Nick Koenig, better known by his stage name Hot Sugar, is an American record producer from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York. He is the owner of the Noise Collector record label. He starred in the 2015 documentary film ''

Hot Sugar's Cold World ''Hot Sugar's Cold World'' is a 2015 American documentary film about musician Hot Sugar (Nick Koenig), directed by Adam Bhala Lough. It is executive produced by David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, and Danny McBride. It features appearances from Neil d ...

''.

Career

In 2011, Hot Sugar released his debut EP, ''Muscle Milk''. In that year, he produced

the Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

' song "Sleep", which was included in their ''

Undun ''Undun'' is the tenth studio album by American hip hop band The Roots. It was released on December 6, 2011, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was recorded in sessions at several studios in Philadelphia and New York City. Production was handled ...

'' album. In 2012, he released the ''Moon Money'' EP, as well as the ''Midi Murder'' EP. In 2013, he released the ''Made Man'' EP. In that year, he produced Kitty's song "Barbie Jeep". In 2015, his debut studio album, ''God's Hand'', was released on Break World Records. He starred in

Adam Bhala Lough Adam Bhala Lough is an American film director, screenwriter, and documentary filmmaker from Fairfax, Virginia. Known for his ability to authentically dramatize subcultures and popular youth cultures, several of Lough’s films have been selected ...

's ''

'', which received an honorable mention at the 2015

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

. In 2017, he released a studio album, ''The Melody of Dust''. Hot Sugar's music has been used in ''

Broad City ''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web series ...

''. He has collaborated with

Antwon Antonio Williams (born October 25, 1986), better known by his stage name Antwon, is an American rapper based in San Jose, California. In 2013, he was included on '' Complex''s "15 Unsigned Rappers Who Should Get a Deal After SXSW" list. He was al ...

Lakutis Aleksey Weintraub (born July 15, 1985), better known by his stage name Lakutis, is an American rapper from New York. He has collaborated with Das Racist, Hot Sugar, and Kitty. He has also toured with Le1f and Antwon. Early life Lakutis was b ...

Heems Himanshu Kumar Suri (born July 6, 1985), better known by his stage name Heems, is an American rapping, rapper from Queens in New York City. Best known for being part of the alternative hip hop group Das Racist, Suri is also the founder of Greedh ...

Big Baby Gandhi Big Baby Gandhi (birth name: Nafis) is a Bangladesh-born American rapper from Queens, New York. His first mixtape, ''Big Fucking Baby'', was released in 2011 to highly positive reception from music critics. As a result of the attention he got fro ...

, and Chippy Nonstop, among others. He has also directed music videos for

Lil Peep Gustav Elijah Åhr (November 1, 1996 – November 15, 2017), known professionally as Lil Peep, was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He was a member of the emo rap collective GothBoiClique. Helping pioneer an emo revival-style of Rapp ...

's "

Awful Things "Awful Things" is a song by American rapper Lil Peep featuring fellow American rapper Lil Tracy from his first studio album, ''Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1'' (2017). It was released as the third single from the album on July 28, 2017. The tr ...

Marshmello Christopher Comstock (born May 19, 1992), known professionally as Marshmello, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. His songs "Silence", "Wolves", "Friends", " Happier", and " Alone" have been certified multi-platinum in several ...

and Lil Peep's "

Spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...

", and

the Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamb ...

' " Solara".

Style and influences

According to ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'', Hot Sugar's music is called "associative music, where he pulls in a ton of sounds from instruments, found sounds, and non-traditional places to sample them into his own melodies." He has been perfecting the technique since the age of 13. In a 2015 interview with ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'', he described associative music as "try ngto capture sounds the same way a photographer would capture an image: If something looks poetic, I'll record it". In a 2015 interview with ''

Nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...

'', Hot Sugar stated that

Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost 40 works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped ...

and

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

are very important to him. He said: "Their influence on modern culture is incalculable and their work is timelessly innovative."

Personal life

Hot Sugar has dated

Molly Soda Amalia Soto, known as Molly Soda, is a Brooklyn-based internet performance artist. Soda works across a variety of digital platforms, producing selfies videos, GIFs, zines, and web-based performance art, which are presented both online and in g ...

and Kitty.

Controversy

In June 2018, Hot Sugar filed a defamation lawsuit against

Ricky Eat Acid Samuel Joseph Ray (born April 25, 1991), also known by the name of his solo electronic project Ricky Eat Acid, is an American musician from Baltimore, Maryland, most well known for his involvement in his band Teen Suicide. History Sam Ray be ...

and Fish Narc, stating that they "are co-conspirators who have engaged in libel and slander, among other unlawful acts, against ot Sugarover the course of years including recently through various social media publications such as

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

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." He initially sought at least $100,000 in damages, and reached settlements with both of them in August 2018.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''God's Hand'' (2015) * ''The Melody of Dust'' (2017) * ''Candlelight'' (2020) * ''Torchlight'' (2020) * ''Atlas'' (2020) * ''Screenlight'' (2022)

Compilation albums

* ''Solid Steel Mix'' (2012) * ''Seductive Nightmares 1'' (2013) * ''Seductive Nightmares 2'' (2014) * ''Skeletons'' (2014) * ''Seductive Nightmares 3'' (2016)

EPs

* ''Muscle Milk'' (2011) * ''Moon Money'' (2012) * ''Midi Murder'' (2012) * ''Made Man'' (2013) * ''Mob Mentality'' (2019) * ''Life Support'' (2019)

Filmography

Feature films

* ''

'' (2015)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hot Sugar Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from New York (state) American hip hop record producers American electronic musicians