In his childhood dwelling, Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr., a.ok.a. multi-Grammy-winning producer Hit-Boy, liked watching the 1991 movie “The 5 Heartbeats,” based mostly loosely on the legacy of Motown R&B teams. At his North Hollywood studio, Hit reveals to The Instances a second within the movie that at the moment feels poignant. Throughout one scene, actor Robert Townsend (who additionally directed and co-wrote the movie) as Donald “Duck” Matthews accepts an award on behalf of the group the movie is called after. In his speech, Duck reveals {that a} music critic as soon as stated he’d “be an important author in the future when he suffers extra.” He continues saying he now is aware of what he meant, as his struggling has elevated his craft. “I really feel like I had my struggling moments,” Hit says, in alignment with Townsend’s Matthews. “The [publishing] deal, coping with my dad and all sorts of wild s—. I went by way of actual ache and grief to get out on this aspect.”
In Townsend’s speech as Matthews, he additionally notes two sources of ache which have made him a greater artist: his adulterous fiancée and egocentric brother. Hit-Boy additionally has a twin supply for his struggling: his exploitative label deal and his father’s roller-coaster experience by way of the felony justice system.
Let’s begin with the file contract. In 2007, Hit-Boy signed a co-publishing cope with Common Music Group and the producer Polow Da Don based mostly on his sheer expertise and potential. He came upon 4 years later, in 2011, after the success of his manufacturing on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s single “…In Paris,” that the cash he assumed would are available in from his work merely wasn’t coming as a result of deal’s constraints. Perhaps much more importantly, after digging into the small print, Hit realized that his contract had no finish date and existed perpetually for the remainder of his life. It then took him 10 years of continued success earlier than he may renegotiate. In 2021, with the assistance of Jay-Z and Desiree Perez at Roc Nation, who had been managing Hit on the time, he was lastly capable of set a launch date from the deal in 2025. Hit-Boy is now, lastly, free. An unbiased artist for the primary time since he was 19 years previous.
But, almost coinciding along with his launch from a predatory contract, Hit-Boy’s father, Chauncey Hollis Sr., a.ok.a. Large Hit, was reincarcerated in October of 2024. Large Hit’s historical past with the felony justice system earlier than this included serving 15 years in jail for possession of 10 kilos of cocaine, 10 weapons and $300,000 in money. Then, after six years of launch, he served one other 12 years for a hit-and-run incident. In 2023, Large Hit got here dwelling and went on a musical run as a rapper along with his now hyper-successful son. The duo made a collaborative album with legacy L.A. producer the Alchemist in “Black & Whites,” an album with L.A. rapper the Recreation in “Paisley Desires” and a undertaking with simply the 2 of them, “Surf or Drown, Vol. 2,” in a single 12 months. However, the entire time, Hit-Boy was hyperaware of the potential impending doom to return. “He’s actually that man that he portrays himself as,” Hit says about his father’s actions. “So he may return at any given second. If I didn’t hear from him for hours, the very first thing in my head was, ‘That is the second he will get locked again up.’ It was actual paranoia.” Thus, Hit-Boy went on a tunnel-visioned music launch whirlwind along with his father till that concern became a full actuality. Whereas the small print of Large Hit’s most up-to-date arrest aren’t public, Hit-Boy does point out his father “may have been outdoors on probation proper now however stated he’d relatively be in jail.”
Hit-Boy’s first musical physique of labor to reach on the heels of this prolonged vexatious interval is his forthcoming album, naturally titled “Software program Replace.” On the undertaking, he channels a Duck Matthews-esque vitality and historical past right into a reloaded model of himself. A reverberating “Boondocks”-referencing lyric jumps out of the audio system on the opening title monitor — “Free-man identical to Huey and Riley” — over a pulsating, 808-riddled instrumental that ultimately transitions mid-song into glossy, piano-driven boom-bap. The brand new album is his first solo work the place he’s the only rapper and producer on the helm since proper earlier than his father’s launch. Hit-Boy feels the beats, specifically, are the sharpest they’ve ever been due to how a lot he leaned into his craft amid his persistent turmoil. “It was positively at all times my remedy. It doesn’t matter what was happening, blissful occasions, unhappy occasions, upset or indignant, I may simply sit down and make a beat that felt like I did.” Hit explains. “I produce with much more readability now. I acquired much more management over my beats. I felt like I used to be guessing for many of my profession. I used to be throwing s— within the pot and hoping it might stick. Now I could make my 808s do no matter I would like them to do, and might make my melodies rework.”
Hit Boy
(Louis “U-Jeen” Lee)
Nonetheless, Hit-Boy’s perseverance and focus should not the one issues that’ve helped him really feel revived. He additionally credit a current foray into remedy for his newfound creative readability. “Remedy has opened me up and made me much more vocal,” he says. “It made me perceive sure s— I needed to confront from my previous so I may make peace.” Hit provides, “Your thoughts is like a pc system, for actual. You gotta replace it daily just about if you wish to be nice, if you wish to push your self.” Thus, his new album title.
Remedy’s therapeutic impression on Hit-Boy has prolonged past simply artwork. He’s grow to be conscious of his lack of potential to set boundaries, which he attributes to a few of his early-career difficulties. But in addition, maybe most significantly, he’s realized the kind of father he needs to be to his son, who throughout our interview repeatedly poked his head in to see what his star producer dad was doing but additionally to ask for ice cream. Hit-Boy deliberately retains his son round him and his work to create an eternal bond and instance he by no means fairly had. The impression of this selection not too long ago manifested in an expression that looks like a direct results of the work Hit-Boy has executed on himself.
“My son wrote a Father’s Day card in school for me,” Hit remembers. “The very first thing that got here to his thoughts, they put it on there. They requested him, ‘How previous is your dad?’ He stated, ‘My dad is 89 years previous.’ It’s humorous. I used to be like, ‘No, I’m 38.’ He was like, ‘Properly, I used to be shut. The 8 and the 38.’ However then he additionally wrote, ‘My dad at all times says, I like you.’ I don’t have that reminiscence. My dad most likely advised me lots on the telephone from jail, however I may solely discuss to him every now and then. He advised me he liked me, however I get to inform my son that daily, and for that to be implanted in him … I’m doing one thing proper, ?”
Hit-Boy, now with a heightened sense of goal, prowess and freedom, feels an elevated sense of urgency to share as a lot of his craft with the world as he can. “I really feel like Sonic the Hedgehog,” he proclaims. There are murmurings amongst his staff about a couple of potential follow-ups to “Software program Replace.” However a undertaking that’s all however confirmed for the close to future is Hit’s second full-length undertaking with the Alchemist, this time sans Large Hit as an added foremost artist. This album has an prolonged 40-minute quick movie hooked up to it. We seen it on a projector display screen in one of many studio’s rooms. It’s probably the most fervent illustration of what looks like Hit-Boy enacting a cinematic rebirth.
He’s additionally beginning a basis referred to as the Subsequent Hits, which might be based mostly out of a brand new huge studio house he’s simply secured, additionally in North Hollywood, the place displaced youngsters will be capable to be taught in regards to the music enterprise and how one can produce or engineer if they want. “I’m simply excited about all of it from a real rounded artist perspective with the best way I’m presenting myself,” Hit-Boy says. “I’m attempting to get my full self to chop by way of.” You can name this his Robert Townsend period — as he’s each the director and star of his craft and life.
