As one should have noticed, there are not that many people – famous or infamous – who embody our current ideal of body and brains. People with body or brains are much, much easier to find. In fact you find them almost everywhere, although they are probably not as common as people without both brains and body. The American rapper Derek Barbosa (born in 1974), more known as Chino Xl, is however an exception.

It is quite simple to distinguish that he belongs to this particular category – in his videos, especially from the early 00s onwards, one experiences a rather heavily-muscled guy that spits demanding rhymes in an often intellectual and sharp manner, something which only a very limited number of MCs can manage to do at equal or near-equal level.

If one reads a little bit about him, one realizes that he is in fact a confirmed member of Mensa. Thus a really smart guy, not just a bit above average. He does not seem to have any college or university degrees, though, and appears to be more of an autodidactic.

When it comes to his physique, it seems quite far from shredded, at least in general, but Chino Xl does not compete in bodybuilding or Men’s physique as far as I know, hence does not need to be cut and jacked, and his overall muscularity – at least on the upper body – is nevertheless rather impressive.

Needless to say, it is easy to find songs and albums with Chino Xl. Riconstruction (2012) is his latest full length album.