Artist of the week: Hot Karl

Artist of the week: Hot Karl
"In My World - Hot Karl" play hifi : download
The first time I heard Hot Karl’s The Great Escape I was hooked. The album's opening song, “Let’s Talk,” which features Karl and 3rd Bass great MC Serch having an argument in rhyme over the art of Hip-Hop vs. potential commercial success, was on repeat before I could even get to the rest of the CD. Born and raised in Calabasas, CA, Karl now lives in LA and in addition to his music he co-owns an art gallery and has a book about the toys of the 80’s coming out in 2007 on Abrams called “Products of the 80's.” He’s recorded with DJ Clue, Fabolous, The Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West, 9th Wonder, Redman, Sugar Ray, Mya, DJ Lethal, MC Serch and She Wants Revenge and performed live on bills with Snoop Dogg, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Kool Moe Dee, ToTo and Ray Parker Jr. (not a joke), Sugar Ray, Jurassic 5, Living Legends, Phife Dawg and Gerardo (again, not a joke). Karl, whose real name is Jensen-Gerard Karp, became Hot Karl as a youth when Ice-T heard about him destroying (also referred to as “shitting on”) MCs at a show. This would mark the start of a wild journey for Hot Karl. “I was the all-time LA Radio Roll Call champion turned Interscope golden boy turned Interscope whipping boy turned Indy rapper.” Recently Karl sat down with me to talk about that journey, his thoughts on Hip-Hop in the suburbs, and how pro-wrestler Viscera once made his day. Read More...