Imagine the side-splitting antics of three street corner comics roasting each other in rhyme over an infectious dance track. Making you laugh aloud from line after witty line, nothing is taboo as they bring attention to holes in socks, body odor and physical defects.  

 Like Hip-Hop's version of the Kings of Comedy, south side Chicago-based threesome Hot Stylz did just that with their popular club track "Lookin @$$ N!**@." Made up of comedic rappers Raydio G, Krazee and Meatball, the group reaped fans from the Mid-West and across the country with humorous rhymes, up-tempo production and fluid rap flows. And they are sure to have us all cracking up with their debut album on Swagg Team/ Jive Records due later this year. 

 "Everybody likes to laugh. I don't care if you are a preacher or a thug. Laughter is universal," explains Raydio G. "We are all crazy, all day. That's why the music comes off so effortlessly. The music is influenced from actual events."  

Indeed, the concept for "Lookin @$$ N!**@" came from their daily ritual of cracking jokes on each other. Late one night while they were partying, drinking and freestyling to instrumental beats with a handful of females on site, they decided to add a different twist to the cipher. They insulted each other in their verses. The session was so hilarious that they made it into as a song. Almost instantly, it grew legs and took off.  

"From nerds to anorexics to fat people to tall people to short people, somebody is picking on somebody at all times," Krazee explains the song's popularity. "That's something we do as people. In your home, at work or wherever you may be, everybody likes to laugh."

The record became so hot that other rappers popped up by the dozens with copycat songs. In a move to set themselves aside from the rest of the pack, they posted a video of the song on YouTube. The post currently garners more than 20,000 views per day.

"That video gave us so much traffic to our MySpace page," says Raydio.  "It was simple, but it made the song that much better."

Not only did they have the Internet going nuts but the single's heavy club rotation prompted platinum artist Yung Joc to sign them to his new Swagg Team imprint in January. Joc even gets into the roasting act on the censored radio remix "Lookin Boy." And with Joc at the helm, the group signed a major label deal with Jive Records.  

"A lot of people say they are bringing the fun back, but we are bringing the ig'nant back," explains Raydio. "Plus, it's still style with it. It's not too bubblegum-ish. We got some substance…It's either gone be ig'nant or have you dying laughing or have you saying 'did they really create a song about this?'"  

The fun began back in 1997 in the cafeteria of Dunbar Vocational High School in Chicago. Making beats on tables and rapping back and fourth, Raydio G and Meatball along with two former members captivated their classmates on a daily basis. They named the ensemble Hotstylz and made names for themselves locally in talent shows throughout the city. By 2002, Krazee was added to the group, and they dropped their independent debut album The Bootleg Filez Vol. 1. By 2005, the group had been reshuffled to its present lineup. Then, they released compilation CD Hot Product in 2005, a collective effort featuring members of their rap crew HS Clique.

"We wanna show everybody a whole different perspective to the game," expresses Meatball. "Everybody wants to be a thug, but we chose not to go that route. We chose to have fun."

Those same energetic, good times will be all over their Swagg Team/ Jive major label debut. Their club-ready sound is a natural hybrid of their influences from swift-tongued Chicago rappers like Do Or Die, Crucial Conflict and Twista, but they blend their Mid-West sound with the up-tempo effervescence of raw, Down South energy from the likes of Three 6 Mafia.

"It's partially southern, but Midwest and southern music over the years started sounding alike," says Raydio. "It's more of a Chicago influence but there's definitely a southern influence too." 

"Commercially, people think Chicago is full of conscious rappers, we all wear tight clothes and try to kick knowledge all day," Raydio sums up. "But there are a lot rappers like us who are like us – about having fun." 

Lookin Boy (WM, Streaming, 96k, Audio)

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Lookin Boy (WM, Streaming, 64k, Audio)

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