I'm an artist and a producer. I'm a writer. I'm everything.
Chauncey Alexander Hollis, Jr., better known as Hit-Boy, is a testament to raw talent in the music industry. His credentials are so extensive that merely listing them might sound like boasting. But then again, this 36-year-old super-producer, rapper, writer, and devoted father has earned the right to do just that.
With a discography that reads like a who’s who of hip hop royalty, one might mistake Hit-Boy's recounting his journey for mere bragging rights but as quiet as its kept, humility flows through his veins. Yet, the Southern California native, celebrated for his prowess as a rapper, producer, and songwriter, derives his acclaim not from mere associations but from the sheer force of his talent. Recognize these anthems? “Thique,” “N*ggas in Paris,” “Sicko Mode”?
Shining the spotlight on someone as humble as the second
I’ve always had
a certain belief in myself, but trusting that instinct, my whole career is built off that.
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Fishback says she has respect for every role she inhabits, and her goal is always to leave room for the person she’s portraying just to be. “When I act, I always pray that I can be a vessel for the character to organically and authentically show up through me, that I can be gone and a clear vessel. It's almost like channeling, like existing as somebody else and allowing myself to do that.”
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A come up is just starting without all the tools, just piece by piece. Getting your mentality right. Getting your spirit right.
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I was with him (Hit-Boy)] hands on and I kept him with me, which was nothing to brag about.
able to sleep at night. I was gonna be tossing and turning, thinking, ‘Why not speak up? Why not say something?’ Because I know I can do it,” Fishback confessed. It’s apparent that this role was predestined for her.
Amidst the rush to seize the next role, to reaffirm to the world that she’s the 'It Girl', Fishback seeks more. She is a woman who contains multitudes and resists the confines of boxes. We are witnessing Fishback in the process of tender transformation.
Her world teems with love. From her family and friends to the neighborhood of East New York and everyone else in between, she exudes love and loves fiercely. This is one of the reasons she is committed to ensuring that her self-love extends beyond her talents as an actress. “When you have compassion for yourself, you're able to extend it to other people a little easier,” Fishback remarked.
“I'm a dad now. Generational wealth is something that I could pass down. I always think about it. I can give my son cribs now, and he could build off what I started. That's priceless,” he explained with a tone of accomplishment.
On an unexpected and almost unruly, hot Los Angeles day, Hit-Boy welcomed us into his second multi-million dollar home, tucked away behind foliage and a gate in a posh, winding section of Beverly Hills. This particular home was special to Hit-Boy. “This house kind of led me back to myself,” he shared while sitting in front of his expansive pool.
In 2017, Hit-Boy used to rent this exact house as a studio and crash pad. And due to his generous nature of footing all the bills, he went broke and could no longer afford to rent the house or anything. “The last time I was here, I had no money in my account,” Hit-Boy reflected. “I was in the master bedroom at this house after my accountant called me and told me, ‘Yo, you got basically zero in your account right now.’ I was balled up in tears by myself, like damn, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And, when I got up, I was like, ‘I just got to go back to the old Hit-Boy.’”
The Rebirth: Returning to His Roots
A plan was set in motion. Hit-Boy separated his personal life and music life and utilized the actual studio space to focus on creating his best beats. “It’s been strictly about music. It’s not like we’re in there [the studio] just to chill,” Hit-Boy said as he reflected on his professional growth. “That’s how I got the six Nas albums. That's how I did Nipsey Hussle’s last record, “Racks In The Middle.” I worked with many people, executive produced Big Sean’s Detroit 2, and worked on an EP with him, too. I did a lot of stuff because I wanted to go and grab the music back and let it not be about the glitz and glamour at all but believing in myself. Going back to that studio, stacking up, getting myself right. I was able to get myself right back in position, but even better now.”
So, returning to shoot in this home meant the world to Hit-Boy. It was undeniable ownership of more than just the property; it was sovereignty. “I came back and bought it about a month ago,” he said, delighted by his full-circle moment. This purchase is a far cry from selling his first beat for $20 at 16 years old.
