“I be on the cusp every fucking year… but my black skin won’t let me in the clear!” spits a dejected Hit-Boy amid the nostalgic Sunday service theatrics of “God Is Great.” It’s one of many highlights from GOLDFISH, Hit-Boy’s new collaborative project with his illustrious, fellow Californian beat-making peer the Alchemist.
Referencing his frustrations around the way the music industry consistently sidelines Black creators, Hit-Boy (real name Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr.) also snaps, “Homie said I need to work with white artists to win at the Grammys.” Speaking to me as he “recovers” from an intense press schedule that has involved everything from making songs with divisive streamers to being interviewed by Fat Joe, it’s clear a sniffly Hit-Boy is ready to let his guard down and have a refreshingly honest conversation away from all the cameras.
“Listen: I got nominated for Producer Of The Year twice at the Grammys,” the 38-year-old tells Stereogum. “Both times I lost to Jack Antonoff! I am not going to say his name, but a prominent producer in the industry told me that in order to win next time you have to work less with street rap artists and produce more for white pop stars.” So, should we expect a Taylor Swift album produced by Hit-Boy any time soon? “I mean, bro, who wouldn’t want to work with Taylor Swift right now!?”
This dichotomy between making music for the streets and attaining a pop-friendly accessibility is something that has long defined Hit-Boy’s career. The proof is in his name, after all. “Remember, my first production placement was on a Jennifer Lopez song,” he is keen to remind me. “I’ve always made beats that have a hip-hop bounce, but also carry a pop-driven energy.”
For the past 15 years Hit-Boy has crafted the kind of stadium-ready trap beats you could play at any major music festival on the planet and instantly expect a massive crowd to intuitively start stomping their feet. Take “Clique,” where a trunk-rattling bassline and bumblebee buzzing synths combine to inspire some of Kanye West’s most rumbunctious rapping: “Break records at Louis, ate breakfast at Gucci/ My girl a superstar all from a home movie.”
Or, what about the haunted funfare theatrics of Travis Scott and Drake’s “Sicko Mode“? Here Hit-Boy’s organ-heavy arrangement gives the latter’s brags about Xanax putting him “out like a light” a deathly glow. Fun yet nihilistic, his rage-inducing music is like a raucous millennial mosh pit that could be swallowed up by a sinkhole any second.
That’s not even mentioning the golden beats he’s laced for Kendrick Lamar’s urgent “Backseat Freestyle“; Beyonce and Nicki Minaj’s empowering and highly meme-able “Feeling Myself“; or, perhaps the king of all Hit-Boy’s productions, Watch The Throne‘s Fish Filet-referencing, diamond-selling banger, “N****s In Paris.” Hit-Boy even produced six soul-rap albums in a row for Nas, giving the Queensbridge veteran his first Grammy in the process. He’s one of the most impactful rap producers of the 21st century.
Refreshingly, this producer has balanced a career working with superstars with consistently elevating California’s underground rap scene, crafting raw recent beats for artists including 03 Greedo, BlueBucksClan, Spank Nitti James (they are set to release a new album called Yeast Talkin’ next Thursday), SOBxRBE, and LaRussell. And, during our conversation, it’s clear he’s just as obsessed with tracking down the perfect sample today – as a producer approaching 40 – as he was as a teenager messing around with FruityLoops software in his bedroom.
“I don’t care if you have 30 listeners or 30 million. I produce beats for people who excite me, and that’s it!” he adds. “I’m still the type of guy who will hear some cool shit in the grocery store, pull out my Shazam, then drive home as fast as I can to chop it up into a beat!” Yet despite earning platinum plaque after platinum plaque and racking up billions of streams, Hit-Boy admits it’s been difficult to enjoy his success.
Having signed an “exploitative” publishing contract he describes as a “prison deal” back in 2007, at the age of just 19, he saw little profit from his production work. “Back then $50k sounded like a lot!” he recalls, laughing. “I signed without even thinking. It’s been a real mental strain. Knowing I was in that deal really took it out of me on a personal level. The love of making music is the only thing that kept me going over recent years.”
