One listen to Hotstylez on their debut single "Lookin Boy," featuring Yung Joc, and you'd think you were at a comedian roast.
The members of the Chicago-based comedy/hip-hop trio -- Krayzee, Meatball and Raydio G -- who recently signed to Joc's Swagg imprint via Jive Records, drop a number of pop cultural references in the track, from Don Imus ("Don Imus old nappy headed hoe lookin boy") to the John Singleton-directed film, "Boys in the Hood" ("Ricky! Morris Chestnut shot in your back lookin boy") and Michael Vick ("Scooby Dooby Doo! Mike Vick lookin boy").
Not to mention random lines like "Pepe Le Pew, you stink, lookin Boy," "Brown dookie stain in your drawer lookin boy" and "Sponge Bob wearing on your shirt lookin boy," that further makes the track a tear jerker, in a made-you-laugh-so-hard-you-cried type of way.
Hotstylz formed as a group six years ago. "I met Raydio the first day of high school at the lunch room. He was making beats with his mouth and I started rapping," says Meatball. "We connected right there."
Krayzee, who went to a neighboring school, joined the group a few years later, during their high school senior year. "Meatball and I were in a dance group and one day he heard me rap. He told me, 'You gotta meet my boy,'" recalls Krayzee.
Since then, the three have made friends and family alike laugh collectively. "We weren't trying to land a deal," says Meatball of their decision to join forces with Swagg. "We were mainly doing it for entertainment -– we were being egotistical and exposing people. We were also doing it for the girls."
For the sake of hysterics, they went off and recorded the original version of "Lookin Boy," titled "Lookin *ss N*gga," and uploaded it to their MySpace page and to YouTube. The video spoof received over 2 million hits last year, according to Meatball, which seemed to have caused quite an impression on Yung Joc.
In February, the group signed to the newly launched imprint and officially released audio and accompanying video to "Lookin Boy" a few weeks later. "Lookin Boy" entered the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart six weeks ago at No. 92 and is currently No. 26.
Now, the funny men are working on their debut album, "Your Momma Got a Mustache," set for a late summer release. The album features production from Wish Master and, although details are scant, there are also a few collaborations in the works.
Other songs on the album include "ColdSore," ("another song for us to express our ignorance," says Raydio), "Faucet" ("baby making music for generation next," he adds) and the club track "Loony in the Club."
As far as marketing is concerned, the group has a branded Hotstylz gum and hope to expand by adding Raydio G sunglasses and Meatball-branded hats to their brand down the line.
In addition, Hotstylz has performed a couple of promotional shows and will continue to tour throughout the end of the year. They will also take part in this year's MySpace tour.
"We pretty much all grew up beating on lunch room tables and getting on teacher's nerves," says Krayzee. "This has always been our passion. We just always loved music. So, it was inevitable that we'd eventually express our art form at a larger level."
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