Photo: @appeljax84 & @diegojeanty
King Hoodie just wrapped up the most active year of his career.
On the final day of Art Basel Miami, the 30-year-old MC starred in Fly Supply's latest campaign in conjunction with the Museum of Graffiti's "The Art of Hip-Hop" exhibit. The clothing brand launched an exclusive bundle in honor of Art Basel and Hip-Hop's 50th anniversary. In a video that debuted on the 4th anniversary of the Museum of Graffiti's launch, You can see King Hoodie in the exhibit's reincarnation of the bathroom from Eminem's 8 Mile as he previews one of the items from the capsule: a F/$ EarPod case and an exclusive "Art of Hip Hop" x F/$ collaborative t-shirt.
"We're always finding ways to collaborate on stuff," King Hoodie tells iHeartRadio. "Me and Reggie, one of the owners, we had been talking for awhile about doing a collaboration. Like 'we want to give you some gear and give you complete free-range to do whatever you want to do with it.' Because they like the concepts me and (his business partner) Appeljax make. We had been talking about that idea for awhile and then an opportunity arose with Fly Supply collabing with the Museum of Graffiti's "Art of Hip-Hop."
Reggie reached out to him about the idea just a week before Art Basel began. King Hoodie and his team used various elements of the exhibit to record all their content, which was completed in just four days. The capsule comes in a limited edition briefcase and includes a blank journal called "Book of Rhymes," an EarPod case, a USB drive that resembles a cassette, and an exclusive "Art of Hip Hop" x F/$ tee. The Miami native and his crew were on-site for the exclusive release event inside the "Art of Hip-Hop" exhibit on the final day of Basel.
The campaign is the result of King Hoodie's seven-year business relationship with the Miami-based clothing brand. He's been a model for the brand for nearly just as long as he's been rapping. Since 2015, King Hoodie, born Jean-Raymond Jean Philippe, has dropped countless singles, three albums and three EP's including his most recent release Glass.
King Hoodie's recent three-pack is his favorite batch of records that he's cooked up thus far. The title track "Glass" is a testament to how he's breaking through the mold of the industry and fans alike. It's the first song he's ever wrote, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered himself. He was inspired to make the song after he heard Tori Kelly's version of "Colors of the Wind" from Disney's Pocahontas and wanted to sample it.
"So I went and figured it out, started playing with the sound," King Hoodie explains. "I looped it, and then I threw some drums on it, and then eventually something told me like, "Yo, take the sample out now. When I took it out, all that was left was the bass and the drums and this [drum cymbal sound] and I was like, 'Oh man.' So I just went off on it. I started rapping on it, and then I did some autotune stuff underneath it to make it flow. And then that became the song. Every time I play it for people, they lose their mind."
Outside of music, he also works as a motivational speaker, an actor, a multifaceted businessman and an author. Earlier this year, he turned his first e-book into an audio book called Materiali$e: My Top 10 Manifestations. It begins with the song "Materiali$e" off his Glass EP and continues with other chapters about his music career, his business moves and other inspirational sections.
The audio book will be apart of a mounting list of King Hoodie's business moves in 2024 -- along with new music. He plans to host a series of book signings with limited edition physical copies of the book. He also plans to debut more footage from his Fly Supply/Museum of Graffiti collaboration for an upcoming collection. As far as new music goes, King Hoodie will reveal all the details for the upcoming project in due time. For now, stream his Glass EP below.