Meet Chakarra Johnson

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chakarra Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chakarra, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I really love this question. My work ethic most definitely comes from my pops. He has always been the type to turn any situation around to work in his favor. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the best childhood growing up. Being a South Central native in the 70’s-90’s was also a CRAZY time in history. He made some mistakes that led him to being a felon. If anyone can remember, it was nearly impossible to get a job back in his days as a felon, unlike now where there are so many programs for people in this situation. This is where street hustling came into play to make ends meet. Not necessarily selling drugs or anything like that. My pops used to sell bootleg CD’s, DVD’s & custom T-Shirts. This was his way of hustling, keeping a roof over my head, food in the fridge. These methods were also some of the best ways to make somewhat of a living in South Central at the time. He was a single father since I was 10 months old, so you can understand the amount of pressure he had at the time to provide for himself & I. No matter what, my pops would get up every single day & hustle around the Crenshaw District, specifically Crenshaw & Stocker. I rap about this in my single ‘Trench Talk’. Man, RIP to the Liquor Bank. I remember being so young, in the car for hours while he hustled his custom made CD’s, DVD’s & T’s, just to be able to provide. Often times I’d be with my grandmother on the East Side if I wasn’t with him though. So when you ask where I get my hustle from, It ALL goes back to my pops. That man is so damn passionate. This is why I go extremely hard and could never fail. He laid the game plan down. Grind until you get what you want and need. Everything I do is to be able to pour back into my family, my people, and my community. I’ve been on an extreme hustle since middle school, being old enough to go out and make a few bucks with him. Then, when I got to high school, the hustle continued. How am I gonna get fly without a job? Bet, I’ll sell chicken sandwiches from Carl’s Jr. & Kool-Aid Gummy Worms. You buy the sandwiches at $1, sell em’ at $2, now maximize your quantity, and you got profit. Same method with the worms. Imagine doing this 5 days a week, i was lowkey ballin’ at the time. So you see? I took his mindset, what I saw, learned, and applied it in my own way. I apply the hustle mentality to everything I currently do in my life. So yeah, my pops is where I get my work ethic from. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My name is Chakarra, Aka King CJ. I’m from South Central, Los Angeles. I’m a Multimedia Artist, Extreme Athlete and business owner. To be more descriptive, I am an active Filmmaker, Video Editor, 3D Artist & Musician with aspirations to further my knowledge in the creative field across the board. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to share my story, so sit back & relax. I have a lot to talk about. Before ‘Content Creation’ was a title or a job/career, I was creating visual content. This was back in 2014-15. It all started on my iPhone. I was working at Brooklyn Projects on Melrose. I used to film funny videos of the homies that came through. From comedy skits to random activities that happened around the Fairfax District. It went from making a bunch of skits to filming a bunch of random b-roll. Random buildings, scenery, people, literally anything that looked cool, I filmed it. Then i’d compile all of that footage together, pick a dope song and edit it all together using iMovie. Everything was done on my phone! The content was received very well, so I continued to do my thing. I eventually leveled up my game and bought a GoPro Hero 3+, filming even more and making Youtube edits. At this time, I leveled up my editing and switched over to my Macbook Pro using Final Cut Pro X. A couple months later, I bought a gimble so I could get those smooth, buttery shots. At this point, people were really loving the work I was putting out. The way things were going, I started to do less of the skits and more ‘professional’ work, i guess I’d say. So when I went on trips, I’d take the GoPro with me and film scenery in a whole different environment. This was a game changer for me because I got to introduce a whole different type of visuals to my followers. Fun fact: I shot my first ever music video on a GoPro. This was for the homie Oliver Manifest. This was a very bad video, but at the time EVERYONE loved it, and it was my best work then. Fast forward to 2018ish; I was still very passionate about making videos and I literally never slowed down. My homie Elijah, that i’ve known for over 10 years now, lent me his OG Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. Elijah was into Photo / Video years before I was, so he was an inspiring figure to me during my journey. I never in my life thought the day would come where he’d literally lend me his entire camera package and lens to shoot with. You don’t understand how fucking excited I was. Coming from an iPhone to a GoPro to an actual Cinema Camera. This story only gets better, so stay with me… Eli slowed down a bit on shooting photos and video. I think he started to focus more on making beats and doing graphic design. So, during this transaction, I just couldn’t thank him enough for lending me his gear. This move only leveled me up BIG time. Now, I still had the same perspective with shooting a bunch of random content, but now my footage was A1, which looked like a movie. I ventured off and did some music videos for some of my friends, like Fino & Broadcast. Okay, I was the big dog now. Eli could tell you how obsessed I was with this new equipment. EVERYWHERE we went, I took this camera with me. Grocery store? Bet. Restaurants? Bet. Beach days? BET!!! Once again, I would film anything and everything on these missions I took. This only made me a better filmmaker and storyteller. I owe this journey all to Eli for helping advance my art by giving me the proper tools necessary. I got to a point where I could actually charge for my work. With over 4 years of editing and shooting under my belt, I was eager for more. I knew I had the sauce; I just didn’t know how to expand. Remember how I said I was working at Brooklyn Projects during this journey? Well, still being there, on a random idk, Tuesday or some shit, Aaron Levant (back then the Founder of Agenda Trade Show & now the CEO of Complex NTWRK) had walked into the shop. He came in briefly because he needed to print some papers out. As he was leaving, I asked, “Do you know any companies hiring video editors right now?”