Photo: HASS
In an era where artists tend to follow popular trends, it's rare to find an artist as fearless as Hassan.
The Florida-born, Los Angeles-based artist has garnered a lot of attention lately for his rapid-fire freestyles and provocative videos. His most recent eye-popping visuals shows him rapping his verse from "Stacy's Song" while he bleeds profusely from his slit throat.
"I'm a big fan of Helman Newton," Hassan tells iHeartRadio. "He would shoot Yves St. Laurent ads and he would shoot a lot of nude photography, but he shot high-level, beautiful photography. That imagery was from an old Helman Newton photo book, and I just reenacted it."
Hassan posted the gory clip to announce the tracklist for his project EGO MANIAC. The project comes with seven tracks including "Barcelona," which also comes with some visually stunning visuals. You won't find Hassan's new project on major streaming platforms yet because he hosts most of his music on YouTube and his website. He says he's made "more doing direct-to-consumer than having music up on streaming services," and if you check out his online store you'll probably see why.
The 32-year-old artist has a few records up for sale like "Will Be" featuring Oswin Benjamin and "Nina Chop" with production group J.U.S.T.I.C.E League and Crown for $20 while his project The Second Coming is available now for $100. The album features collaborations with Vic Mensa and Nick Grant with beats by J.U.S.T.I.C.E League and Bink! The price tag may be up there like Nipsey Hussle's Crenshaw mixtape, but Hassan says fans will get their money's worth and more.
"This album is really dope," he boasts. "Here's what I think it's worth. You can send me a dollar for the album, or you can send me a thousand dollars for the album. And people have done both."
The artist, born Hassan Khaffaf, got his start in the music industry as an intern for Nick Cannon. During his time working for Cannon, Hass met songwriter and producer Malik Yusef, who was the first person to bring him around Ye. The Iranian-American artist's life changed after he made the trip out to Ye's ranch in Cody, Wyoming where he witnessed the making of albums like Teyana Taylor's K.T.S.E. and the Chicago rapper's self-titled LP Ye. During his experience, Hass connected with Dame Dash, who essentially took him under his wing and helped promote his music.
Hassan's independent business plan sounds like a page right out of Ye and Dame Dash's playbook. Over the years, the multifaceted artist and the seasoned music executive have significantly impacted Hassan's career. Not only have Ye and Dame influenced his life, but they also co-signed the rapper in the studio and during interviews. In fact, fans will see how well they work together in Hassan's upcoming film Anything Is Possible. The documentary, which will debut exclusively on his website, will show Hassan's progression from his early days as a poet and beatmaker to his studio sessions with Ye in Wyoming. The documentary doesn't have a public release date yet, but fans can get early access if they text him at (727) 204-8604.
"A lot of people wouldn't put their number out there," he adds. "But I'm putting my number because if you text me directly and CashApp me whatever you want, you get the whole album and the whole documentary early before we put it out."
In addition to the album and the documentary, Hassan is also breaking into the fashion industry as well. He's preparing to launch a new line of sneakers known as "Sandy," which is named after his dog Mr. Sandman, and an upcoming loafer collaboration with DeJ Loaf. We sat down with Hassan to talk about his rise as an artist, his latest projects, his ties to Ye and Dame Dash plus more. Scroll below to read our conversation.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
iHR: I know you came up as a producer and a rapper but what sparked your interest in the music industry?
HASSAN: I think the root of it was like the Ninja Turtles. That was the first time I ever saw rap was when the Ninja Turtles rapped. I was like "Aw man the Ninja Turtles were so cool. They're rapping. They're eating pizza. They're doing karate and s**t." I was like "I wanna be a Ninja Turtle." That's why I think it's funny when people talk about "Rap is Black" or "Rap is white." To me, rap was green (laughs) because of the Turtles. Then shortly after, and this will be controversial to say, but if I'm being honest when I was a little kid, the first time I saw Puffy and Ma$e in those shiny suits, you know, Hype Williams the way he painted the culture, the way he lit the culture up with the "Mo' Money Mo' Problems" video and all those videos from the '90s. That's how I fell in love with it. That was the allure of like "Wow what is this? I need to be a part of it."
After going through your music, I noticed you have a lot of religious-inspired songs and bars. What are your views on spirituality and why do you lean on that in your music?
It's interesting because my father was born in Baghdad, Iraq. His father was decapitated by Saddam Hussein because his father was in the Parliament pre Saddam. So after that happened, him and his 15 brothers and sisters became political refugees, and they basically fled through the whole Middle East. And years and years later they came to America. But I'm saying all that to say he's Muslim. My mother is American and Catholic, and I'm now, at this point, born-again Christian, nondenominational, but born-again Christian.
