City of Win is a series curated by Isiah “ThoughtPoet” Veney and written by Alejandro Hernandez that uses prose and photography to create portraits of Chicago musicians and cultural innovators working to create positive change in their communities.
Ten years ago, Chicago artist Calez was part of a changing of the guard in Chicago music. The south-suburban rapper made a name for himself locally during the peak of the blog era: as a member of the BRKF$T Club collective (part of a larger crew called 2008ighties), he collaborated with many future Chicago staples, including Chance the Rapper and Mick Jenkins. Since 2019, though, he’s reinvented himself as more than a musician.
Calez has delved into spirituality and the esoteric ways of the universe, sharing his findings on social media, and in the process he’s become a guide for others as “Ceito Da Spirit Coach.” Calez shares the name “Ceito” with an organization he’s founded called Ceito World, which describes itself on its website as “geared towards the development & reimagination of society” by forming community networks locally and beyond.
“Spirituality has always been a thing I’ve been attached to, growing up Christian, so it was always in my music,” says Calez. “I always was interested in astrology, but I never thought I would be into it the way I am now. I’ve noticed that it deals with the mind a lot more, and a lot of times the things we pay attention to on a day-to-day basis have a lot to do with these signs.”
For Calez, studying astrology is about observing your own behavior during specific times of the year. He points out that many people tend to start new creative projects during Leo season, from July 22 to August 23 during the peak of summer. Creative expression is one of the core elements of the Leo sign, he says, and people born during this time tend to lean more into their creativity as well.
“How I see it helping the community is based upon people being able to know their own energies, their own mental forms,” Calez says. “And once you know these things, you can better regulate your temperament.”
Many people write off astrology as a pseudoscience, but Calez sees it as a tool for self-understanding. As a spiritual coach, he wants to help community members become conscious of cycles of change in their own mentalities, whether they come from the changing of the seasons or not. This can help them regain control of their lives by learning how to best cooperate with the ebbs and flows of the universe.
The brand-new Calez project Ceito II: Age of Aquarius is inspired directly by his astrological journey. It references the Age of Aquarius, a 2,160-year period that’s either the Earth’s current or forthcoming astrological age, depending on how it’s calculated. This era, astrologers say, is characterized by growth and advancement in society and technology.
Guests on Ceito II include Marquis Hill and Doelow da Pilotman.
Music has always had mystical aspects for Calez. He discovered music making at a young age, after spending time in a homeless shelter with his family. Even as a child who didn’t fully understand his environment, he knew it wasn’t necessarily a good one. His creativity couldn’t help him escape his reality, but it let him reimagine it as something more beautiful and vibrant. He’s been able to inspire his younger brothers to tap into their creative selves and discover what they can achieve through art.
“Music for me has always been my own magic and my own therapy,” Calez says. “When I first made music, it allowed me to create a character and embody that character, which essentially created my reality. It’s like my spiritual guide, it truly is. I think we all have that—I think we all have a higher self-energy, and we can all channel that into things that we do, whatever artistic form you’re in, and essentially let that be your guidance system.”
Photos by ThoughtPoet of Unsocial Aesthetics (UAES), a digital creative studio and resource collective designed to elevate community-driven storytelling and social activism in Chicago and beyond
Related
Calez brushes off rejection on his new mixtape, Ceito
The south-suburban MC and 2008ighties crew leader returns with his first mixtape in two years.
