[RH Interview] Lil House Phone
When the name Lil House Phone is brought up in discussion what comes first to your mind? Another 'lil' rapper that's part of the new wave of music? That dude from the No Jumper Podcast? Or that hysterical guy dissing Pacsun and tossing burgers on Twitter?
Regardless, the LA native is making his own lane in the rap community. From serious tracks about depression and drug abuse, to lighthearted videos like "Juice", House Phone has a lot of new material to look out for in 2018. When speaking with the humble entertainer this weekend, he enlightened me on his perspective of the industry, what makes him want to make music, and about the three projects he will be releasing in the near future.
Check out the full interview below:
rubyhornet: Where does the name Lil House Phone come from?
Lil House Phone: It was a joke my friends had. My friends would tease me since I never had a working cell phone. I would always sell them or lose them and they had no way of contacting me, so they had to call my house phone. So it was like a joke from my friends and I kind of ran with it.
rubyhornet: Has that always been your stage name?
Lil House Phone: Yeah, when I decided to start rapping that was what I thought of. My friends were already calling me that. I thought it was so ridiculous it would stand out and be funny. Complex did a whole article with the 10 most ridiculous rap names, and I was all over that shit. I guess it was kind of a good thing.
rubyhornet: What’s your favorite late night food?
Lil House Phone: Some good LA street tacos from a small Mexican lady on the corner. Always a good go to.
rubyhornet: Your newest project has a lot of turn up tracks. Do you plan on making more songs like "Lil Sad Phone" in the future?
Lil House Phone: I am an emotional roller coaster of a person so it’s really how I’m feeling. A lot of the times I make music for me going out. I keep the turn up tracks in mind for performing. I’m all over the place though, so I definitely have to touch on where I am at the moment. I got some new shit, a new album that’s all over the place.
This kid got "Lights Off" tattooed on his knee (a song off my first album about depression). That makes me want to keep making music. That’s really what you do it for, to get that kind of reaction from people. I was honored.
rubyhornet: You have an A$AP Yams inspired Xanax tattoo on your knee. Do you believe the Xanax culture is more prevalent now than in the past, or are people just more aware now?
Lil House Phone: It’s a mixture of both, its more relevant and more in your face because everyone is talking about it. They are talking about the good parts, and not the bad parts necessarily. I feel like a lot of rappers just put in these words, like drinking lean, because it sounds good in the song. I don’t think a lot of these people are actually doing this like that. They aren’t thinking about the impact they are having on these kids either. They are making the kids more likely to try this shit. If I'm listening to a Juicy J song every day, and he's talking about dipping my blunt in lean, I'm going to get some lean and dip my blunt in it, not releasing shit doesn’t even work like that. Like that has actually happened to me. I dipped a whole swisher in an entire pint of lean and we tried to spark it and didn’t even light. It was all sticky and wet. At that point I was like maybe I shouldn’t listen to rappers.
rubyhornet: Do you feel responsible for what you say in your songs, or do you feel like you’re clearly just having fun and people shouldn’t take you serious?
Lil House Phone: I would hope people understand I'm just having fun with it and they wouldn’t take the same path as me, but impressionable minds are going to be impressionable. I talk about my drug consumption openly. I have kids that DM me saying, you make me want to try coke or whatever. I always DM back saying this isn’t the path you want to go down. This shit isn't cool. Even in my personal life if I'm kicking it with someone who hasn’t tried a drug before I'm not going to encourage them to do it. That’s not a path you want to take someone down.
As I'm getting older, I realize I have kids in high school and even younger looking up to me. I don’t think I'm a role model, but when these kids are looking up to you, you have to take some type of responsibility.
rubyhornet: How important do you believe your relationship with Adam & No Jumper was in getting attention to your music?
Lil House Phone: It all kind of happened at the same time so I never really got a chance to take a step back and adsorb what was going on. No Jumper wasn’t at the level, that it is now, when I started being a guest. It was really just me hanging out with Adam, his friends, and doing a podcast now and then. I started making music around the same time. Then No Jumper started getting to the level like where it is now. Both were progressing simultaneously.