. He proceeded to put me in touch with Patrick Ridge, Co-Owner of Ridge Production. He said to hit him up and say, “Aaron sent you.” I was hyped, so hyped that I called and/or texted Pat on my lunch break. He immediately got back to me and said to come in the next day. The following day I drove my Kawasaki Z125 from South Central to Thousand Oaks, nearly an hour. By the way, this bike wasn’t freeway legal. It topped out at 68MPH and definitely wasn’t fast enough, but I was eager to get here and meet Pat. I didn’t care, and this is why my hustle and passion runs long. We then meet, i tell him about myself and what I do, and then he takes me to the post room. There’s about 8-10 iMac’s and they’re all being occupied. Different projects are getting edited, we got Noah doing some crazy graphic design. The shit was crazy, but I was extremely excited to be in such an intense creative environment like this. I never experienced it before. As the days and months went by, I was showing up maybe 1-2 times a week since I was working full time at BP. Any free time I had, I would be here at the Ridge house doing any type of work I could, just leveling up. My first big project with Ridge that I edited was ModSun’s ‘Uppers & Downers’ music video. This was a huge accomplishment for me. I even got to sit down with Mod, where he gave his creative input. He was very hands-on. There was a point where I started engaging in more shoots with Ridge, given that I was already actively filming a bunch of shit on my own. I eventually went from doing Post Production (editing) to a lot more videography work with the team. Late 2018-19 i left Brooklyn Projects because I felt it was time to do something new and grow my career in the production field. BP was the best fucking job because of how family-oriented it was. Dom Deluca (owner) is like a dad to me. He taught me so much about sales, running a store, customer interaction, and just overall growth. Without Dom, idk where I’d be. This guy is a huge part of my life, and I got his back for life. I still to this day go to BP and hang out, so when I say BP4L, I really do mean that shit. Whenever he needs a hand, I got him, and I’ve even done a handful of professional videos for his brand. In 2020, the global pandemic had put a pause on everything. I started to gain a little traction with my level up, then boom, the world shuts down. As I lost hope for a moment, 2020 ended up being a great year for me. I started Kanzi Ent, got my LLC, and invested in NEW camera gear. Since I was already in love with Blackmagic Cameras & they were far more affordable than an ARRI or RED, I spent about $7k on a complete kit. Cameras, lenses, a drone & tripod + more. Kanzi Entertainment (my entertainment company) is a divergent entertainment platform that started in Los Angeles, CA. We currently operate in both LA and Vegas. I started this business because I wanted to bring more value to the people around me, create more opportunities, and work with local artists / brands, and businesses. We specialize in Music Videos, Commercials, Documentaries, Photography and so much more. Hence this being an ‘Entertainment’ platform, there is no specific niche, and this was done deliberately. I am a man of talent, very diverse, and have many skills. So, I wanted to create a platform that showcases a wide range of content that can reach many demographics from around the world. Under Kanzi, I am not only an owner, but I work under my business as a Camera Operator & Camera Assistant. Having the long-term opportunity to work with Ridge Production & Blackwood Camera exposed me to heights I’d never thought I’d reach. I’ve worked with the biggest artists and companies in the world. Netflix, NASCAR, Wynn Las Vegas, Station Casinos, Kevin Hart, Lil Wayne, Future, UBISOFT Gaming, Jonas Brothers, U2, Ludacris, Usher & the list will go on forever. I am so grateful to have gotten this far in my career, and we’re still growing daily. Aside from working with the biggest acts, I also cater to smaller artists and businesses because I understand they may not have the same resources or budgets that these big clients have. Aside from my production and creative life, I’m a skateboarder, Pro BMX stunt rider, dirt bike stunt rider, and now I’m getting into e-bikes. Action sports are NO LESS important than my creative career. Engaging in these activities separates me from work. I get to decompress and think of nothing but getting out and having fun. It’s also a way to stay in shape. I’ve been skateboarding since the 8th grade, but my dad wasn’t too supportive of it. You know, some black parents grew up in the era where it was a predominantly white sport and basketball/ football was more of our culture. Understandable, but the times have changed. As I grew older, he appreciated it, but I’m sure he wanted me to play basketball or some shit in high school. I am not a fan of either basketball or football. It’s boring to me, but I respect the sport. I’m just different, i guess. But action sports is my shit. Anything with bikes, cars, or the snow I’m fuckin’ with. Some of my sponsors right now are Brooklyn Projects, Throne Cycles, GoPro, JT Racing, 2WheelGang and I’m working on getting more. These sponsors happened so organically; all I did was just get better and make content consistently. Since 2018 I’ve been making bikelife content, and now people know me from all across the world. It all came from having fun. Music is also part of my creativity. I’ve been making music since like 2012, but I definitely never took it seriously. It was always a fun outlet to express and have fun with. I made my first track with Eli back then, and it was just some fun, goofy shit that we did. Over the years, I definitely became a better lyricist and cleaned up my approach. Now, I’m taking it more seriously but keeping it fun. Serious as in my process, my rollouts, professional videos, and cover art. I’m keeping this flow so organic and creating as I go. Music has been the biggest part of my life since I could remember, though. I listen to music during any task. It’s so therapeutic for me and I’m sure y’all can agree. If you wanna check out anything I’ve done, I’m ‘Chakarra’ on all platforms; I got some heat on that MF! Make sure you check out my music videos as well. 

