#238: Hitmaka

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal we welcome super-producer Hitmaka to the Upper West Side to detail the ups and downs of his one-of-one journey as a chart-topping rapper, a hustler, an aimless creative, a ghostwriter and ultimately the most surprising bounce back story and rebrand to become the most in-demand producer in the business. Hitmaka discusses his Chicago upbringing to well-off parents, dropping out of school as a young teen to chase down his hip-hop dreams, linking up with street management which led to opportunities to spit over Kanye West production, rap for Jay-Z, meet Aaliyah, and end up signing to DMX. Hitmaka describes his fallout with his family, his exile to a Montana boot camp which led to his fallout with DMX, reconnecting with childhood friend Shawnna as her career began to take off, getting into Chicago street life to get by, moving to Los Angeles to write for an artist signed to Eve, running around with young Hollywood types, taking a flyer on some young producers and convincing them to join him in LA, and writing the music that would get him - Yung Berg - signed as an artist to Epic Records. We talk about linking up with Ray J, getting bailed out of jail by Shaq, what it was like touring the country as his record Sexy Can I shot to the top of charts, the difference of opinion he and his label head had over follow up record, how his time at Epic came to an end, and how NFL offensive lineman Bryant McKinnie gave him a lifeline. Hitmaka talks about how important his friendship to Jeremih has been, how he began to use his talents for building a hit song to help other artists like Nicki Minaj, 2 Chainz, Meek Mill, Ty Dolla $ign, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, King Louie and any artist you can think of, and how he holds no grudges at anyone in business. All that, plus stories about Joe Budden, Mike Caren, LEP Bogus Boys, Troy Carter, Bri Steves, his Transformer chain, his hugely anticipated upcoming album and much, much, much more! Listen now wherever podcasts are playing!