Words by: Joseph Genest
“During that social media boom, I would’ve told my younger self to diversify as much as possible. I wish I was posting my shoe or furniture designs…who knows where that could’ve taken me? Always have your options open, looking for the next thing.”
Somehoodlum’s style fits perfectly in a generation raised on Instagram. Often draped with colorful backdrops, his distinct character design is immediately recognizable from the hype era. Gaining notoriety in the app’s early days, his page all started as a “meme account that’s art”.
Known for his viral puns of culture’s current happenings, Somehoodlum’s memes were often shared by the very artists being portrayed (like Drake, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, and Lil Uzi Vert). It was a sign of hip-hop’s more playful attitude on IG, settling nicely between our algorithm’s feed of grittiness and glamour.
“Drake thinks the memes of us clowning him are funny. That was eye-opening about internet culture, these high-profile stars taking the joke themselves.”
Initially, the core of Somehoodlum’s puns were play-on-words like Gucci Maine or Chef Keef.
Other times the joke was more upfront, like Literal Uzi Vert or Kodak Black.
Beginning over eight years ago, the pseudonym Somehoodlum came about while he was in college studying industrial design. With aspirations to become a shoe designer, the inspiration for the anonymous profile came after Adidas Creative Director Mark Dolce liked a photo on his personal IG account.
“The first thing I realized is it could’ve been a missed opportunity. Then, I started thinking my shoe design could have ended up on an inspiration board in a corporate office somewhere,” he recalls. “Maybe that happened, maybe that didn’t. But, I learned I needed to have an account on social media that has a little bit of gravity to it. I needed to stand out.”
And so, Somehoodlum was born.
“The first thing I realized is it could’ve been a missed opportunity. Then, I started thinking my shoe design could have ended up on an inspiration board in a corporate office somewhere,” he recalls. “Maybe that happened, maybe that didn’t. But, I learned I needed to have an account on social media that has a little bit of gravity to it. I needed to stand out.”
And so, Somehoodlum was born.
“Popularizing a style that was uniquely mine, that everyone could point at, that was my best defense in protecting my IP.”
Somehoodlum has only lent his style to projects within a wheelhouse of personal taste, ranging from music video for Lil Nas X and character design for the Amazon Original Fairfax (depicting a group of teens in LA’s ‘Hypebeast district’) to illustrations for brands like Jordan.
Somehoodlum has only lent his style to projects within a wheelhouse of personal taste, ranging from music video for Lil Nas X and character design for the Amazon Original Fairfax (depicting a group of teens in LA’s ‘Hypebeast district’) to illustrations for brands like Jordan.
With such notable credits, Somehoodlum’s most recent work has been doubling down on personal interests and passions, involving more of a community-driven approach. Delving into the web3 world, his Hoodlums NFTs is a collection of 5,000 unique characters (I own #3832), enabling fans to connect over the Hoodlum world. Partnering with Bonfire and ZeBlocks, he's hosting a competition called Somefund, which is giving away grants between $5,000 to $50,000 to creatives of all disciplines. Voting is now live here.
Outside of Web3, Somehoodlum’s also been working on a “community-driven comic book” in collaboration with the electronic duo NERO, dropping weekly comics that are a “Dungeons and Dragons meets Goosebumps and Choose Your Own Adventure, that’s very much in the style of Blade Runner.”
For future works, Somehoodlum feels as though the memes might be coming to a slow.
“The news has gotten very negative and I don’t want to be doing negative stuff. It used to be ‘Drake’s a nice guy’ and that was the meme in 2016.” he explains, “My business was model was a meme account that’s art. And, I always wanted to do art for just art’s sake. If you’re ever going to do an artistic endeavor, you’ve got to be able to say ‘no’ to things.”
The anonymity of Somehoodlum’s profile has enabled him to say ‘no’ to anything that doesn’t fit the project’s mold. He’s also not pigeonholed by it, enabling him to walk away completely and start making art under a different name altogether.
After all, it’s good he kept his options open.
After all, it’s good he kept his options open.
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