It went from people only knowing me from that dude on the No Jumper Blog, to people saying I rock with your music. I thought people only knew me from the podcast, but more recently a lot of people have been reaching out who know my music and have no idea I was affiliated with No Jumper.
rubyhornet: What is your favorite place to shop (besides Pacsun)?
Lil House Phone: I'm more of an in-house brand type of dude. I would rather find some random cool brands no one knows about and hit them up in Instagram. I'm really into random workmen wear like Carhartt. I'm wearing some tree camo wranglers right now.
rubyhornet: Any new music to let the fans know about?
Lil House Phone: My album Voice Mails 2 is on the way. I'm also doing two other side projects. I want to do this whole west coast style project called 310, since I'm from LA but I'm known for making trap sounding music. Nedarb and I are going to put out a 5-6 song EP pretty soon also.
[Video Interview] Kim Shaw, David Dastmalchian, and Collin Schiffli (ANIMALS)
[Ruby Hornet will be covering SXSW from March 7th to March 16th. Follow along as we bring you exclusive film reviews, photos, daily features, and interviews with filmmakers, actors, and musicians!]
ANIMALS holds a special place in my heart. The dark drama details the story of a couple, Bobbie (Kim Shaw) and Jude (David Dastmalchian), addled with opiate addiction while living in Jude's car in Chicago. During this year's SXSW, I had the chance to talk to Shaw, Dastmalchian (who also served as the film's writer), and ANIMALS director Collin Schiffli about the film, any semblance to real life events, and how important of a role Chicago played, both as a setting, but also as a narrative piece. ANIMALS won SXSW accolades for Special Jury Recognition for Courage in Storytelling for Dastmalchian's writing, so it's not just my personal bias speaking out about how amazing this film is.
You can watch the video interview below and expect a full review of the film super soon.
[Video Interview] Ryan Moore (Manny)
[This interview was part of our SXSW 2014 coverage. It is being reposted to coincide with Manny's wide release.]
Manny Pacquiao is one of those sports icons that transcends the sport that he comes from. As a Filipino, he carries The Philippines on his shoulders every time he steps into the ring for a match. For those familiar with Pacquiao, you all know that the country literally shuts down to watch Pacquiao box, from government officials to guerrilla rebels to everyday citizens. To say Pacquiao has become a true Filipino icon is an understatement. Away from the ring, away from Congress, away from the spotlight and the cameras, Manny Pacquiao is still just a man.
In Ryan Moore's documentary, Manny, the goal was not to just highlight Pacquiao's rags to riches story, but to also highlight the man he truly is away from the spectacle of his iconic status. Over the span of three years and more than 1,200 hours of footage, Moore's documentary sheds light on Pacquiao's life in a way that has never been seen or covered before.
In our SXSW interview with Moore, we discuss how he first approached Pacquiao about the documentary, any personal pressure or worries he faced in capturing and sharing Pacquiao's story, and much more. Watch the full video interview below!
[Video Interview] Lenny Mesina (Manny)
[This interview was part of our SXSW 2014 coverage. It is being reposted to coincide with Manny's wide release.]
Manny Pacquiao is one of those sports icons that transcends the sport that he comes from. As a Filipino, he carries The Philippines on his shoulders every time he steps into the ring for a match. For those familiar with Pacquiao, you all know that the country literally shuts down to watch Pacquiao box, from government officials to guerrilla rebels to everyday citizens. To say Pacquiao has become a true Filipino icon is an understatement. Away from the ring, away from Congress, away from the spotlight and the cameras, Manny Pacquiao is still just a man.
In Ryan Moore's documentary, Manny, it was up to amazing film editor Lenny Mesina, known to most as the editor behind Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, to help craft a cohesive narrative that not only traces Pacquiao's rise as an undersized boxer into the pound-for-pound best boxer in the sport, but also to illuminate Pacquiao's humanity beyond the ring.
