Artist Spotlight: Hobo Johnson

Hobo Johnson has a thing for the low key. If you’ve spent any time perusing his live videos on Youtube, you may have noticed a trend: he’s often in a semi-public place, playing to no audience. The Live From Oak Park sessions find the Sacramento rapper covering his desire for fame, a broken marriage, and hookup culture from a junk-strewn backyard. “For the People Who Drank Themselves to Sleep Last Night” is filmed on the sidewalk as cars pass in the background. These live videos in familiar places make him accessible. He dwells in places that we encounter everyday, and he fills them with his manic brand of alternative hip-hop.

The irony of his low key live videos is that his digital audience is growing by the hour. After posting his compelling video of “Peach Scone” for the NPR Tiny Desk Concert contest, the internet did its thing. Racking up millions of views on Facebook and Youtube since it was posted on March 7th, it’s clear that Hobo Johnson won’t be able to stay low key for long.

Luckily, that won’t be a problem for Hobo Johnson (a.k.a. Frank Lopes). In fact, blowing up is part of the plan. The 23 year old Oak Park, Sacramento rapper cut his teeth performing in the street and recording in his car after getting kicked out of the house a few years ago (hence the name, Hobo Johnson). His teenage years were messy: several public intoxication tickets, a DUI, an expulsion, and a stint in a juvenile correction facility, all before he would’ve graduated high school. The silver lining to all that adversity is that it led him to hip-hop. While serving his time, he attended a presentation from the Auburn Hip Hop Congress and his mind was made up. “No I’m not going to get a job, I’m not going to try to go to school . . . I just want to be a musician,” he said in an interview with Capital Public Radio. All of his eggs are in the music basket, and his steady rise to prominence since 2016 suggests he made the right decision.

As for the music itself, Lopes calls it “sadboi hip-hop,” and the description is pretty accurate. He takes on stressful topics head-on, with a level of raw emotional honesty that is polarizing; riveting for fans and unbearable for detractors. “Peach Scone” follows a narrator that is infatuated with a girl who has a boyfriend. He loves “the thought of being with” her, “or maybe it’s the thought of not being so alone.” The delivery is just as important as the words themselves; he sounds like he could burst into tears or laughter simultaneously. It’s an impressive emotional tightrope act, laid out in one lyric. His wholehearted style conveys a sense of passion and a professional level of performance. Even his facial expressions and mood swings during performances seem finely tuned, requiring focused practice to pull off.

Guitarist David Lynch and the Lovemakers provide the backdrop for Hobo Johnson’s electrifying presence. Acoustic guitars mix with skittering beats and sweeping bass that comes in at just the right moments. This is Gen-Z pop music. It’s drawn from hip-hop, indie rock, emo, pop-punk, and EDM, with a level of performative twee that could only come from the Tumblr generation. There are tinges of other popular artists (Twenty One Pilots, Watsky, Chance the Rapper) in Hobo Johnson’s emotive and quixotic style, but the ultimate origin of his delivery seems to be slam poetry. Unpredictable and raw, it better matches Hobo Johnson’s inconsistent cadences than any genre of music.

Despite the sadboi label, Lopes is a good guy with a big heart. If this music thing takes off, he plans to buy his mom a house, build his credit, and set up a production company in Sacramento to help mentor local talent. Whether you like his music or not, those are pretty universally noble goals. Hip-hop tends to value braggadocio, but Hobo Johnson is staying focused on the community over his personal success. Still, it’s the hype surrounding his music that drives him. In an interview, he mentioned that the fear of fading into obscurity is his biggest motivator because “it’s sad when you release a song and no one likes it.” If he can capitalize on his recent success, I don’t think he has anything to worry about.

Sources: Capitol Public Radio Piece (March 13th, 2018). Capitol Public Radio Interview (June 30th, 2017). Submerge Feature. Sacramento Bee Feature. State Hornet Feature. Hobo Johnson Website.