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Fishback confided, “A lot of times in wounded, masculine energy in women, being from Brooklyn, it’s like, ‘I gotta do that myself.’ The feminine that is taught to receive, and I can still manifest and get the dreams that I want when I allow myself to receive.” Independence and self-sufficiency are laudable, but there is a softer, more receptive side within that can be nurtured. Fishback is starting to feel this transformation. “Before, I had to get out of my hood and I wanted to so bad, I really had that action drive like, I'm gonna get it at all costs! And then I got there and then that action drive wasn't working for me anymore. I just felt burnt out. I felt tired. It's like why do I have to fight for everything? What if I don't have to fight? What if I get to sit back now and receive and believe that the seeds that I've planted and that God has shown me; my testimony has always been that has been elevated, so why am I going to move as if it hasn't been?”
“I can't have the perspective of, ‘I'm trying to play this character that Will Smith played.’ When Will Smith was doing the original, he was up there really actually being Will Smith. That was him, the character was his name,” he explains. “I use the experiences that I've had, my charisma, and the things that I've been through to empower the character in each circumstance. Half of the character is like I'm playing Will, and then half of it is, ‘this is Jabari, and this is my life that I'm going through.’ I think that’ll grow from season to season.”
Bel Air is just the beginning for Jabari Banks. He’s currently prepping to shoot alongside Benedict Wong and Callina Liang in Bad Genius, a heist thriller about high school students who are cheating on the SAT— an English language remake of the hit 2017 Thai film. He also hopes to play characters in fantasy films because he wants to see more Black people in those sorts of roles. He refuses to be typecast in the role of Will.
Along with growing as an actor, he has taken a couple of lumps growing up in the public eye. During the first press run for the show, he appeared on The Breakfast
Langston Sessoms
Bexx Francois
Anita Nixon
Danielle Young
Yesha Callahan
Michelle Lachman, Kara Rosenthal
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Everything that I've wanted to be, he is. As far as being a man, a gentlemen,
he’s shaped and molded.
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He said, “If he [Polow] sees something in me, I know I got something. That was my college years without going to college–just learning how to make songs, arrange songs, and produce vocals and tracks.”
By 2007, Hit-Boy got his first placement on Jennifer Lopez’s Brave album with the song “Forever.” J. Lo thought she was done with the album until she heard Hit-Boy’s undeniable beat. Hit-Boy is confident in his gift and said, “I’ve always had a certain belief in myself, but trusting that instinct, my whole career is built off that. I’m not the most musically inclined, but I'm just good at what I do. I just trust that and I know that when I feel it that you know somebody else is gonna feel it as well.” And the world has felt it indeed.
By 2011, Hit-Boy produced Kanye West and Jay Z’s “N*ggas in Paris,” by 2012, he started rapping over his prolific beats, resulting in nine studio albums. Over the last decade, Hit-Boy’s career has produced hit after hit. You can’t name a chart-topping artist he hasn’t worked with. And yet his current collaboration, Surf Or Drown, Vol. 2, which primarily features his dad, Big Hit, alongside Big Sean, Dom Kennedy, and more, may be his most poignant yet.
A teenaged Hit-Boy played his beats any and everywhere he could. In music stores, young Chauncey Jr. would hook his beats to the speakers, hoping someone would hear them. He used early social media platforms like Myspace to post his beats, where music producer and living legend Polow da Don caught wind of his talent and took Hit-Boy under his wing.
chasing bread. It’s handling every situation to the highest level,” Big Hit shared. It seems Hit-Boy’s high standards are rubbing off on his old man.
“We [he and Big Hit] always had a bond somehow. Wherever he was, I always still had that connection. His side of the family made sure that I was still going to see him and getting his letters and all that,” Hit-Boy recalled.
Big Hit admitted, “I kept him [Hit-Boy] with me, which was nothing to brag about. I had him in the trenches with me–guns, dope, picking up money, doing whatever I was doing–in traffic, hitting corners.” In actuality, it was good thing that young Hit-Boy understood that his dad’s lifestyle wasn’t the road he wanted to follow.
Legacy, Love, and Healing Through Harmony
It’s only been a few months since Big Hit was released from prison, and since Hit-Boy was about three years old, he remembered his father being in one moment and out the next. “My childhood was the best of both worlds. I've seen the bottom of the bottom and I've seen the top of the top,”
Hit-Boy shared.
