ChaiBenjii4 on Beating a M*rder Case, Oakland Upbringing, Having his Way in Prison & More

0:00No Jumper, coolest podcast in the world, and today I'm bringing y 'all the much-awaited, legendary first interview, I do believe, with ChaiBenji. How you feeling, man? Good, man. B's. Why are you doing an interview right now and you never really did one in the past? Shit. It's like a new era. I don't know, but I'm just f***ing around. You're done being like Super mysterious Cause I feel like That's been part of your Whole thing for a while Is that People feel like They don't really understand Like Everything about you Normally the interview Kind of Tells them a lot Yeah exactly They just You know Judging From what they seeing Yeah Don't believe that shit though No A lot of that stuff Is rumors about you out there Yeah that shit fake Okay That shit fake Cause I'm not gonna lie Like when I pulled up I seen like I thought that the cars In the parking lot Were gonna get bipped or something because we got a lot of dudes wearing all black, and when they talk about, like, Bay Area crime, it kind of looks like what I saw outside the office today.

1:04Like 15 deep, shysties, Nike techs, all black, everything. Nah, man, nah, nah. We ain't doing none of that business, man. It's just a dress code. Yeah, I'm not saying anybody's doing any crime. I'm just saying that y 'all together, it's kind of an intimidating presence. Damn, you think so? A little bit. I mean, shit. You know? Yeah. I'm sure you're all upstanding gentlemen, but, you know. Yeah. All right, tell me a little bit about your upbringing. You were born in Oakland? Yeah, born and raised. East Oakland. Fairfax, high street. Okay. And what was your household like? What was your upbringing like?

1:42Shit. It was cool. I had both my parents, you know. It was cool. I wasn't struggling, none of that shit. I just, you know, got caught up in some shit, and it went from there. Really? Okay, so your mom and dad were there your whole childhood and everything? Yeah. Hell yeah. They still here. Were they both on a straight and narrow, or were they kind of in the streets as well? Shit, my daddy, me and my daddy was. You know what I mean? My daddy was, but, yeah. But that shit didn't affect nothing, though. That shit didn't affect nothing. And that ain't like, they ain't the reason why who I am today.

2:21You feel me? I make my own choices. Yeah. My mom raised me right though. Both my parents did. But did they try to keep you out of the streets? Did they try to warn you about what was going on outside? Yeah, of course. You know, yeah, yeah. Everybody do. Not just my parents. Everybody do. Hell yeah. That's a regular shit group. Everybody go to telling me that. But would you say that you were always drawn to being outside and seeing what's going on? Yeah, I was, I was, what's that word? Yeah, I don't know. Adventurous. Yeah, I was just in love with that shit. Really? Yeah. What's like your earliest memories of that shit though?

3:00Were you influenced by just what was going on outside? Were you influenced by like movies and TV and music and shit as well? Music played a big part of it, but I was influenced just being outside, being a young nigga just outside, wild. Mm. You know, yeah. What music stands out? Were you listening to local shit or were you listening to more mainstream rap when you were younger? Yeah, yeah. You know, Tee Keef. All the s***. Back in the day, like, around that time, that was, yeah. Definitely. Rapping about that s*** that we could relate to. Right. Did it take a while, though, before you got turned on to all the sort of NorCal music that was turned up around that time, too?

3:41Like, what do you mean? Did I, like, what do you mean? Just like all the local rappers, whether Oakland or just any like Northern California rappers. Were you listening to that? Yeah, yeah. I was listening to some niggas. I probably can't tell you off the dome right now, but yeah, hell yeah. Okay. For sure. For sure. So would you say you grew up in like a nicer area or was it a little bit more hood where you were coming up? I grew up in the trenches. Okay. Sure. So you were seeing shit go on in your neighborhood even before you like kind of went out and found it? You go see shit all around Oakland.

4:17Wherever you had to go, you go see shit. Everywhere in Oakland. What kind of kid were you in school? Were you getting in trouble all the time? Were you smart doing good and shit or were you just not feeling it? Yeah, I was on and off. But yeah, I used to be fighting hella much at school and shit. That was, like, I wasn't a nigga that was probably, like, hella dudespeed, but yeah, I was hella bad at school. Same shit. Mm. Fighting over. Getting my ass whooped, bad grades, all that type of shit, you know, young. Getting your ass whooped by your parents because you weren't doing good? Yeah. Damn, but that didn't cause you to change your style up at all?

4:58Nah, hell no. That shit don't help. Mm. Yeah. When's the first time you got in, like, actual trouble in terms of, like, you know, with the cops or anything?

