Chris Barz (stylized as "x||z", pronounced X Z ) is an American musician.Chris began his love for music on a piano at the age of 3. At the age of 11 he developed a passion for rapping, and freestyle cyphers which created a love for bars, rhyming and clever wordplay. Chris started recording songs on a boombox tape recorder. At the age of 12 he was introduced to an MPC2000 XL and started producing beats and writing songs in middle school.