Jonah Hill revealed that he wanted to be a rapper on a recent episode of The Breakfast Club.
A lifelong hip-hop fan and current New York City resident, Hill spent the entire interview geeking out about finally being able to talk on hip-hop radio shows, sharing his passion for underground hip-hop with the hosts. DJ Envy picked up on Hill's mentions of MPCs and pushed the actor on it, digging into his teenage years to find out more about his abandoned rap career.
"I'm not a good emcee or a good producer, but I still had an MPC and was making beats for six years," he said. "I didn't have an emcee name but I made a lot of beats. My sample game, my digging game was tight."
After more prodding from the hosts, Hill revealed his producer name: Spindrome.
"It's really embarrassing... Like syndrome, but spinning," he said. "It was wack, dude."
Though Hill ultimately left that world behind for acting, he's returned to his roots in his new film Mid90s. Hill's directorial debut follows a group of teenage skaters in Los Angeles who are into underground hip-hop.
"Hip-hop, like skateboarding, is always misrepresented in film. It's always showing people diving through the hood or popping champagne, some exploitative, dumb stereotype," he explained. "For me it was really important to make an elegant, honest, emotional film, that showed hip-hop for what it is for me, which is the emotional backbone of my childhood."
15 years into his film career, Hill still maintains that connection to hip-hop as evidenced by who he showed the first cut of his film to.
"Q-Tip is one of my best friends," he explained. "He was one of the first people to see this movie. Him and Frank Ocean and my sister saw the first cut."
Check out the whole interview up top.
