Brooklyn born Dominican-American artist, Charles “Mean Joe Scheme” Chaio (CHAI-Oh), is a rapper who in the tradition of many New York City youths, learned to perfect his craft in the local cyphers but also by closely studying the greats of the day. Coming up in rap’s “Jiggy” era, Scheme was influenced by a lot of the greatest’s second albums, usually when your favorites have gotten some money. Think, sharper lyricism but with the clarity of having eaten something after missing breakfast. Mean Joe is inspired by rap that is simple in nature but big on feeling. As a child of New York and Brooklyn, his biggest muse was and still is Nas’s 1994 Opus “Illmatic” but not because of the apparent greatness of it, but because HE WAS 19 WHEN HE MADE IT. Being so self-aware at such a young age deeply resonated with Joe and would influence the clarity of his messages for years to come. In 2015, he met Cincinnati’s own Optiks (credits include Jon Connor, Talib Kweli, Blitz the Ambassador, Heltah Skeltah) and together they crafted the bulk of the critically acclaimed album, “You Gotta Watch” which received high praise from The Source and Mass Appeal. Veteran Hip-Hop author/writer/contributor Kathy Iandoli called the debut “genuinely impressive” after it’s release in 2016. For the entirety of 2017, Joe and Optiks focused in and collaborated once more to go off in a completely new direction with their joint effort “BEAMS”, which will be released this year.