Who is Hollywood F.L.O.S.S.?
Okay, so half of dude’s name is a pseudonym, the other half an acronym (Hollywood FLOSS (Flawless Lawless Opposing Stagnant Situations)), and his latest project uses a dollar sign in place of an “S”. From the jump, Hollywood seems to begging you to think of him as something different from everyone else. When Prince did this, by calling himself “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince” and then simply using a glyph, it seemed desperate but at least you knew he had the chops to back it up. What about Mr. FLOSS? Does he have what it takes?
I’ll answer that question with a question.
Remember Lupe Fiasco? He was the hottest thing in the world a few years ago, and delivered one of the best debut rap albums of the past 10 years. Lupe was a bit like Jay-Z, in that he had a large vocabulary and clever rhymes, delivered in a flow that said, assertively, “I am the greatest of all time.” But Lupe was also a bit like Kanye West, whose style is a lot like Jay-Z’s only West doesn’t have as good a command of language so he tosses in pop culture references and nonsense words when he’s struggling to make his point. (You all remember his “I’ll do anything for a Klondike . . . anything for a blonde dyke” verse, don’t you?) Lupe walked a line between Kanye and Jayhova, tending to fall on the Jay-Z side of the divide. Well, Hollywood walks the same line, but he tends to lean more towards Kanye’s side. He’s clever, but he’s not afraid to fill lines, literally, with “something something something” when necessary. Or
when it’s funny. He also drops many pop culture references, often in off-beat and unexpected ways. In fact, Hollywood FLOSS may be the most playful MC I’ve heard in years.
He’s been nominated for Best Underground Artist and Best New Act by the Houston Press this year, and it’s easy to see why. Check out the mixtape, below, for one of the best single-artist mixtapes of the year. It’s good enough to be an album.
Or just taste a key song:
