We always love hearing about the history of a record label. We sat down with Dj Shiftee from Hot Mom USA recently to learn more!
Despite it’s bizarre name, Hot Mom USA has quickly found itself in the forefront of eclectic and fascinating music that meets at the crossroads of Hip Hop, Electronic, and dance. The record label has been quickly gaining attention over the last few years, releasing tracks from renowned artists in the club scene like Doctor Jeep, Cakes da Killa, and E.A.S.Y.
According to DJ Shiftee, the founder of the label, the project began ‘in 2012, after [his] buddy Rx & [himself] made a silly club song called ‘Act Out!” The duo didn’t find a label where the track would fit in, so they put together a label. While it began as a side project for the labelhead, it slowly became a serious endeavor over, and over the last couple of years, he’s truly began to form the label into something more lucrative. The challenge for the DJ, who admits that he began this purely as a passion project and ‘more about how [they]can we make everything as dope as possible, regardless of cost or expectations about sales etc.’ they’ve since began to crunch some numbers and make this all work.
The future of the label is clearly defined by the values and virtues that DJ Shiftee and co hold as they focus on those ‘who are bringing a fresh perspective to their scenes.’ They also seem to want to focus on growing with ‘crossover type tracks,’ with the idea of bringing hip hop more heavily into their future discography.
As for the name of the label (we had to find out the story about that!)? ‘The goal of the name was to be as in your face and ridiculous as possible. Like it’s hard not to have a gut reaction to “Hot Mom USA.” Now that I’m less young & dumb, I think about the name more in terms of empowerment and embracing a person’s uniqueness. Like damn, there goes that “Hot Mom USA” owning it.’
More information and their discography can be found here.
