with me. We all grew up together."
With the release of Twist, Starchile is prepared to do battle on a national level. "I'm not the best lyricist ever," he says in an odd mix of humility and bravado, "but I'm not afraid of nobody. I don't even look at people around here. I'm talking about national acts. If you like hip-hop music, you will like this album. If you like something else, you probably won't like this album. If you're the type of person that likes to go to the show and be hard, and stand on the wall, you might enjoy this album in the comfort of your own home, but you won't show it when you go out."
is available in local record stores.
airs on the WB network, Saturday nights at 1 am.
Starchile, along with many other Portland artists, will perform during Musicfest Northwest's hip-hop showcase at the Roseland Theater, Thursday, Sept. 20.
WWeek 2015