You might not know it to look at him, but up-and-coming rapper Young Hootie has seen a lot. Born on the West Side of Compton to a family hit hard by the crack cocaine epidemic that swept the Black community in the mid-eighties, Hootie speaks with keen insight and powerful authority about things that half of the rappers in today?s appearance-oriented game can only pretend that they know.
Hootie, however, is a real brother whether he?s in front of the mic or on the block. As he says, ?I came up on the block, listening to Tupac, with hood niggas as role models. That?s what I knew, so that?s what I lived. You can?t really tell, but I?m that nigga who would knock somebody?s head off.?
Despite the pressures of ghetto life, however, Hootie, who first saw the inside of a cell at age 14 for gun charges, never let his game fall in the streets or in the classroom. Surrounded by gang violence and himself being involved with the Bloods since his middle school days, Young Hootie had colleges knocking at his door before he eventually accepted an invitation to study Business at the most prestigious historically Black university in the nation, Morehouse.
While Hootie may be able to boast that he draws his lyrical material from a lifetime of harsh reality and lessons learned in the streets, there is one almost universal quality that he doesn?t share with about 90% of rappers out there; that is, failure.?The first 16 bars I ever spit,? he reveals, ?people loved it.? Only three years ago, at the age of 17, Hootie went over to a friend?s home studio to lay down some verses. Over the next few days, the burned copy of the impromptu performance had found its way into nearly every CD player at school. ?I was an instant success?I heard people that week singing my lyrics,? he laughs. ?I knew from that point that I really had something. From then on, it was me at the homie?s house, recording. I?d take my SAT study books over there, study, and then rap.?
After this initial taste of success, Hootie couldn?t be stopped. While shopping his material around on his own, he soon attracted the attention of the infamous DJ Warrior, who put him into contact with Larceny Entertainment CEO T.K. The company head was so impressed with the young artist?s lucid, honest flow that he immediately put Hootie on the top of the Larceny artist roster. Not willing to be satisfied with any measure of success thus far, however, Young Hootie also owns his own label, overseeing two artists himself.
Though he has yet to release his solo debut album, Hootie recently made a name for himself in the streets with appearances on tracks with big name artists such as The Relatives, as well as several highly regarded mixtapes including Pro Club Vol. 1 and 2. He is also featured on releases by DJ S-1 and Philadelphia?s No Phrillz. Young Hootie, who is regarded by many as the leader of the New West Coast sound, has already made big strides thus far in the industry and is showing no signs of slowing down.