Jensen Karp (Hot Karl)

Jensen-Gerard Karp (born 8 November 1979) is an American writer, comedian, producer, podcaster, art gallery owner, and former rapper. In his rapping days in his early-20's, he was known as Hot Karl and signed a million dollar record deal with Interscope Records.

Over the years in his career, Karp has written two books, appeared in reality television, produced TV shows, hosted podcasts, and even launched an art gallery in Los Angeles.

Jensen-Gerard Karp was born on November 8, 1979, in Woodland Hills, California. He grew up in the neighboring town of Calabasas.

He is half-Jewish; his mother is Catholic and Armenian. His father works as a car salesman.

Karp attended Calabasas High School in Calabasas.

Karp was introduced to the rap music by his cousin at the age of nine. He was impressed by the cover art on the albums that he saw, such as Slick Rick's The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, UTFO's Doin’ It!, and 3rd Bass' The Cactus Album His favorite rappers/groups at the time include Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, 2 Live Crew, Roxanne Shanté, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince (Will Smith), Biz Markie, Chino XL, Biz Markie, Doug E. Fresh, and EPMD (Erick Sermon and PMD).

At his third grade talent show, Karp performed Run–D.M.C.'s You Be Illin'.

Music

Early years

By the time Karp was in the sixth grade, he began writing his own rhymes. The following year, he and a schoolmate, Rickye, formed a rap duo named X-tra Large. In 1991, when Karp was 12, a 21-year-old MC named Demetrius Cash became X-tra Large's official manager. Demetrius was well-connected with West Coast hip-hop and was able to get the duo opening slots on a few local shows, including a performance before Ice-T's group Rhyme Syndicate and Tone Lōc. The performance at the show was a success and after the show, the duo was approached by many artists and industry pros to work together, including Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate crew and Tone Lōc's friends. Donald D of Rhyme Syndicate told them that he would help develop their act, along with contributions from other Rhyme Syndicate members like Alphonso "D.J. Aladdin" Henderson, Evil E, Henry "Hen-Gee" Garcia, and even Ice-T. Following the developments in their career, the duo disconnected from Demetrius Cash and engaged Donald D as their manager. However, over time, their relationship with Donald D went sour, bringing a pause in his (and Rickye's) rap ambitions.

College years

Karp's rap career during high school was sporadic. In 1998, he enrolled with the University of Southern California, hoping to turn his interest in writing into a Hollywood career. At the USC, rap started to make a comeback in his life and he began performing whenever he could land an opportunity.

During his junior year at USC, he secured an internship as a director's assistant on Viva Rock Vegas, the prequel to the live-action Flintstones movie.

In 1999, Karp heard Baka Boyz (DJ brothers Nick Vidal and Eric Vidal) looking for contestants for Roll Call — Los Angeles radio station Power 106's daily competition where four/five aspiring MCs would call in to battle-rap against each other over an instrumental beat. He called the screening line and was asked his name, to which he replied with the first name that came to his mind, "Hot Karl." (He was afraid of losing the battle under his real name.) Karp entered the competition and lasted a record 45 days in a row to become the show's all-time champion.

Karp's freestyle was noticed by the rapper Mack 10 who came up to his house with an offer of $50,000 in cash to sign him. Mack 10 promised him more money if he signed, as well as an appearance on the upcoming Westside Connection album and a song with T-Boz (Tionne Watkins) from TLC, his wife at the time. Karp declined, stating that the new found fame is too overwhelming for him to handle and he would rather focus on college. Mack 10 left, while telling him, "Stop calling it a f*****g hobby. You about to be a millionaire, playboy."

At the peak of his victorious spell at Roll Call, Baka Boyz also offered to sign him. However, he declined them also, preferring to stay independent and learn the landscape before jumping into any contract.

Around that time, Karp found out that Limp Bizkit's DJ, DJ Lethal was a big Hot Karl fan. A mutual friend set up a meeting between the two and not long after he began making music at Lethal's studio in the Valley, near his parents' house. Through DJ Lethal, he also met Fred Durst.

