Chicano rapper and producer
Mr. Criminal takes his name seriously. His tough narratives, told in a lightly gruff deadpan which occasionally breaks into a reflective lilt conveying both languorous ease and gangster fierce, focus on his coming of age in the Silver Lake section of L.A. Meanwhile, the MC has been in and out of trouble with the law, most notably a drug-and-weapon charge in Arizona. Born Robert Garcia in the '80s,
Mr. Criminal earned his first break when, shortly out of juvenile detention, he met rapper
Mr. Capone-E, who paved the way for the former's 2001 debut
Criminal Mentality, released on
Capone-E's Thump Records. Around that time,
Mr. Criminal also began to impress as a diversely talented producer manning the boards for rappers spanning a wide swath of the hip-hop spectrum: from
Lil' Flip to
Bizzy Bone to
MC Eiht.
Mr. Criminal was prolific throughout the '00s, but was sidetracked somewhat in 2008 when state troopers found illegal firearms and marijuana in a car Garcia was driving through Arizona, a state known for its strict penalties for such crimes. ~ Jason Thurston, All Music Guide