Where Hit-Boy moves calmly and silently, Big Hit is a whirlwind of energy and raw emotion. Their synergy, though contrasting, is the heartbeat of their music.
“That’s [Hit-Boy] the better side of me. Seeing that side is life-changing. And C3? It’s an eye-opener. It’s more than just
different things I’m working on. I didn’t even know he could be coming home. I was just trying to do as much as I could to stay active.”
When it comes to working with his dad, it’s straight go-mode for the Hits. Hit-Boy is inspired by his dad’s ability to generate ideas. He shared, “He’s already over 200 songs in, just every day going. That's showing me why my work ethic is the way it is because he is a machine just like I am. Song after song, to the next idea. keeping it fresh.”
For Big Hit, this collaboration signifies admiration and respect for the man his son has become. He shared, “Everything I've wanted to be, he is. As a man, a gentleman, he’s shaped and molded. His character is impactful to me. I look up to him. He’s not just my son.”
He shared, “Going to visit my pops in prison, seeing all these ladies in there with two or three kids, going to visit their dad, I'm going to visit my dad, it's cold, it’s brick walls, that just hit me in a way where I was like, ‘I don't want to be a part of this sh*t.’”
None of that deterred him from wanting to be in his dad’s life. Throughout the years, both Big Hit and Hit-Boy have had their talent and love of music in common, so it was a no-brainer to combine forces.
Hit-Boy said, “We dropped Surf or Drown, Vol. 2 when he [Big Hit] was out for just one month. It was so crazy because he was rapping from prison in the intro of Surf Or Drown, Vol. 1 that dropped a few months prior. I’m putting my phone up to my professional microphone, recording him, using parts for
real situation. That’s something that needs to be seen, something that needs to be heard.” Since being home, not only are the father and son duo catching up on old times, but they’re working together to ensure their legacy stays intact. This is what maturity looks like in practice.
Surf Or Drown, Vol. 2 is out now wherever you stream music, and Big Hit and Hit-Boy are working on Big Hit’s debut solo album. “This is my opportunity to do his [Big Hit’s] first album, tell his story, keep it authentically him and I'm excited about that. The truth is in my eyes.”
Music has been a connective tissue for the duo. Hit-Boy mentioned that their collaboration goes beyond just music; it's about legacy, love, and healing. To the naysayers, Hit-Boy responds that this collaboration is a genuine representation of life, growth, and redemption.
“My pops coming back home and just the way that people are embracing the movement, it being bigger than music…people are telling me, ‘Man, I’m about to call my dad right now bro,’ just by seeing the footage I’m putting out,” Hit-Boy said. “I had people when I was first doing it [working with Big Hit] in 2014, they ain’t really understand it. But now, it’s like, wow, that’s a
coming of Chauncey Alexander Hollis means you’re dealing
with someone who’d rather split the spotlight than bask in it. Hit-Boy insisted on sharing this feature with the original Chauncy Alexander Hollis, his father, known as Big Hit, and Hit-Boy’s son, affectionately known as C3. This family-focused ethos was evident when he told BET, “I'm a real family person…close, tight-knit with all the people that I love.”
Hit-Boy seemed proud and at peace with his son and father on set. He selected a beautiful, brag-worthy Beverly Hills property accented by a pool, tennis court, and more, as the setting for this interview. The best thing about the home is that it serves as both Hit-Boy’s investment property and a reminder of his past. Having lost it all once before, Hit-Boy’s unspoken promise to himself is to never lose it all again. He kept that promise and focused on creating the best possible present and future for his son, father, and family.
Journaling has served as a therapeutic process for Fishback and she has adopted the practice to embody her characters more deeply. “Journaling as them [characters] is more like building a world. Even if you don't see it on-screen, you can see it behind the eyes. And so when I tell a story, I want somebody to look and be like, ‘Oh, she really experienced that story.’” This meticulous approach contributed to her standout performance as the supportive, soulful poet in the Shaka King-directed Judas and the Black Messiah, where she was far from a background love interest. Fishback’s discernment brought complex, crucial layers to her portrayal of Deborah.