Karp won Roll Call that season and J-Love, the producer at Roll Call, called him the following day to congratulate him. J-Love also told him that he had been maintaining a list of music industry figures who had called to enquire about him. Among those people were DJ Pooh — producer and writer of Ice Cube's Friday and music executive Jeff Kwatinetz (CEO of The Firm). Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records also showed interest in him.

Karp met Kwatinetz and Iovine and eventually signed with Interscope Records. Iovine offered him $750,000, with $300,000 ending up directly in his pocket as a "recoupable advance." Karp was 19 at the time.

Karp recorded what was to be his debut album, Your Housekeeper Hates You, which featured guest appearances by Redman, Kanye West, will.i.am, DJ Quik, Fabolous, Mýa, Sugar Ray, DJ Clue, and MC Serch. However, Interscope wasn't able to release the album commercially due to scheduling conflicts. Karp subsequently left Interscope. He explains the experience in detail in his 2016 memoir Kanye West Owes Me $300: And Other True Stories from a White Rapper Who Almost Made It Big

In 2003, Karp's music was featured in the video game NBA Live 2003, a game in which he was also a hidden character. His song, "Back/Forth," was also featured in Nancy Meyers' 2009 movie It's Complicated, starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin.

In 2007, Karp released The Great Escape a musical collaboration featuring appearances by MC Serch, Reggie Watts (Maktub) and Ali Abnormal, as well as production from 9th Wonder (Little Brother), She Wants Revenge (Justin Warfield & Adam Bravin), Ali Dee, Myru, and Jamey Staub.

In 2013, Karp recorded a song titled "Where You At" for his favorite basketball team, the Los Angeles Clippers, at the request of the team's in-arena DJ, DJ Dense. The song was played during halftime at the Staples Center.

In June 2016, Karp recorded a song titled "Like Riding a Bike," featuring Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, Intuition, and Abnormal.

Karp has written two books.

• Just Can't Get Enough: Toys, Games, and Other Stuff from the 80's That Rocked (2007) Co-written with Matthew Robinson: The book celebrates the coveted products the kids growing up in the 80s obsessed over.
• Kanye West Owes Me $300: And Other True Stories from a White Rapper Who Almost Made It Big: In the humorous book, Karp goes over his experience as a freestyle rapping teen "Hot Karl", meeting music bigwigs, striking a deal with Interscope Records, the success, the failure and everything in between. The book also includes lyrics from many of his rap battles.

Actor/Reality TV

In 2013, Karp lent his voice to "Baby Dick-head's Doctor" character on Jay and Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie. Also in 2013, he appeared (as Hot Karl) in two episodes of TV comedy series Burning Love, alongside Michael Ian Black, Ryan Hansen, Rebecca Romijn, and Joe Lo Truglio.

In 2015, Karp guest starred alongside Naomi Koningen, Solange Hordatt, Tiffany Pollard, and others, in three episodes of the final season of VH1's Candidly Nicole — a scripted comedic faux-reality television series starring Nicole Richie.

In 2015/16, he was seen on the first season of VH1's Barely Famous, playing the boyfriend of comedy writer Erin Foster.

In June 2016, Karp appeared on Comedy Central's @midnight with Chris Hardwickwith Paul Scheer and Jade Catta-Preta.

Producer

In 2015, Karp produced 7 episodes of Paul Scheer's comedy series Scheer-RL,featuring Kumail Nanjiani, Brett Gelman, Seth Morris, Terry Crews, Katie Lowes, Casey Wilson, and Joe Lo Truglio, among others.

In 2017-2019, Karp, Ben Winston, and James Corden were the executive producers for TBS' Drop the Mic — a musical reality competition television series based on a recurring segment of CBS' The Late Late Show with James Corden, where Corden goes head to head battle-rapping a different celebrity each episode. Among the many celebrities featured on the show were: Niecy Nash, Cedric the Entertainer, Liam Payne, Jason Derulo, Taran Killam, Rob Riggle, Boy George and Laverne Cox.