After 18 long years, Hit-Boy is finally out of this dodgy publishing deal, enjoying the kind of creative freedom that once felt like a distant pipe dream.”It is kind of crazy that I gave Jay-Z his first diamond record and he helped (via Roc Nation) get me out of my slave deal. That’s a beautiful exchange, right?”
Aside from enjoying all this newfound stability, the year of 2025 seems to be primarily driven by Hit-Boy proving himself as a rapper. While he has tried his hand at rapping in the past (including collaborative projects with emcee dad Big Hit), it’s fair to say the average rap fan was probably more interested in Hit-Boy’s buzzy production work than his bars, which sometimes could sound lethargic.
But with the Alchemist collaboration GOLDFISH and also the looming new solo album, SFTWR UPDTE, there’s a sense of the stabilizers being removed from a bicycle and someone finally approaching full speed, with these projects containing some of Hit-Boy’s most focused rapping to date. The new songs are built on vivid personal reflections. These include painful memories of seeing his dad come into the family living room covered in blood from a hit-and-run accident that would later send him to jail, and also a time he observed an “on-the-run stepdad” get “knocked” by the feds while it was raining outside.
This is arguably the first time Hit-Boy has fully succeeded at getting you to connect emotionally with an underdog story of growing up close to gang activity in Fontana, California. Plus, all this new music is a leap forward as an emcee. “I always tell Alchemist, the sky is the limit type shit!” he adds. “I know that the people haven’t seen the best of us yet.” To celebrate the release of GOLDFISH, we spoke at length to Hit-Boy on everything from his collaborations with Juice WRLD and Nipsey Hussle to the use of AI in rap; having a famous uncle; and being a fan of the organ. The resulting conversation has been lightly condensed for clarity.
I love how your new song “Ricky” with the Alchemist juxtaposes your agonising childhood with Alchemist’s own safer start in suburbia, where his biggest worry was encountering the tooth fairy. How did that one come about?
HIT-BOY: That was originally a solo song, but I sent it to the Alchemist and he loved how personal it was! He ripped the instrumental with an AI separator and sent me back a verse from his perspective. The song shows how even a two parent household isn’t perfect; everyone is going through something!
It’s interesting you bring up AI, because it’s having this really controversial impact on hip-hop culture right now. They are resurrecting Tupac for AI videos, and Timbaland seems more interested in working with synthetic artists than humans. What’s your take on it all?
HIT-BOY: It’s hard to work out whether the fans are having some fun or being disrespectful. I saw a video clip the other day and it was Martin Luther King eating fried chicken fingers at Raising Cane’s. That shit was ridiculous! I can understand why his family don’t fuck with it. But also, the world is now such a disrespectful ass place, too, so it’s to be expected. With The Timbaland stuff, it just felt to me like he could have finessed it more and fed it to the world in a different way. A lot of people have called it corny, right? That’s the general consensus. I’m just going to leave it at that.
I understand the criticisms [around AI], but I definitely think AI can push things forward, too. It’s an amazing tool to play around with! Somebody could just put a random prompt in and possibly make a hit one day, sure, but I don’t think it’ll really work like that. I think it’s more like a tool to expand on your ideas. You still gotta rack your brain and put the idea together… AI is more like having an extra ear or helping hand.
Let’s take it back a little. I love the sample of your grandma’s voice on the title track of SFTWR UPDTE, where she describes you and God as being the two main men in her life. It’s obvious Granny means a lot to you. What role did she play in your career?
HIT-BOY: She practically raised me and made me the man I am today! My uncle Rodney [Benford] was a member of this R&B group called Troop, and it was my grandma who made sure they rehearsed and transformed into a professional group. She whipped them all into shape when they were just 13 years old, and was a big reason that they got a record deal with Atlantic by the time they hit 17. She drilled this work ethic into my uncle. This idea that to be the best you can’t stop practicing and working. I got all that shit from her!
What did having a famous uncle teach you about the record business?
HIT-BOY: His group was successful and appeared on TV. I got to see a piece of that world, which was nice. My dad was locked up [for his role in a hit-and-run], but I still got to see what it was like to be famous! It was weird, because I’d see my uncle’s success and then go home to a one-bedroom apartment where I slept on the floor. The difference was night and day. My uncle had the cars, the girls… he had everything! But I also saw how people switched on him when he suddenly didn’t have those things anymore. That whole situation taught me to keep a level head in the music business.
