Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, Chris Siders is familiar with the struggles of life. But as a poet and rapper, Siders found his challenges to be more internal than the common themes of poverty or gangs.
His outlet was spoken word poetry while attending CSU Monterey Bay, which led to success in the music world. Siders is now on an international tour for the release of his fourth independent studio album, When The Quiet Comes, with a stop in Monterey, after shows in Switzerland and the U.S.
“Monterey’s just always been home,” Siders says.
He attended CSUMB from 2011 to 2016. During that time, he became an advocate for sexual assault survivors while working in the Title IX office.
Siders is also a rape survivor. His latest album’s message is for those who have endured sexual assault.
“What I want to communicate to folks is it’s OK to feel angry,” Siders says. “We’ve put a negative connotation on anger, when anger is just a signal of how much you love yourself.”
When the Quiet Comes begins softly. Siders says the quietness he experienced during his first visit to Switzerland in 2023 was one of the first times he learned to coexist with the death around him. He lost his father that year, his grandparents in 2021 and his brother shortly before that.
“I was horrible at feeling,” he admits. “I had nothing to do but actually think.”
The contrast of staying at quarters arranged by his promoter—surrounded by Swiss mountains, trees and fresh air—encouraged him to return to Los Angeles to face down an abusive relationship and continue his artistry with more confidence. Much of the rage he needed to release is imbued in the rest of his album.
Siders is finally seeing the fruition of his rap career after a rocky beginning in 2018. He found it difficult to believe in himself through the musical medium then, but that changed within the raw vulnerability it demands. While working at the Title IX office at CSUMB, he would often hear about the desire for revenge against perpetrators of sexual assault.
“This album takes on this story where we actually get revenge,” Siders says. “How do you live with that?”
Siders says there’s no right or wrong answer to that question.