Ty Reads "Kanye West Owes Me 300 Dollars: And Other True Stories From a White Rapper That Almost Made It Big"
/
I just recently finished the book, "Kanye West Owes Me 300 Dollars...And Other True Stories From A White Rapper That Almost Made It Big" by Jensen Karp, and this book was fantastic.
I had heard about this book on one of Karp's many podcast appearances, plugging the book a few months back. I was looking for a new book to read, something light, but also nonfiction, and this was a great choice for me. First off, I enjoy stories about the entertainment industry. I think that that lifestyle is cool, but can also be hideous. "Kanye West Owes Me 300 Dollars" has plenty of both kinds of these stories. I am also roughly the same age as Karp, so there were a lot of things that he talked about that I could relate to. He came up in the late 90's and early 2000's, during my high school days, so a lot of the musicians and people in the music business he talked about, I knew all of them. He also talks about how you can have it all one day, but the next, it could be gone. I find these stories enthralling too. He also talked about his many personal problems and hardships he had to deal with, again, very relatable for me.
For those of you that don't know who Jensen Karp is, or was, he is now a writer, comedian, and owner of an art gallery in Los Angeles. He has written for many shows and websites and magazines, he has his own podcast, "Get Up On This!" on the Earwolf Network, and he is a stand-up. Back in the day though, he was a rapper that went by the pseudonym of Hot Karl. Well, he first got his start in a R&B/rap duo with his friend Rickye, as a pre teen. They performed at local bar mitzvahs, clubs and talent shows. They even opened for some big name acts as young kids, but they got screwed by their first manager, as always seems to be the case, and Rickye walked away from music, and Karp focused on school.
Karp could not shake his love for rap music. He grew into a DJ for local house parties all over LA. He would also battle rap people all the time. For those that do not know what battle rapping is, it consists of two emcees trading jabs over one beat, and it is all from your immediate thoughts. No one writes, it is all freestyle. Well, Karp was very, very good at this. He did it al the way through high school, and continued when he went to college at USC. He was so good, he called into a radio show one day on his way to work that had an on air freestyling competition called "Roll Call", and won his first battle. Then, he won the next day, the next day, the next day, it turned into a 6 month winning streak. He could not be stopped. They even brought him into the studio, something they never did, and the guys running "Roll Call" where shocked at his appearance. He is a nerdy looking white dude, he wore ripped jeans and rock band t shirts and had black wire-rimmed glasses. Still, after seeing him in person, they kept him on, and he dominated everyone that came his way.
He retired from "Roll Call" after his 6 plus month run, and he thought it would end there. But, big names in the music industry caught on to what he was doing, and thus, Hot Karl became a hot commodity. He took meetings with some of the biggest names in the industry. He met his idols. He met up and coming people that are now mega stars. It was incredible to read these stories. The time he met Missy Elliot on the street and was forced to free style for her was uncomfortable and hilarious. His meeting with Mack 10, who literally opened a briefcase full of money for him, was awesome. It was so interesting to hear about all that goes into picking a label and starting to record an album.
Karp eventually signed with Jimmy Iovine and Interscope Records. While on the label, again, the people he meets and the stories he tells are fascinating. He gets into fake fights with Pink and Tyrese. He met Bubba Sparxxx right before he blew up with his song "Ugly". He has phone conversations with the RZA. He gets to work with a young, and hungry, Kanye West. He recorded songs with Mark McGrath, who got him super wasted afterward, and Mya. He was a hype man for Gerardo, of "Rico Suave" fame. He is told constantly that money is no object, and he is one of their top priorities.
But, as a lot of people in the music business run into, he was signed right after Interscope signed Eminem. We all know who Eminem is, but not many people know of Hot Karl. We come to learn later that Eminem may, or may not have, but I'm pretty sure he did, tell Jimmy Iovine and Interscope that he did not want any other white emcees to be as big a priority that he was, and they obliged. From there, his life spirals downward. His trip to Jamaica is frightening, and scared me to my core. I share a lot of the same mental stuff that Karp has, so it was easy to relate to what he was going through.
The story ends happily, but the journey to get there is, at times, scary, funny, bizarre, lavish, corny and stressful. I loved this book and I cannot recommend it enough. Check it out, I think you will like it.
ed note: we originally posted the wrong title for the book. It has been corrected.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is the current king of the rap battle in west St. Louis County. Challenge Ty by following him on instagram and twitter.
SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.