5:12Um, 14, yeah, 14, I went down for a high speed, yeah. Really? Yeah, I'm 14. After that, after that, it was, I was in and out that motherf***er. Really? Yeah. What made you not just pull over when they tried to pull you over and that turned into a high speed, assuming that's how this went down? What made me not pull over? Yeah, like, when I was 14, I would have just pulled over. I would have been scared shitless of the cops. You just, people told you not to pull over? Nah, yeah, nah. I wasn't even driving, but shit, we ain't pulling over. We pulling over for the police, folks. We're supposed to be driving.

5:52Right. Yeah. So you were just with, like, other kids your age at that time? Yeah. For sure. So you weren't hanging out with, like, older dudes from the neighborhood or anything like that? or was it mostly like your homies you went to school with and shit? Yeah, I did. I was probably, I always hanged with niggas that was older than me, but I hang with niggas that's around my age too. Like, these niggas, like, they wasn't niggas for real, for real. For sure. Yeah. And so your rap name comes from, what's your government name? Makai. Makai. So you just took the end of Makai? Yeah, Makai. Okay. But that been my name, though.

6:33I ain't make that no rap name. It ain't been my name. Okay. And how many people have Benji in their name? Yeah. That's like your whole squad? Yeah, hell yeah. Where'd the Benji come from? Benjamin Franklin. Ah. Okay. So you were always focused on money since a young age? Yeah, hell yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always the saucy. So yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to get some money. Okay. Were you the first one that was putting Benji in your name or was there already a lineage of that? Nah, hell nah. Yeah, nah, hell nah. My older **** is they. Okay. Yeah. We just kept it lit. So BBG was a thing before you came around or was that something you created?

7:21Nah, hell nah. I didn't create nothing. Okay. I didn't create nothing. There you go. There you go. I feel like you're doing this interview expecting it to somehow be used against you at some point in the future. I respect that for sure. Next question. So that's part of why you don't, you hadn't done an interview before is because you don't want to necessarily say anything that might incriminate yourself? Nah, I ain't going to incriminate myself. I don't do shit. So I ain't incriminate myself about shit. So does that piss you off that so many people online seem determined to sort of paint you as this villain?

8:00Yeah, I'd be laughing at that shit. That shit just... They'd be just talking. They only... Half the motherfuckers on there saying that shit ain't never even met me in real life. Right. Cause like, there's one YouTuber, who I won't name, but, I mean, he kind of like, I was watching one video he had about you, and he was kind of like, if Kai Benji gets locked up then I'll be able to tell the world everything I know about him in the streets but at this time I'm not comfortable doing that because I don't want to become a target which I mean this is somebody who made videos about like everybody in the game so I was kind of surprised to hear him like that was the first person I really heard him like have like fear of or like seem like intimidated by man what the fuck are you talking about okay I'm talking about swamp stories it seems like he got like a special relationship with you like he's like your promotional unit not pause yeah I mean yeah I don't know I don't know what blood got going on I ain't gonna lie but yeah I don't know I ain't got nothing to say about swamp stories no okay would you ever uh do you mind if I yeah um so that's not somebody you you would never do him any harm no no hell no are youtubers just off limits everybody off i wouldn't do harm nobody right but especially you know because he's a member of the media you know it's like kind of his job to talk about rappers and put information out there about him like i'm just trying to make him feel safe in this situation i guess i mean he I just I don't He But he be doing shit That he be knowing What he be doing Like So like Yeah I wouldn't be surprised If a nigga did do something To him Not me Feel me So Cause he Yeah I don't know What's up with that Well cause he finally Is like on camera Like he's He's wearing a shiesty So you can only see his eyes But now you can actually See what he looks like And he looks like a white boy Which is kinda I guess some rapper Exposed him I don't actually know who Yeah, I don't know.

10:15I heard that. I was down though when I heard that shit. I don't know. I don't know nothing about that, but shit. God bless him. Right. For sure. Wait, so okay, you go down for that high speed. How much time do you actually spend locked up for that when you're 14? A month, 30 days. Okay. Was that eye-opening for you? You like see what was going on in the local jail or whatever? Like what you mean eye-opening? Like, I mean, you know, you're a kid, like 14 is pretty young to get thrown into that environment. Yeah, but yeah, but like, no, it wasn't like an eye opener, like I was going back and forth.

10:53So, I mean, yeah. I feel like you probably get exposed to a lot of people who aren't from your section. That might kind of change how you view everything a little bit. Wait, you said I would say that again? Like when you get locked up and go to jail, all of a sudden you're around people from all different parts of the area. And you might, you know, kind of get put on to what is going on in the city outside of just what's been going on in your block or whatever. Yeah, for sure. You know, and niggas be coming in and out. So a lot of people, you know, niggas come in and out. That's from the state.

