Hollywood Holt
By Ferrari Sheppard
Confident, charismatic, fun and energetic are words to describe Hollywood Holt—the Chicago-based MC, breakdancer, DJ and hype man—but rarely do we get to see the other side of the man who has solidified himself at the apex of a group of up-and-comers. As one half of the duo featured in the Hollywood Moon Tour in early 2009, Holt toured with Kid Cudi, and his songs have been featured on video games such as Fight Night Round 4, and most recently the television series Gossip Girl. Aside from performing and touring, you can find Holt doing what most people who’ve had an opportunity to see him live would never
believe—being introverted and thoughtful.
I caught up with Hollywood for an interview, and this is what was said:
StopBeingFamous: Before you step on stage, what are you thinking? Are you ever nervous?
Hollywood Holt: I’m never really nervous. Depending on the show—if I'm performing at the House of Blues, I’m usually thinking, “Man I’m about to kill this shit!” I can’t wait to get on stage. Even when I watch other people perform, I want to get on stage and crash their shows. It depends on the crowd.
SBF: What’s your favorite venue to perform in?
HH: Aw! The Mezzanine in San Francisco. The sound is great. The lighting is great. The length from the crowd to the stage is perfect. Everything about the Mezzanine is great—even the bathrooms. And I love performing at the Metro in Chicago.
SBF: You and your producer, Million Dollar Mano, are known for being an inseparable pair. When did the dream of becoming rock stars enter your minds?
HH: [Laughing] Man. We saw MTV. I always, always wanted to be an entertainer. I would look at magazines and read about other mothafuckas—and I’d think to myself, “Right here is the protocol for a star.” I’d see pictures of stars and they’d look tall, but they were actually short, I noticed details—super-small, minuscule things I would notice... and think, “Oh, I could do that! I can be famous.”
SBF: How did your mother and father react to you wanting to become an MC?
HH: It was never a situation like [very serious voice], “Mom, dad. I’m going to be a rapper.”
SBF: [Laughing]
HH: [Serious voice] “That’s my profession. I’m going to be a rapper.”
SBF: [Laughing]
HH: I never said anything about it to them. I made a couple songs, and my mom was like, Yeah, okay. I didn’t used to curse in my raps because I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness. Witnesses are very modest and moral. But my parents were never super-crazy Jesus freaks. They taught me to be an upstanding individual. They taught me everything any good parent would teach their children—like don’t curse, tattoos are bad, don’t lose your virginity until you’re married. The difference is Jehovah’s Witnesses take it very seriously.
SBF: Did you rebel?
HH: There was never any rebellion. I love my parents, so I never felt the need to rebel against them. My thing was, I would do things I wanted to do, no matter what. I would hide it, of course, like sneaking out and disappearing—they’d ask me where I was, and I’d lie. I wanted to do my own thing—I just didn’t want to hurt their feelings. I was never rebellious to be rebellious. My mentality was, if it’s so bad, why don’t I feel bad? My dad’s only concern was that I was going to be successful in what I wanted to do. He just didn’t want me to be
a bum.
SBF: You and Mano recently attended a well-documented pool party at Diddy’s house? It looked really fun. Are there any moments that stick out?
HH: Everyone has preconceived notions about what a rap career is like—like the minute I’m signed, I have a million dollars, I have sex with a million girls, and travel all over the world, get AIDS and die. That’s the general consensus of most people. They don’t understand...
like right now, Mano and I are sitting in a hotel room watching TV, and that’s what we’ll do until our show in Denver tomorrow. This job is super-fun, it has a lot of benefits as far as fun things to do. When we did the party for Diddy, it was rad. We hung out for the Winter Music Conference. After Winter Music Conference, we went home for two weeks and did absolutely nothing, I was at the crib, chillin’. Then I’ll get a call from the homey saying, I’m going to fly you out to New York for this party, you wanna go? I’ll say yeah, and it’s
like, bet! It’s not like a million girls are waiting for me outside of my show. No one says to me, “Hey, you want a million dollars? You’re a famous rapper.” Nah.
