Chicano rapper and producer Mr. Criminal takes his name seriously. His tough narratives, told in a lightly gruff deadpan which occasionally breaks into a reflective lilt conveying both languorous ease and gangster fierce, focus on his coming of age in the Silver Lake section of L.A. Meanwhile, the MC has been in and out of trouble with the law, most notably a drug-and-weapon charge in Arizona. Born Robert Garcia in the '80s, Mr. Criminal earned his first break when, shortly out of juvenile detention, he met rapper Mr.