11:27Especially you sit down, talk, and niggas just be talking, especially in jail. So all niggas do is talk. Right. But do you feel like you got put on to any game while you were there or were you the one putting people on? Nah. Hell nah. No. Okay. I ain't know why. This little bit I just did right now, I ain't. That shit wasn't. No. Hell nah. And I was around the thugs most of the whole time, so I was chill. Do you feel like you got a lot of respect in that environment? Like they know about you from the rap and everything? Yeah. Yeah. this guy feel good yeah for sure hell yeah so so you got locked up for like a month when you're 14 you do any other time during your like high school career yeah i i went down for that shit and then i was going back and forth violations and shit and then i ended up going down for a shooting and then i went i did like a year and a half and then went to a group home ran away and that's when I was in like 2020.

12:31Yeah, 2020. And I went back down in like 2021 and did like almost four years, like three years, 10 months. Wow, four years is crazy, huh? Yeah, and then I got out and that's when I was just out, 10 months. Then I just went back and now I'm back out again. Damn. Yeah. Why do you think you keep getting locked up, spending so much time there? Is this just bad luck or? man i don't know i don't know man i don't know but i know i know that shit i ain't gonna keep going to jail like you know i ain't need to learn from them make mistakes do you hate it or at this point are you kind of just whatever about getting locked up like it don't really faze you that much No, hell yeah.

13:20I hate jail. Hell yeah. I shit boozy as hell yeah. You be having some good times in there or not? What the fuck do you mean? Do I be having? I mean, what's fun about jail? Is there anything that's like entertaining or like to keep yourself occupied? What do you do to kill time? Shit. I'm in there probably on the phone, working out, playing basketball. I seen you saying you had fucking walking perks in there. Oh, yeah. Hell, yeah. How the hell you get that in there? No. I'm woke up, man. Just having your way? Yeah. I mean, I feel like it's got, like, perks is one thing, because they're small, but, like, how the hell are you getting some drink in there?

14:07Man, I don't know. I just woke up one morning, and I should drop from the cellar. Really? Mm-hmm. Damn. Mm-hmm. We got to do some research about that. I'm sure some of the other prisoners would like to know what what cell exactly has lean falling from the ceiling Man

14:26But okay, is it better to be getting loaded in jail or is it better to be like on your healthy shit? Shit, it depends. Everybody doing their jail time differently, so I wouldn't, I don't know everybody differently, you know I don't, me personally, shit I get high as fuck yeah I'm gonna get high wherever the f*** I'm at so yeah but I ain't I'm gonna work out of course I'm gonna work out but yeah I'm getting high as f*** wherever I'm at I feel like if I was loaded off leaning perks I'm probably not gonna be working out it's like different mind states what you mean like if I'm sober for sure I'm gonna be working out and if I'm getting f***ed up for sure I'm definitely not working out well I was doing You do a little bit of both?

15:19Yeah I mean even if you're getting that shit in there You're not getting it like all the time right? Yeah hell no Definitely Is there like Cause I know in LA county and shit It's like you go in there You just got phased to run With anybody you don't get along with on the streets and shit Is it like that at NorCal or where you were at? Yeah like if you go to jail You see a nigga you ain't told it Yeah Yeah, for sure. Well, it's supposed to be. Because I feel like somebody like you, you're not really fighting on the streets too much. We ain't really heard any crazy Benji, knock the motherfucker out stories.

15:58They might be out there, but I ain't heard. Yeah, nah, you would never hear a story like that. Really? Yeah, nah. Just not a boxer? Nah, I ain't gonna say that. When it comes down to it, when it comes down to it, you feel like you got a good squabble? if it come down to it yeah if you got it yeah so when you're locked up you have any like real notable fades yeah uh yeah i didn't i didn't knock so out so damn me damn somebody that everybody out there knows about no i ain't gonna knock that

16:40everybody's doing this little all-knowing giggle in the room people don't know there's like 15 people looking at us right now yeah but but yeah if i got some phase in there okay um so then that most recent 10 months was for uh you were you were wanted for a murder right yeah and how'd you how'd you end up beating that it didn't go to trial or anything they just drop the charges? Nah. So, uh, you know, we ain't,

17:14next question. Okay. So you don't really know what happened? You just know you're free? Yeah. Bitch. By the grace of Allah. Mm. Are you Muslim? Nah. Oh. Just like, metaphorical? Metaphorical? Like, you don't actually believe in Allah? you just kind of evoke him from time to time nah hell yeah I believe him what the f*** you mean oh so you're Muslim but you trolling no like if you you either are Muslim and you believe Allah is God or you're not yeah Allah is God oh ok I'm thinking you are Muslim I gotta be Muslim to say Allah I feel like I've never heard anybody mention Allah who wasn't Muslim, yeah.

