Lee Gresh, known professionally as DJ Hoppa (born, April 28, 1983) is an American DJ and producer from

Panorama City, Los Angeles Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. Ethnically, more than half of its population was born a ...

. He was signed to rapper

Hopsin Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles. In 2007, he was signed to Ruthless Records, and had founded his own record label, Funk Volume, i ...

's now defunct record label

Funk Volume Funk Volume was an American independent record label founded by American rapper Hopsin. The label was home to artists Dizzy Wright, Jarren Benton, SwizZz, and producers DJ Hoppa and Kato. The label is defunct due to a feud between co-founders Hop ...

, and CEO of the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

independent label Broken Complex located in North Hollywood, California. He has made beats for

Dizzy Wright La'Reonte Wright (born November 26, 1990), known professionally as Dizzy Wright, is an American rapper and record producer. In December 2011, Wright signed to rapper Hopsin's independent record label, Funk Volume. After signing, he released his ...

's '' The Golden Age'' mixtape, ''The First Agreement EP'' and ''SmokeOut Conversations'',

Jarren Benton Jarren Giovanni Benton (born October 26, 1981), is an American rapper from Decatur, Georgia. In early 2012, he signed to rapper Hopsin's independent record label Funk Volume and released a mixtape titled, ''Freebasing with Kevin Bacon'' in June ...

's ''

My Grandma's Basement ''My Grandma's Basement'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Jarren Benton. The album was released on June 11, 2013, through Funk Volume and was supported by the single "Razor Blades and Steak Knives". The album features guest appearance ...

'', and also worked with

SwizZz Justin Ritter (born September 28, 1987), known professionally as SwizZz, is an American rapper and songwriter. He is best known for significantly collaborating with childhood friend Hopsin, and being signed to their record label Funk Volume, whic ...

& Gavlyn.

Early life

Hoppa was born on April 28, 1983 to a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

er and a

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

. In 1992, his father died. In a September 2004 interview, he revealed that he had taken up beat making and production in high school. His first gig was at a house party.

Musical career

DJ Hoppa released his first album, ''To April From June'', in August 2004; the duplication costs of which were funded by Hoppa's friends after they were impressed by the quality of the album. Not much was heard of him in 2005, but in 2006 he produced

Bliss n Eso Bliss n Eso (formerly known as Bliss n' Esoterikizm) are an Australian hip hop trio based in Sydney. They are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are managed and booked by label co-founders Adam Jankie and Matt Gudin ...

's Up Jumped the Boogie, which charted in Australia. His next album, ''Avantgardening: Cultivating Food for Thought'', was released in September 2007 and was in collaboration with Mine+Us (pronounced minus). Another collaboration, this time with Sirah, followed; ''Clean Windows Dirty Floors'' was released in 2007 and was noted for containing "a winning mix of wit, humor, ability, and perspective". Hoppa's next work, ''Volume One'', was an album billed under "Hop & Pop" which was in collaboration with General Populous. In 2009, he released his second solo album, ''Network Networth'', which contained his hit single Up Jumped the Boogie. He then released another collaboration with Mine+Us called ''Day By Day''. The following year, a collaboration with Cleen and General Populous was released called "DJ Hoppa Presents Cleen and General Populous: Cleen Pop Music". 2011 saw singles being released from Hoppa. Pretending featuring Max Star and Intuition was released as a single in February 2011. In addition, Hoppa produced Sirah's single "God's Grace", released in March 2011. "You're a 6, I'm a 10" featuring Dirtbag Dan and Abel Abilities, was released as a single in June 2011. In 2012, Hoppa and Mine-Us produced their third collaboration album, ''Everything Is A-Okay''; its title track was commended as "an uplifting track telling the listeners to not give up and to look forward, amongst all the crap that might be coming upon them. It's a great beat accompanied by tried and true rhymes. The video is rugged with glitchy shots of Mine+US rapping his verses". In 2013, Hoppa teamed up with Self Provoked for an album called ''The Decade'', which was praised as "chopped up stylings of Self Provoked over the ever dope DJ Hoppa's happy go lucky bangers". A single, "All Falls Together" featuring

, was released from the album. He has shared the stage with

Immortal Technique Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics, from a radical left-wing perspective. Immortal Techn ...

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

Kid Sister Melissa Young (born July 3, 1980), known professionally as Kid Sister, is an American rapper based in Chicago, Illinois. She is known for her single " Pro Nails", which features Kanye West, and for her work as a member of the British music colle ...

and Crystal Method.

Critical reception

Said Jamey Bresden of ''

The Deli Magazine ''The Deli'' was a Brooklyn based independent music magazine, with both print and online editions, as well as a blog (still active) that covers local music scenes and their emerging artists. Magazine In its print version, ''The Deli'' was a quar ...

'':

Discography

Studio albums

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoppa, DJ American DJs Living people People from Panorama City, Los Angeles Record producers from California 1983 births