On a lot of these new songs, you talk about watching various father figures get lost to the prison system. What stopped you from going down that same route?
HIT-BOY: Shit, probably my mom. She drilled it into me that I had to keep safe and was always very protective. She’d say shit like, “I’m not letting you end up like your dad!” I used to get mad she wouldn’t let me hang out with all my friends, but today I see a lot of the people I grew up with, and they’re either dead or in jail, so I know my mom was right. By the time I was 15, I had my own DIY studio setup in my bedroom, which she 100% supported.
Your music has this therapeutic quality, especially the nostalgic soul loops you made for Nas on songs like the underrated “Japanese Soul Bar.” I’ve noticed you use organs a lot, too. Is there a deeper meaning behind the use of that particular instrument?
HIT-BOY: It’s because I’m from the church, man. That’s a place I went to a lot growing up! The organ is a heavy moment in a service, right? A point where it gets emotional and people start crying or shouting. If I put one in my beats, it’s so I can try to have that same moment with the artist I am working with.
Do you see yourself as a therapist, then, to the emcees that you work with?
HIT-BOY: It’s crazy you talk about therapy, because two of the most street guys I’ve ever worked with, Nipsey Hussle and Benny The Butcher, both wrote songs in my studio and then afterwards cried a face full of tears right in front of me. It was due to how they connected to the pain in the production. If an artist reacts like that then I know I’ve done my job correctly!
One of my favorite Hit-Boy beats is “Racks In The Middle” for Nipsey Hussle. It is very Dr. Dre-like. On this song Nip raps about dying at 30 after a life of gang banging. Did it ever feel like he somehow knew he was going to die young?
HIT-BOY: You are right about the Dre inspiration. With “Racks In The Middle” I wanted to imagine what Detox would sound like had it actually came out! You know, Nip predicted things 5-10 years early, and I definitely felt some weird energy during those sessions. He was tapped in spiritually. When I think back on how it all unfolded: We were talking every day from 7 a.m., completely locked in. He’s sending me samples in the morning like, “Yo, can you chop this? If you can, I’m going to pull up to the studio later and rap on it.” He wanted me to be heavily involved with his next album, too, and then that shit happened [and he got murdered].
What I love about Nipsey is that he tended to record three verses for all his songs. He was a true songwriter! It’s cool going on Funk Flex or Power 106 and rapping for 20 minutes straight, sure, but if you can’t make a good song I am not going to connect with you, okay? Everybody I fuck with knows how to put a song together with a structured hook. Nipsey made me realise I click best with rappers who are great songwriters!
Is there anyone else you’ve worked with who you wish you also got more time with?
HIT-BOY: Juice WRLD, for sure. That kid was special. We must have done 20 or 30 songs together; most of them never came out! Every beat I gave him, he recorded something new on. He was the type of rapper who heard a beat and, well, he’s just gonna go instantly. The kid was stupid nice! I once watched him freestyle for an hour straight without fucking up once.
Probably my favourite beat you ever did was for A$AP Rocky’s “1 Train.” The strings are elegant and gutter at the same time, providing the perfect backdrop for a posse cut. Do you have many memories of making that particular beat?
HIT-BOY: When I made it I was trying to basically do my best RZA impression. I mean, that’s how I came up: practicing and imitating other people’s styles. I had a moment where all my shit sounded like Pharrell, and another where I had knock-off Timbaland drums. It was about studying from the masters and proving to myself I could do it too. I feel like this helped me build up the Rolodex, and just be able to tap into all these different waves.
Earlier on we spoke about that toxic publishing deal you only just got released from. Moving forward, is helping other young artists – so they avoid the same pitfalls – now a focus?
HIT-BOY: I’m starting a foundation soon called The Next Hits. I’m gonna build a special studio and have kids come in who come from one parent households and underserved communities. I’m gonna teach them about music and engineering and financial literacy and all the pitfalls of the business. It’s important that I pass on what I’ve learned, so the next producer doesn’t make the same mistakes I did. Whatever I do next, I don’t have those shackles on me anymore. I finally feel free.
Hit-Boy and The Alchemist’s GOLDFISH is out now on Surf Club Inc/Empire.
