Hot Box

Andie - 21 - New York City Contact Me

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On a Saturday afternoon, I made Hookz get down on my level. My 4’11 level to be more specific. We sat on some stairs located at the back of a mall. Watching cars go into parking lots and smelling the cigarettes of employees on break. Shawn Hooks was born in New York City and raised for a short while in North Carolina. “It explains my charm and my manners.” The 24 year old rapper chuckled. “Very cordial.” He has been recording and posting his music for 3 years. Oddly enough, he has not released any EPs, mix tapes or albums. Not yet, anyway. For now, each track is unique. An individual. The beats to most of his tracks may be gentle but what he has to say is not. Hookz talks about relationship problems, poverty, police brutality, and growing up in New York City. “I’m going through all these situations in my life and that’s what’s going into my music.” He describes his music as heartfelt. “[The] true meaning of an artist is to paint a picture as vivid as you want others to see it.” Hookz does more than just paint a picture in your mind.

Just like New York City, his music is genuine. In “My Way Out”, you can hear Hookz pour his soul into this particular track. It lays out the struggles of a kid living in the projects on a rainy day. His description of each misfortunes is raw and intimate. Things and events that people see everyday and can identify with. His hope for something better become your desire as well. The end of the track features Laurence Winston. Winston puts into perspective that there will always be an obstacle or person in the way of someones attempt at a way out. Hookz does not only limit himself with male characters. In his track “Diamond”, he tells a narrative of the misfortunes of a young woman. As he is reporting each event of her life, you start sympathizing with her. Recognizing that this young woman’s idea of love has been distorted by society and the men in her life. “All she wants to do is party and bullshit.” She starts using liquor to numb her self and forget about the men she has been with. It’s a cautionary tail for young women and in-directly told his listeners to know their worth.

Hookz is a hopeless romantic. At the moment, his heart and his love is in music. I should know. He stood me up one night at a party. Which now he owes me a drink for. He is completely devoted to her and is currently working on 2 projects. One of his next tracks is titled “OG”. Old Greats. It will be his homage to the great narrators of hip hop. “[I’m] saying thanks for raising a nigga like me.” Another new track will be more personal. “I got the ugliest hand in the world” He raises his right hand and laughs. On the side of the back of his hand is a patch of wrinkled skin. “I burnt my hand saving my friend. I use to be super conscious [about it] back in the day, but now I’m straight. I’m about to record a song called ‘Beauty’. Even though it’s not the prettiest part [of my body] to look at, it’s a part of me.”

He has already collaborated with a couple of artists, but he is really looking forward in collaborating with Mick Jenkins one day. “He just put out a new project and I fell in love with it!” He told me eagerly. Another artist he’s hoping to collaborate with is fellow Queens native, Aaron Knight. “It’s cool to see what other people are thinking about, how their minds work when it comes to music. What they think about it.” He also plans to give back to his community in the future as well. If he doesn’t do enough already by coaching a basketball team and flag football. “I try my best to install my personality into them. Reaching out to the kids is super important.”

We have to be very patient and wait until Hookz releases any new tracks or music videos. The anticipation of a full album or even an EP is worse. With the promise of still following the same set of principles that are universal from his old work, we can only hope that we will get more stories that we can put ourselves into or commiserate with his characters. Hookz is more than just a hip hop artist.  His artwork touches everyone on an intimate level. He is a story teller that we call all be mesmerized with. Soundcloud I Instagram 

[myhotbox-blog]

I was blessed enough to have breakfast with Café this saturday morning. With his stage name translating to coffee, the 21 year old Queens resident ironically ordered a hot black tea. I discovered that we were both fans of light breakfasts. “You can tell a lot about people off of what kind of bagel they get.” He said as he popped a hash brown in his mouth. Claiming that it is the type of knowledge you can acquire from working at a café in Brooklyn. However, I stopped him before he laid down any type of horrible facts about me and my plain bagels. 

Ayman Razzaque has been working on his extended play since February of this year. “I had taken the semester off [from school] and I’m like not gonna waste my time. I’m gonna do some shit. I had the idea [for] Tall Grass floating around in my head, but I was sorta discouraged. Just by being not in school and being like ‘ah man. I’m wasting my time. I’m not really learning anything’. Then I realized that me focusing on this one thing and going through with it is one of my life experiences.” Something that is very evident on his first track, “Silver Wing”. His stage name emerged a little more organically. “Café. The word it self is something people associate with feelings, you know like, calmness, mornings, so I like that vibe of it.” Tall Grass opens up with a melody that most children from the 1990’s would instantly remember playing on their Game Boys. The Pokémon Crystal Version soundtrack is played throughout the EP and gives his listeners time to digest each track. Café, being the giant nerd that he is, confessed that at first he just downloaded the soundtrack just to have it. “The first Pokémon theme is like when you go into the wild grass, the tall grass. Hence, the [name of the EP]. The second one is when you verse a trainer. The third one is when you verse a gym. The fourth one is the final battle. So in my head, the whole Pokémon theme was a build up.”   The whole EP is laced with nostalgia, smooth beats, cultural references, and chill vibes.

The most chill and best track of Tall Grass is his third one, “Everstone”. The concoction of synth, a mellow melody, subtle piano notes and his concerned voice over it sounds like he is an old friend of yours and you’re catching up with him. By the end of the track you almost reply as if it’s your turn to speak in a conversation. The music video for “Everstone” lavishes the track further with wistfulness of childhood. Cutting through Images from various home movies of children being children.

On the fourth track of the EP, Café states, “These fucks don’t know that my generation don’t play.” I asked him what exactly he considered his generation to be. “I feel like we’re the generation that grew up with the internet and through the internet we’ve exposed ourselves to different cultures, ideas and beliefs. Through that it made us [much more] understanding and knowledgable about the world around us.”

He is looking forward to collaborate with Rory Ferreria who is better known by his stage name, Milo, in the future. Café’s next move is attending open mic nights to expose his music to a live audience. His EP is available on soundcloud and everybody available in their 20’s should check out. Soundcloud I Instagram I Twitter I Youtube