Currently (August 2020), Karp is producing a TV movie for TBS, Unqualified, which is written by Ken Jeong and will feature Shaquille O'Neal.

Screenwriting

Karp wrote for WWE Raw for seven months during 2005/2006.

Karp's writing credits have also appeared on The 59th Annual Grammy Awards(2017), seven episodes of Sacha Baron Cohen's Who Is America? (2018), ESPY Awards (2017 and 2018), and ten episodes of Fox's reality television series The Masked Singer (2019).

In October 2018, Karp joined the cast of the Kevin and Bean — a morning show on KROQ-FM, an alternative rock-format radio station in Los Angeles, California. In the show hosted by Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter, Karp had a regular segment called "Get Up on This" (based on his podcast), where he introduces people to things they might not know about and thinks they should. The show was cancelled in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, due to the declining ratings and struggling economy. Kevin Ryder announced the cancellation on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/thekevinryder/status/1240280553942740992

Shortly after, Karp landed a deal with iHeartRadio to host the podcast The Sports Bubble with Jensen Karp.

In 2004, Karp, with his college friend Katie Sutton, opened a pop-culture focused art gallery Gallery 1988 at 7308 Melrose Ave in Los Angeles, California. The gallery is named after his favorite year, 1988. The gallery, also known as G1988, is known for its Kevin Smith hosted annual show, Crazy 4 Cult, where 100 artists reinterpret classic cult movies in their own style.

Openings at the gallery have seen over 2,500 people attending in one night, including celebrities such as Seth Green, J. J. Abrams, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Kristen Schaal, Guillermo Del Toro, Jonah Hill, members of Linkin Park, Nick Kroll, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Joss Whedon.

The gallery has also hosted exhibits for movies including The Avengers, Rick & Mortyand Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Karp, once, also the brand manager and designer for Pete Wentz's Clandestine Industries.

In 2007, he and Matthew Robinson co-wrote the book Just Can't Get Enough: Toys, Games, and Other Stuff from the 80's That Rocked. The book looks at toys and other stuff that kids growing up in the 80s longed for.

From August 2010 to July 2011, Karp hosted a podcast Hype Men in which he, Eric Rosenthal, and Jeff Rosenthal, aka Itsthereal, discussed hip-hop music.

From August 2011 to October 2018, he hosted Get Up On This (with Matthew Robinson) on Earwolf. In the podcast, they sit with a different guest each week to get the audience up on new stuff. The two also hosted Get Up Off This, the podcast within a podcast where they rant about things that are popular but shouldn't be. Before they left the show, Karp and Robinson choose Ali Segel and Erin Mallory Long to replace them as hosts.

Karp was also a regular guest on Earwolf's Pistol Shrimps Radio podcast with Matt Gourley and Mark McConville. The show followed a women's recreational league basketball team in Los Angeles. In the halftime "Sock Report" segment of the show, Karp discusses the socks of Pistol Shrimps and opposing players. In the second season of Pistol Shrimps Radio, Karp's character changed to "Greg Escalante," who later revealed he was Jensen Karp hiding from the Church of Scientology.

On July 1, 2020, Karp and his wife, Danielle Fishel, started a podcast called titled Talk Ain't Cheap, in which they analyze and dissect the Cameo accounts of celebrities. Over time, they have analyzed cameo appearances by such celebrities as football player Brett Favre, reality TV star Bethenny Frankel, rapper Flavor Flav, TV star Spencer Pratt, American Idol figure William Hung, and R&B singer Keri Hilson. To support the show, they launched a Patreon, which gets the audience early access to the show and to participate in their interactive Instagram game show called Scorantine!.

Beginning with March 2020, Karp has also been hosting a sports podcast titled The Sports Bubble with Jensen Karp on iHeartRadio.

While attending the University of Southern California, Karp dated Paige, who was on the university's water polo team. The two also went to the same high school.

In his later years, he dated actress Danielle Fishel. The two got engaged on March 22, 2018, and married on November 4, 2018. They have a son named Adler, born on June 24, 2019.