18:05Oh, shit. You never really got too deep into it? No, I don't know. I practice the way, though, sometimes. Okay. I practice it sometimes. You read any books or anything while you were locked up? Yeah, when I was in juvenile hall, juvenile hall, I used to. Any books that you remember that stood out? No. I was reading hella urban fiction, shit like that. Just as, like, a way to escape? Yeah. it ain't like county or apparently got tablets well now they got tablets in there so yeah so you have tablets in there but you like are you limited in what you can do on the tablets or you can go online and go on instagram and shit or not like while you're locked up when they give you a tablet and we're in the hall or something either one yeah of course that shit is limited Yeah, of course.

19:00Okay. So what's like the main shit you can do on it though? Call. Just call people? Yeah. Okay. All right. So at what point you start rapping? 2020. So right when you got locked up and did that four years? No. Right before that. When I got out for, I told you that I went down for the shooting. And then I did that year and a half. I went to a Groupon. So when I ran away from my group home, that's when I started rapping. I was a twink-tween. Okay. Did you feel like, like what motivated you to want to rap? Nothing really. I didn't even plan on rapping. I just ended up just doing it just for the f***ing.

19:44Just kind of worked? Yeah. Was it crazy for you to see like so much, so many people just be hyped on your music right away? I feel like you got a crazy reaction pretty quickly locally. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like when, especially around, I feel like when motherfuckers know what's going on, they can relate to that shit and feel that shit. You feel me? So, yeah. Yeah, that is kind of the crazy thing because when I'm listening to it, you guys got so much politics going on in your lyrics that are kind of mysterious to us. but I guess, I mean, when you see your shit having millions of views, I'm like, damn, I guess, like, a lot of people are f***ing clued in, and they want to know how all this shit is playing out.

20:32I'm not. So. Do you ever have to be careful about, like, saying too much in your lyrics, or you just automatically kind of censor yourself? Yeah, definitely. Definitely do. But, yeah. I definitely, yeah. Does it feel like that's kind of like a safe space where you can tell the people what's going on in your life without necessarily, you know, feeling like you're telling on yourself or anything? Because I know in an interview, you're probably going to be real restrained about who you talk about in terms of who you're beefing with or anything like that. But in the music, you kind of just let that shit go, right?

21:09Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure, for sure. But I ain't, I know I ain't stupid. Do you ever, like, write some lyrics that you had to censor later on? Huh? You ever like record a song and then have to kind of censor yourself afterwards? Yeah, but that shit don't mean nothing. That shit just all music, bro. Yeah. Nigga just trying to make some good music. That shit. Right. Yeah. Who else do you like that's rapping out of Oakland or Northern California like right now? Who do you really respect musically? Ra Ra Benji. Okay. Yeah. My nigga just came home. He tripping. Yeah. I seen some of his videos on your channel actually.

21:53Is he here? Nah, he on GPS. He can come. Okay. Yeah. But he just did like dinner five years. Mm. Yeah, he's talking crazy as fuck. My mom, man. He a boy. He a boy. You guys all, the apple don't fall too far from the tree, I guess. All the Benjis are just saying the wildest shit. I mean, shit. That's what you call it. So, like, is that important to you to use your YouTube and shit to support all your homies and upload their videos to your channels and shit? So, yeah. If that's what my nigga tell me he want to do, then yeah, I'm going to do it. Yeah, yeah. So, I ain't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why, like, why wasn't it, nigga?

22:38I ain't no nigga that's, like, trying to. We got a way, like, these are niggas that I'm struggling with. life on the line with it every day. So nigga, yeah. So. For sure. Who's like the top rappers besides you from your clique would you say that the people need to be paying attention to? You said the top 10 rappers? Top 3, let's say. Top 3 rappers. Outside of my niggas that people just like people that's part of your whole movement. Who's the main rappers that you would say that people should make sure that they're in tune with? spark benji yachty benji uh benji baby and sardy bbg sardy okay yeah for sure sorry sorry been down for a minute but sorry he raw your boy definitely yeah you see yourself ever doing like a big like team tape together or something like a shit we all could be out together we we never we never all could be out together we always miss each other that's why they said a blessing that my my dog just came home and like i said by the grace of how i i made it back and we back on the street together yeah definitely yeah why you think that like you and your team begin locked up so much.

