![]() ![]() So I started getting called into writers rooms for brainstorming. They saw what I was writing for that and on Twitter and just jokes in my own life, and both those dudes pushed me to take it further. I worked for Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse a little bit, based on them liking what we were doing in the gallery. Damon and a comedian named Paul Scheer who everyone knows, I had worked with both of them on some Lost marketing stuff. Twitter was created around that time, so I was writing jokes on Twitter. How did that lead to the next phase of your career? So I sat back and tried to figure out, without being too hard on myself, what it is that I wanted to do next.Īfter the record deal ended, you opened up an art gallery. I looked at other people I had come up with that continued to rap past their deal or past their buzz, and I just couldn’t see myself doing that. How did you get started writing comic raps for celebrities? That’s kind of a strange niche.Īfter the Interscope deal fell through, I had one of those moments-it’s been chronicled by me and guys like J-Zone-where you’re like, I don’t know if I can continue to be a professional rapper just because I financially have to live. I know a bit about your rap background from your book, but I’m not quite sure how you got from there to here. Complex talked to Karp to find out how he got from battling anonymous radio listeners to penning insults for the biggest celebrities in entertainment. The battles are funny, pointed, and well-written and delivered, with an obvious love for the art of battle rap. Jason Derulo, Shawn Mendes battling line-for-line with Odell Beckham Jr, and the memorable, Black Sheep-interpolating matchup of Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Battles over the show’s two seasons have included Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry going up against David Arquette, Liam Payne vs. He’s the executive producer and one of the writers for Drop the Mic, the TBS show (spun off of a popular segment on The Late Late Show With James Corden) where celebrities battle each other on the mic. ![]() ![]() The newest chapter in Karp’s life brings him full circle, back to battle rap. He looked back on his rap life in the 2016 memoir Kanye West Owes Me $300: And Other True Stories from a White Rapper Who Almost Made It Big. Hot Karl recorded an album with guest spots from Fabolous, Redman, Mya, will.i.am, and the dude from Sugar Ray (hey, it was 2000). He also got a beat from a then-unknown producer he'd befriended named Kanye West.īut as you might remember, Interscope had another popular white rapper at the time, so the Hot Karl album was shelved, and Jensen Karp moved on to other pursuits. After a record-smashing 45 consecutive wins, Karp walked away and signed a million-dollar record deal with Interscope. He called in to the station to battle another listener on the other end of the phone. radio institution, the Roll Call, Karp jumped at the chance-using a name he swears he made up on the spot, Hot Karl. All told, he was about as far from that era’s idea of a popular rapper as you could get.īut he loved battle rapping, so when the opportunity came that year to battle on an L.A. He was white (back when white rappers were still a rarity), took as much influence from Don Rickles one-liners as from Ice Cube’s street tales, and hailed not from Compton or Queensbridge, but instead from an L.A. ![]() Back in 1999, Jensen Karp was a rap-obsessed 19-year-old USC student who had no thought of a music career. ![]()
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