Outside of the Hope’s Food Store, Chester Stone waits excitedly for the next actors in his show. All day long, he interviews and jokes with people coming in and out of the shop and posts it to his Instagram account, ChesterStone745. What started out as a fun hobby two years ago has made Stone a flourishing Instagram celebrity, with his fame growing by the day.
He chose this spot near the corner of 22nd Street and E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in East Tampa because the owner is friendly to him hosting his show there. Fans travel from other cities and states to visit Chester, bring him cat food, and shout his slogan, “Godmuthafuckin’ damn!” In many of his videos he acts surprised and excited, shouting “Oh my god!,” if a fly car pulls up, a particularly attractive lady passes him, or if someone with extra clean sneakers walks by.
When Creative Loafing Tampa Bay catches up with him, Chester is outside the store on an intensely bright summer day, with little shelter from the heat. He’s thinking about his next video while the kittens he takes care of are nibbling on some food by his chair next to the front doors of the store. A few feet away, gas pumps are spray painted with “BLM” (Black Lives Matter), but they don’t carry any fuel.
“This ain’t the promised land,” he tells CL in his deep and powerful voice, “But it’s where I’m supposed to be, I fit in where I get in.”
Stone’s account has over 111,000 followers from all over the world, and his following started taking off about a year ago. It grows by the day all without the use of the normal hashtags influencers deploy to gain followers and pull eyeballs. He loves all of his supporters and thanks them, but the 57-year-old from humble origins says it’s not about the fame. For him, it’s just about creating things that people can enjoy.
Stone recalls his childhood and his place of birth in Poughkeepsie, New York. He says he lived there with his father, who immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica, and his mother, who was born and raised in North Carolina. When he was nine years old, his parents separated, and he traveled to Jamaica with his father, where he got in touch with his roots, before returning to the United States. Stone describes himself as a nomad, and says he lays his head wherever he can. He’s worked a number of jobs, most recently at a grocery store in Clearwater.
Now people are buying shirts from his website where he also collects BitCoin and Ethereum, but Stone says he hardly touches that money. When asked about any family in the area, he goes silent, and says that’s private. He calls the streets home.
“Foxes have holes, birds have nests,” Stone says, “But I have no regular place to rest my head.”
His Jamaican roots come through in his music. For decades he’s performed under the name “Super D”, creating a beautiful blend of reggae and hip-hop. He’s collaborated with a number of well known Tampa artists, including local hip-hop hero Rahim Samad.
“Let me tell you something,” Stone says with a wide grin across his face, holding out a burned CD, “If you don’t listen to this Super D and The Bad Boys CD, I’m gonna kick your ass!”
Stone laughs after that statement and says “God Bless You” out of kindness, but he’s spiritual in a unique way. His Instagram bio says, “I’m not religious, I’m conscious.” He believes that God is in every living creature, not a jealous or vengeful God who judges us from on high. His conscious spiritualism aims to, “shed light on darkness”.
Chester’s politics are rooted in liberation, but with some caveats. He calls Malcolm X a “very positive person, dedicated to what he believed in”, and says, “If you’re not positive, then fuck you!” While he admires Malcolm, he at the same time has an open dialogue with the police who come to the store, and says they are there to help the community. Still, often times he’ll shout, “Don’t strip search me officer!” and other such playful, yet very real comments towards the cops.
In mid-June, Stone started posting videos of “Chester Stone 4 President” signs, with his commentary in the background. The political party he’s chosen to run with? You guessed it, the “Godmuthafuckin’ damn! Party”. His comedic imagination shines in a video of painted penguins on the side of an ice machine near Hope’s Food Store, saying (in Stone’s voice), “Fuck the United States, we want you to run for president of the North Pole!”
While his larger than life personality has taken the internet by storm, Stone wants people to remember that he’s like anyone else who is working to survive in this hectic world.
“I’m really a private person in many ways, I’m not really a celebrity like y'all think I am,” Stone says, his mood turning somber, “I’m really struggling and going through difficulties too. I’m not really impressed by certain things, but I have to please the people who like and want to be around me, you know?”
Stone says that if things were to take off for him, he’s mainly interested in leaving what he makes for future generations.
“If I made $500 million, well, I’d leave $400 million to the kids,” he laughs, “I’d fuck up a 100 million dollars up though!”
He loves that he has a large following, and that he can create things for them to enjoy and brighten their days. But as his notoriety and following skyrocket, he keeps his feet planted firmly on the ground.
“I’m motivated by what’s within me,” Stone says, “Where’s God at? Within you!”
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