Trust Your Child

With my recent interview on Howard Stern, and all the revisiting of my Hot Karl past, I went on a mission to find old tapes of me competing on the actual Roll Call back in 2000. First off, I had to buy a cassette player, because my mom used to sit a home and tape them while I was live on the radio (like EVERY rapper does, right?). I actually bought something from Radio Shack, if you can believe that. If you’ve ever wondered, Radio Shacks aren’t just fronts for meth, they sell cassette players and they are fucking $40 still. 

Secondly, I didn’t find a lot of my tapes. I think my mom might have some hidden in storage, but I did find one of my favorite wins, widely regarded as the “All-Time Championships.” I was already a champ for three weeks straight at this point, and the Baka Boyz were doing a live remote at an El Torito restaurant on Cinco De Mayo. They decided they wanted to keep the contest up that day (usually they would’ve postponed it), which ended up in quite the drive, and they wanted the top ten winners, with the most wins under their belt, to all compete in one contest.

There were a few hundred people at this Mexican joint to see the whole thing live, which was so crazy to me as I arrived to the venue with my manager and a friend, Evan Bogart. Since I was confined to the radio up to this point, this was the first time listeners saw me live (which I think was a bit shocking for everyone). I remember one kid yelling, “Is Hot Karl John Cusack?”

Here’s my part from that day’s Roll Call, as I was the last to rhyme out of the group as current champ. So imagine that 9 rappers went before me, doing the same thing I did (just different lyrics). Most came with rhymes directed directly at me, since taking me out would’ve been a good way to get some attention at that time. There was a bounty on my head for sure.

The whole place erupted in a way I had never heard before after I rapped. I remember the intensity of the crowd’s screaming at my shockingly mean 4 bars, mostly because I never got that genuine of a response again - in any field I’ve worked in. It was special and so new.

I was on my game that whole year. I couldn’t be beaten and I knew it. Even during the commercial break this Cinco De Mayo, they made me do full verses, battling other rappers, and it came so easy to me to just destroy people. No other rapper even wanted to go at me. That weirdly simple talent didn’t stick around for a long time, but I can even hear the hunger in my voice in this Roll Call. I am heated. Almost asking ANYONE to try and take me out. Hot Karl may have started as a joke, but by this time I was determined to get that record deal, which I would sign about 4 months after this win. 

Like I’ve said before on this blog, revisiting this whole time in my life is a new thing to me, but it feels good now. And just hearing the passion in my voice from this Roll Call, when it was still just a hobby, and not a job, really makes me happy. And the audiences’ reaction of pure screaming insanity (which is like Christian Laettner just hit the winning shot for Duke in the NCAA Championship) is awesome to hear, even a decade, and career, later.

Sorry AC Green, Sisqo and Yo-Yo (who I’m pretty sure never even wore extensions).