So it's been an interesting journey because I would come home and see my dad praying five times a day on the ground, but then I'd also be going to church with my mom on Sunday. And so it's always been a big thing in my family and in my house. They even made this spiritual realization society that my mom and dad did together where they would have all religions come every week. So Buddhist would come, a rabbi would come, different people every week would come. I was 7 watching all this stuff every week and now I feel like in music, that's my coding, that's my DNA. What my dad was doing with bringing people together, different religions. I feel like that coding is what I do now. Right now I'm working with the J.U.S.T.I.C.E League, but I'm also working with this producer named Bink who did a lot on The Blueprint for JAY-Z and "Devil In A New Dress" for Ye, which is my favorite Ye song. They have a rivalry, but I'm also someone that's working with Dame Dash. I say this to say I feel like God sent me to kind of be like this conduit to bring â by the end of all this, I'm going to bring everybody back together because it is about the spirit. I don't try to be all super holier than thou, but it's like the spirit of love is going to win because we're seeing this year, we see what's going on. The darkness is exposed, the light is here, love is going to win.
Do you consider yourself to be Christian rapper because of your beliefs, or do you not try to put yourself in that box?
Nah, I still be cursing and s**t and I think being honest about everything, even whatever it is, battling with sex out of marriage or out of wedlock or cursing or whatever, or having idols. We got to be honest with it. We can't be so holier than thou. I have this song coming with Bryson Gray. He was one of the first black MAGA Christian rappers. We disagree. We disagree on theology. We disagree on some of the things when it comes to interpreting the Bible, but I think it's fine. I think we still need to make dope art because the devil got all the dope artists. The devil got all the dope creatives. The devil got all the dope producers. The devil got all the dope rappers, designers. The devil is winning when it comes to fly s**t. And when someone comes to God, they still need to compete at that highest level. You still got to compete with that Future record. You still got to come with that fire in brimstone.
You've been around for years. What would you say was that first song that really got the attention of the people who have co-signed you today?
There was a specific poem that I did called "Sand N***a" which was very controversial because of the title, obviously. The poem then got turned into a record, and that was really the record that Dame [Dash] was like, "oh s**t, the fact that you're doing this and you have the confidence to do this, and you're not scared, you have no fear to do this. I know you believe in this s**t. You risking your life for this. The poem is basically based on my father escaping Iraq and there was a time that I got arrested with 19 guns under my bed when I was a kid. It's a long story, but the police arrested me and they called me a "sand n****r. It was the first time that I ever heard that term. When I was writing the poem, I was like it'd be just funny to use it.
A lot of people gave me smoke about it. I remember having a conversation with GLC and Ali and a couple of different people, and they was like, 'Yo, you can't say that. I was like, 'well, I appreciate your input, but I don't really care.' But yeah, so it was kind of me flipping that situation into a poem. It's not a term of endearment, it's just writing it for what it is. But I think that was the first record that was especially Dame. He was like, oh man, this dude's either fearless or he's crazy. You what I mean?
Clearly that record got a lot of eyes and ears attracted to you. How did Dame Dash and Ye impact your career?
Yeah, that's a great question. I could say how Dame has impacted my life as a man in general. We went to the media room for the BET awards in 2019. He was like, yo, we're going to stop by Adidas beforehand and Adidas headquarters and go get fly and go get some s**t. And I remember going through this whole process. He had to stop to pick up his daughter. He made sure to talk to his son on the phone who was in New York. I was like, man, this man is moving throughout his day, but he's making sure that his family's first. He's making sure that he's picking up his daughter and taking her to school, picking her up from this. And I was like, man, this is what it's about. It's about taking care of your family, being like a real mob boss. I would say he's impacted me as a man first and foremost, and showed me what's important. Think about it. He walked away from all this 20 years ago so that he could raise his kids.
I saw that video of you, Dame and Ye in the studio. When was that session and what came from it?
Yeah, so we're coming out with a whole documentary called Anything is Possible, and it's going to come out on my website. We're not going to put it out on streaming at first. We're just going to put it up on the website. It's a full documentary of me in Wyoming with Ye working on stuff, different sessions of Dame, kind of the journey up until this point. There's a whole doc and then there's a whole album. A lot of that is the stuff I'm doing with the J.U.S.T.I.C.E League. The album is called The Second Coming. And then I got stuff with Bink and there's a joint with Vic Mensa. This is real rap s**t. This is like real Barcelona. Also, shout out my boy Nick Grant. We got a joint and he's the nicest. I actually have a hot take. I think Nick Grant is better than Kendrick and J. Cole combined. That's my boy Nick. But even if he wasn't my boy, I think he's better than both of 'em combined now. Drake is still the goat, so he's not better than Drake, but he's better than Kendrick and Cole.
