Hollywood Holt Interview: SXSW 2010

Hollywood Holt is known for his crazy, sometimes spastic but always fun live shows. As far as SXSW 2010 goes, this rapper should fit in perfectly with the rest of the craziness in Austin. Spinner.com recently caught up with Holt and his deeper, more philosophic side.

Describe your sound in your own words.

I would describe it as "Ultimate Phantasm." People say, "You are exactly correct, this is the best thing I've ever heard ever. You are correct."

What are some of your musical influences?

I used to listen to, like, Wu Tang and f---in' Onyx and s--- all day, but then,...I would always like recite their lyrics , but I never said 'let me write my own s---' and then one day, I saw Special Ed come on T.V. and I heard 'I Got It Made' and I said "Oh, that s--- is dope." Because he was just' flowin' and just...rad...it was awesome. I said "man, I want to do that, just flowin' and havin' fun" He wasn't trying to be hard, he wasn't trying to put up an image or something. Of course he was trying to be flashy and shit but, it was fresh.
What are some of the daily influences on your music?

My rhymes come from whatever I feel. Say some bulls--- happened to me and I feel like writing a song about it, I write it. Or like, "man, it's a really nice day" or if I just hear the beat - generally whatever the beat is. If the beat sounds a certain way, I'm gonna flow on the beat the way it sounds to me. If I hear a beat and it sounds dark, I'm gonna probably write some dark s---, like it just depends on how I feel that day. I never be frontin' in my rhymes. Ever. You can fact-check my raps.

Do you feel people relate to you better for that reason?

I carry myself the way I want, the way I act, because this is my life, this is what I want. I might not have...I'm about to have a lot of money because my music is taking off, but that's another thing. People like my music because it's genuine. People can feel me, people can understand because the s--- I rap, the average person can relate to. I'm not talking about popping shots and things like that. Even if I did pop shots, I wouldn't rap about that. No one raps to the people that have a regular-ass job at footlocker...nobody raps about s--- like that. It's always about some hard s---, some drunk s---, or some ballin' s---, you know? Or some dead homies, or some girl problem but nobody raps about the dude that gotta get on the bus but he still got an apartment. So people like my s--- because I spit honest truth without having to play the whole market. Thanks to my fans, they're appreciative of that, and I'm gonna be able to live a really good life because I rap about what people want to hear.

Where did your name come from?

My father always said "If you're proud of something, put your name on it," and I was church so I was always gonna have Holt in my rap name. But also where I'm from Hollywood was always like super-ballin', flashy, like, gold chains, Havana Joes, brothas with nice-ass cars and rims, or like that crazy-ass that like would freak out at the party and take his shirt off and like shoot the place up. Those are both kinda aspects of me and I thought it fit well. Plus, it sounds cool as hell. And it hit me when I was listening to Outcast and there's a part that says..."and where else the f--- would Hollywood go" and I said "Bing!"

What's your biggest vice?

Well I don't do any drugs. I drink, but it's only socially. Like if there was no liquor ever again I wouldn't be bummed out. I like to do it, but I only like to do it with my girl so I guess sex isn't vice. Tattoos? Is that a vice? It would be tattoos.

You have a lot of them. What's your favorite?

I don't really have one. My favorite tattoo of right now is this little...tattoo on my elbow. Cause I just got it. My favorite tattoos are usually the ones I just get.

What's the craziest thing you've ever experienced on tour?

We run a pretty tight ship when it comes to our s---. It's craziness but its controlled craziness. I remember me and Mano got flown to Japan to work on some s---, and we were in this club kickin' it, and this dude just got totally butt-naked on the dance floor and was just jumping around. We were like. 'Holy S---!" Security came, got him and he put his clothes on, and they didn't even kick him out! If that was in America they would have stomped his naked ass out!

If you could trade lives with any celebrity for one day, who would it be?

It would be...Amy Winehouse.

Why Amy Winehouse?

Because, for that one day I would fix her. I would fix her and make her realize that life is a lot more awesome when you're not f---ed up on drugs and you can do whatever you want. And I would try to make her realize that like...I never understood famous people who are addicted to drugs. Like to me, people that do f---ed up drugs are the ones that need to cloud their mentality from their life. Like, they get high so they can forget about all the f---ed up problems that they have. If you're a famous artist and your job is to make music, what do you need to do drugs for G? Why would I spend money on crack when I could buy a new Cadillac almost every day, you know? Its like, oh, I'm having a bad day. I'll fly to Japan! I want to show her how to enjoy the life she has.


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