24:08And are you planning on really staying out this time especially? Yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. But I don't know. Shit, I don't know. I don't know why they be on so much. Oh, so you feel like you guys are getting targeted? Yeah, we're getting targeted. Hmm.

24:28Damn. Just cops just on bullshit. They be like following y 'all around and shit like that? Sure. All day on bullshit. So you gotta be super careful how y 'all move? yeah for sure but that's it that's everywhere though even without just everywhere you should always want to be aware yeah you consider yourself a drill rapper or no

24:55shit if if you call it that but yeah i mean if you call it that for sure i mean like typically we're not used to like california music being described as drill yeah exactly that's what i'm saying that's how you call it that right definitely do you uh like you do like more of the like upbeat fun hyphy influence type shit from northern california you ever listen to like some e42 short shit like that or is that not really your vibe hell no Hell no I ain't no disrespect to them But nah we ain't listen to that Really? Yeah It's just not the energy of your life stuff? Yeah that ain't Yeah that ain't Yeah that ain't I can't relate to none of that They be talking a lot of pimp talk and shit You never like Listen to some Too Short And be like Let me just put some bitches on the stroll Hell no What the fuck Hell no I don't listen Hell no Damn okay See I'm actually impressed There was a lot of younger rappers they'd be like yeah like gotta show respect to the legends and shit but i mean if that's not your flavor yeah you ever listen to some la russell no i don't even know who that is damn you gotta check out la russell man he got some some positive music and shit he got a good song about epstein yeah i heard about him but i ain't never listened to him no he's from vallejo i guess but he's doing something that's totally outside of a lot of the drill.

26:27He's like the opposite of drill music. It's like church music. Church music? Yeah, it's like some go Sunday school ass shit. Oh, yeah. I won't be listening to that. Not your style, all right. How would you describe BBG? What does that stand for? Blessed by God. Okay. Yeah, not a gang. Not a gang. Just like a crew, rap crew? Yeah. Yeah. and it's just like yeah we bless you by God like I'm saying does that bother you that the cops try to treat it like it's a gang or something when you know it's all about music hell yeah but we know they gonna do that so just to rewind you went to school in Alabama yeah mama had sent me out there a year I was f***ing up doing all the stupid shit she sent me out there and I ended up running away.

27:22I came back. How long were you out there before you ran away? Like a year. You hated it? Hell yeah. Just slow as fuck. Hell yeah. It was a country. I said, we'll see it again. I feel like for somebody like you, there's probably a lot of opportunities. If you come from a fast-paced, advanced city and you go somewhere that isn't really on what you're on, There's like a lot of opportunities to probably make money and shit I mean Yeah I was a little as kid though when I got sent to Alabama I was like 11 Oh shit Did you feel though that like the other kids in Alabama saw you as more advanced or was it a little bit of a culture shock Yeah all the white bitches they was loving me Really?

28:17Yeah for sure were you loving them

28:24but next question you like white girls yeah dr umar is very opposed to that who the is that oh this is like motivational speaker ass like it's kind of hard to describe unless you've seen him but he got a phrase that he's always repeating where he says uh black queens forever snow bunnies never that's what he said he says it like all the time yeah like hella anti-white bitches and he gets like upset if he's doing like a podcast and he realizes that a black dude has a white wife you can just feel the vibe that he's just like not with it yeah no you're like more open-minded would you say open-minded yeah when it comes to white women?

29:14Yep. I guess you'd say that. All right. You got any, like, white homeboys? Like, white dudes? Or not so much? Nah. Hell no. I used to, but hell no. Well, what happened? You fell out with your... When I was in Alabama. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, we got a homie, Moose Man from Sacramento who's always telling us how mixed everything is up in Northern California, how blacks, Mexicans, whites, they all just kick it together like it's nothing. And he's always trying to convince us that L.A. is so segregated in comparison. I mean, yeah, I don't know too deep about all that. Have you got a chance to spend much time in L.A.

29:56or is it kind of foreign to you? L.A.? Out here? Yeah. Yeah, I've been out here a hell of a time. Oh, okay. You like it? Would you ever be able to live here, you think? Yeah, I would. It's cool out here. what's the difference is it a little bit more fast paced or it's kind of fast paced up there too I don't know it's just I don't know but I think probably maybe probably if I was from LA I'd probably say if you was to ask me go to Oakland I don't know so you would move to LA though at some point if it made sense career wise yeah I feel like a lot of people you know you could move down here and like not be wrapped up in the politics the way that you are up there, you know?