Watch the SXSXW interview above in which we talked with Mesina about how he joined the crew for the documentary, the production process, any difficulties editing all of the footage together, and his own personal feelings about Pacquiao. Enjoy!
[Interview] Ike Barinholtz (Neighbors)
[This interview was originally published as part of our SXSW 2014 coverage. It is being re-posted to coincide with Neighbors' theatrical release.]
Despite being an early, unfinished cut specifically for SXSW, Neighbors is one of the early comedy successes of 2014. Granted, we’re just a quarter of the way in, and the film technically doesn’t come to theaters until May, so it’s a bit unfair for me to proclaim its high graces. Nevertheless, heed my SXSW review of the film as early warning to you comedy fans: Neighbors is absolutely hilarious.
During SXSW 2014, I sat with Neighbors actor Ike Barinholtz to discuss not just his role in the film, but his Chicago roots, working on The Mindy Project, and I even got him to pitch us a movie idea. Ruby Hornet has already put a copyright on the idea, so you better think twice about stealing it from us. Check out the full interview over the next few pages, and remember: Neighbors will be in theaters on May 9th.
[Interview] Jerrod Carmichael (Neighbors)
[This interview was originally published as part of our SXSW 2014 coverage. It is being re-posted to coincide with Neighbors' theatrical release.]
Despite being an early, unfinished cut specifically for SXSW, Neighbors is one of the early comedy successes of 2014. Granted, we're just a quarter of the way in, and the film technically doesn't come to theaters until May, so it's a bit unfair for me to proclaim its high graces. Nevertheless, heed my SXSW review of the film as early warning to you comedy fans: Neighbors is absolutely hilarious.
During the aforementioned SXSW, I had a chance to sit down with Neighbors' Jerrod Carmichael to discuss his role in the film, his experience working with such comedic minds as Seth Rogen and Nick Stoller, his stand-up career, and even his involvement with Odd Future's TV series, Loiter Squad. Check out the full interview over the next couple of pages, and be sure to catch Neighbors when it hits theaters on May 9th.
[SXSW Interview] Shawn Christensen and Paul Wesley (Before I Disappear)
[Ruby Hornet will be covering SXSW from March 7th to March 16th. Follow along as we bring you exclusive film reviews, photos, daily features, and interviews with filmmakers, actors, and musicians!]
Before I Disappear was a huge hit at SXSW 2014, winning the SXSW Film 2014 Audience Award in the Narrative Feature Competition category. This doesn't come as a huge surprise, considering the film is based on the short film Curfew, which itself won the Academy Award for Best Short Film - Live Action in 2013.
In our interview with triple threat Shawn Christensen (director/writer/actor) and Paul Wesley (producer/actor), we discuss what it was like adapting the aforementioned Curfew into the full-length feature, Before I Disappear, including story elements that had to be expanded upon and altered, working with returning actress Fatima Ptacek, the feeling of success over winning an Oscar for Curfew and any worries about making Before I Disappear because of it, and much more.
You can watch the full interview with Shawn Christensen and Paul Wesley below. Also, be sure to check out our previous Before I Disappear interview with Emmy Rossum and Fatima Ptacek.
[Sundance Interview] Arifin Putra and Julie Estelle (The Raid 2: Berandal)
[Ruby Hornet will be at Sundance Film Festival 2014 providing coverage of the festival's 30th year. Keep it tuned to Ruby Hornet this week as we share reviews, interviews, photos, and more at one of the country's largest film festivals.]
Header photo via Getty Images
Following my roundtable interview with The Raid 2: Berandal director Gareth Evans, Berandal stars Arifin Putra (Ico) and Julie Estelle (Hammer Girl) sat down to chat with my group about the film. Despite the light-hearted conversation, we probed the actors about their experience on the film, specifically asking about their training regimens, comfortability working with Gareth, the long wait for Berandal to begin production, and much more. Of course, we threw some fun questions in there, like their favorite action films (spoiler: Kill Bill 2 isn't one of them).
As always, major spoilers for The Raid 2: Berandal are sprinkled throughout the interview, so read at your own expense. Enjoy!