Plowed through it in about two days. Fairly interesting/entertaining read. It's sort of reminiscent of parts of the J-Zone book, except Hot Karl got signed to Interscope and was given a huge budget, only to get shelved months before he was about to release his album.

It's a fairly fascinating look at the hip-hop music industry in late '90s/early '00s, ***right*** before Napster really changed everything and when label spent tons of money on artists and even worked on artist development.

It also shows the process of how someone who made his name as a battle rapper had to put together a "complete" album, with club songs and guest appearances and "hot" producers. How these type of artists can work with their heroes like MC Serch, "street" rappers like Redman, but also record tracks with guys like Mark MacGrath.

It also shows a moment in time when Interscope would pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into Hot Karl's album but wouldn't take phone calls from Will.I.Am.

The anecdote can be pretty amusing too, especially his brushes with Kanye West, Suge Knight, Pink, 50 Cent, the Rhyme Syndicate circa '92, and a pork-hating Busta Rhymes.

I'm a little surprised I'd never heard of dude when he was coming up, but I figure that's because he was an LA radio phenomenon. First time I heard of him was when I got mailed a promo copy of the indie album he eventualy put out. I'm not sure I ever listened to it. Then I saw him interviewed in the "Adult Rappers" documentary that dropped earlier this year.

I'd recommend it as entertaining summer reading.

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