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I’d definitely say you need to have a purpose, drive, an open mind, and be willing to learn and adapt to your environment. But my specific skills that got me to where I am now are trying new things, networking, and studying your field daily. I’m in love with music videos. Hype Williams is the best music video director of all time to me. I’ve studied all of his work, from top to bottom. Cole Bennett is the next best thing since Hype Williams, hands down. So what I’m getting at is that I’ve studied their work over and over and over. I am an active student that continuously wants to learn, and I’m always soaking up game. The moral of the story is you need to be obsessed with your art and passions. You need to always be willing to try something new and take constructive criticism well. YouTube is your best fucking friend. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m more of a visual learner. So if there’s anything you need to learn, then shoot over to YouTube and watch every tutorial until you’re a master at your craft. Read books and talk to people who are in your field. Ask for advice; be willing to fail. Repetition will take you further than the next person who gives up easily. Ask questions and pay attention. It is also important to hang around like-minded individuals that can be honest with you. People who are on the same path as you that you can grow with. It’s good to have fun and turn up every now and then, but put more of your time into your work than fuckin’ around all day. You’ll 100% be more successful than the person who’s always at the club wasting productive time. 

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

DISCIPLINE. Discipline is very important as a man. It often beats motivation. I’m very motivated, i’ve worked for everything that i have now & i am very happy with my life but i am not satisfied. Discipline is what I am currently working on to better myself & situation. I am not perfect & i make the wrong decisions at times. But listening to podcasts, reading & having positive self talks helps keep me on track.

You also need to be honest with yourself. Ask yourself why you have these bad habits, are you happy with your life right now, how much do you want to make a m0nth. Asking yourself questions gives your brain an opportunity to think of new ways to level up. There may be times i don’t want to go to the gym, that is a lack of motivation. Discipline shuts all that shit down, you must do what you have to do even when you don’t want to do it.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Sam Snapped It
Mason Miller
Max Miller
Clare Rose
Jah Mario
PhilliHendrix
Grizzle Shotz

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