Well, I guess we don't have to ask your opinion on the Drake and Kendrick beef. We already know where you're leaning (laughs)
Yeah, and I'm in LA, so I don't give a s**t. I'd be walking around saying way worse s**t than that. Kenny might've won the battle, but Drake has obviously won the war. He just won in life.
So back to the album. You said The Second Coming is out on your website, but do you plan to put it on streaming?
Yeah, well, we have to concede at some point and put it on the streaming services. And I have stuff on streaming services.
Like your record "Freedom" that just dropped?
Yes, "Freedom" is out. Shout out to Nouri. She's a really dope artist and dope singer that came through my guy, Max Goose and Warner Chappell. I'm fully independent, but I do have support from Warner Chappell. I have a publishing deal through Warner Chappell. Shout out to Ryan Press and Max Goose and my man Johnny over there. They're helping with some things and we're making some things move around. As a producer and a songwriter, that helps fund some stuff, but other than that, it's like we're fully independent.
When did you put the album up?
This particular project we just put up, but we did something similar with an EP about maybe eight-nine months ago.
What was the EP called?
The EP was also The Second Coming, but it was like the first draft. There's basically going to be live revisions of the album. Because I'm still painting.
Oh, so it's almost dry.
Yeah, it's almost dry. It would never be dry. Now in this generation, if I have a direct-to-consumer with somebody, if I have your number, I'm going to always just text you the updated version. I got this song, "Devil's Playground," I've been working on for six years. Six years. I got a song called "Feelings" that J.U.S.T.I.C.E League produced. I had a whole string quartet. It's some fly shit. There are 13 versions of that song. We're painters, we're artists. It's not like back in the day where you have to turn in a CD. It's not the '80s.
I feel like that's an art form that Kanye definitely pioneered, if you don't mind me saying, because I feel like that's what he was doing with The Life of Pablo. So I think it's interesting that you've taken that idea and kind of evolved it for yourself and look at what it's doing for you.
Yeah. Always credit to Ye for everything. There's obviously the direct children who have been affected by Ye, but even kids who don't really know that they're affected are still affected because if you're affected by Post Malone, Drake, J. Cole, these are all derivatives. It's all back to the same tree. I mean, being around him during Yeezus was the first time that I really got to be around him. I went to New York and I remember Kim was pregnant with North and they weren't even married yet. It was so amazing to see him work and transcending to Michael Jackson level fame. Regardless of what you feel about Kanye, no matter who says whatever they want, it's amazing to watch. It's been an incredible thing for all of us as consumers to
I think it's interesting that you're able to take away the more inspirational moments between you guys despite everything that's happening in his life. You had mentioned before that you wanted to bring Dame, Ye and all these people together. How are you going to do that in the future? I feel like you've already done that in the studio, but how are you going to keep them together in the future?
Yeah. Well, I feel like with Dame, yay, that's forever. This is going to sound like a little bit of ego, but I have forever now inserted myself into this family tree. You can't bring up JAY-Z without bringing up Dame. You can't bring up Kanye without bringing up Dame. You can't bring up Cam'ron without bringing up Dame. And now, for whatever it's worth, whoever cares about me or has followed my journey, you can't bring me up without bringing up Dame. I'm forever now a part of this alumni. I'm part of this school, this family tree, this lineage of my dream. It's like my dream. People talk about getting a record deal is your dream. No, no, no. This was my dream, to not be accepted by anybody, have the hardest journey possible, and the one person that said, "Hey, you know what? I'm going to open a window for you," is the same person who opened the window for Jay, Ye, and Cam. My idols, my heroes. even to have that footage of me playing this stuff for ye, there's no way anyone's filming Kanye West me. No one knows. Sit down, listen to my album and I'm going to film you. That doesn't happen without Dame Dash. So I mean, Kanye, I know if you know, I mean he's broken a couple of paparazzi cameras over the years. He's not a big fan of cameras.
So the fact that there's even that footage of him listening to my album, that doesn't happen without Dame because he can't tell. What's he going to tell? He's not going to tell Dame though. I'm kind of like this spoiled entitled kid that's able to do a bunch of shit. That's just what was on camera. Imagine shit that ain't on camera that I've gotten away with, or I've been in sessions and this and that, and it's like people be trying to play me. But having Dame is having the real boogieman. That's like the real Suge Knight. Oh man, we really want to tell him sign this. But Dame's big bro. So just to answer your question as far as what's next for you, how you bring everyone together, we'll see what happens. But that's on the docket and we'll see what comes with that.
Is there anything else you want to leave us with before we wrap up?
Again, just thank you for the opportunity my brother. I appreciate it.