Maurice Leoni-Osion, aka Chalkoal, is a songwriter, lyricist, and music producer. His work challenges conventions influenced by Hip-Hop, Soul, Jazz, and Experimental soundscapes. Originaly, arriving on the music scene in 2009 as a founding member of PhotoSynthesizers, a Richmond-based collective known for their fusion of live instrumentation, conscious lyricism, analog textures, and synthesizers, Maurice helped architect a sonic blueprint that carved space for narrative-driven music in the underground and indie scenes allowing him to grace stages with acts like Big Feedia, Snoop Dogg, Dela Soul, Shabazz Palaces, and many others, laying the groundwork for his evolution into a solo artist, where he reimagined his love with beat-making, and songwritiing. Layering dusty samples and field recordings into stereophonic collages that feel both ancient and futuristic, along with distinct rhyme patterns that are often dense with multisyllabic phrasing, shifting cadences, and interlocking rhyme schemes, his music forms a lattice through which stories unfold with cinematic detail.

CHALKOAL