SBF: A few weeks ago at a show in Chicago, you and I had an interesting discussion about street gangs. Your point was that gang members in general get a bad rap. Can you elaborate?
HH: I’m in no position to speak on any of this, but it’s my personal opinion that it’s not the organization that is bad, it’s individual members. Mind you, like I said, this is my personal opinion. Just because you join a gang doesn’t mean that you have to become a murderer. The majority of gangs are a direct result of our black leaders being murdered. In the 50’s and 60’s, when there were all of the uprisings because of the way black people were being treated in America, street gangs became a form of unity. This is what I don’t understand—J. Edgar Hoover destroyed the Black Panther movement, saying it was the biggest threat to American history. What was the goal of the Black Panther movement? Was it to destroy the country and divide races? No. It was to build black unity. It was an elite task force to help black people. In the 50’s and 60’s, it wasn’t just the Black Panthers fighting for rights, it was black people in general. All of this positivity, unity and forward movement in the black community, and what happened? Crack. The FBI put crack in the black community to tear it apart.
Gangs are a direct result of the assassination of black leaders, and crack. In the 70’s and 80’s, no one was leading black people. Everything the Black Panther Party did was under the United States Constitution; it was righteous, but they were killed or put in prison.
What do you think all of the young black people who were walking around without any leaders would do next? Form street gangs. The government wanted to make it where we couldn’t leave the six-block radius of our neighborhood. Well, guess what, if you come in those six blocks, we’re going to shoot you in your fuckin’ face. Gangs established their own security force to protect themselves against brutal insurgents—the police. It’s no different than the United States Army and Marines Corps. Mind you, no organization is perfect, and there are a bunch chemically-imbalanced mothafuckas in the world. I know mothafuckas who joined the Army just to kill mothafuckas—it’s no different with gangs.
SBF: The majority of your music is geared towards dancing and having fun. Have you ever wanted to incorporate these more serious issues into your music?
HH: When I write a song, I write about whatever I’m feeling that day, or whatever comes to my mind. I have a lot of issues that I would like to address, but I think it would be better to be known as an artist who makes music he enjoys. There are already too many serious artists. The average Hip-Hop listener knows that music is geared towards that
hard shit—it’s either the hard shit, or niggas cryin’ about how shit ain’t real no more. What I’m trying to do is make me music that I like to make. I want to bring the fun back into rap music. Imagine if Gucci Main got on 106 & Park, and started kicking some serious shit—it would shock the world. Everybody would listen.
SBF: What is your ultimate goal in the music business?
HH: If I can support a family off of this, I’ll be satisfied. My goal is to be able to live my life without concern about money. The day I don’t have to check my account to see if I can buy something, I’ll be straight.
SBF: What are your ideas on the decline in record sales due to the Internet and downloading? Is your goal to sell a million albums?
HH: If I didn’t sell one record, but I’m on the cover of every magazine, and I sell out every show, and I’m the most talked about mothafucka, money is going to come.
SBF: What’s on your iPod?
HH: Nigga, my iPod stays full.
SBF: At the end of the day, what is it that you feel most people don’t know about you, but you wish they did?
HH: [Laughing] That’s an interesting question. What a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’m a regular man… I wouldn’t say a regular man, but I’m not a gimmick. I’m speaking in light terms. People will see me in an interview or a video, partying—but guess
what, I’m at a party, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing. People have an assumption that if they hang out with me, it’s going to be nonstop me being crazy and crowd surfing, I might want to read a book. Mind you, I am very charismatic and loud, but if you come to my house, guess what I’m going to be doing—chillin’, listening to music. If I’m at an eloquent dinner, I’m going to be an eloquent man. People assume I’m going to be breakdancing in my bed before I go to sleep. Not true. End of Interview
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