Nicole Hause is a hip hop and rap head. Whether she’s chilling out at the house, getting hyped up to go skate, or picking a song for karaoke, it’s a safe bet she’ll end up throwing on some rap music. We recently hopped on the phone with Nicole and learned that this Minnesotan is an avid hip-hop listener, who her all-time favorite rapper is, and what her stage name is at the local karaoke joints. Along with 16 hand-selected, neck-breaking hip-hop songs from Nicole makes our latest On Rotation interview one you should definitely scope.
What’s your favorite type of music to listen to?
Hip hop and rap. I’ve been listening to it since I was a little kid. I remember the first time that I heard a rap song, I was like nine years old, and ever since then, I’ve just been obsessed with it. I like all music, but that’s like what I choose to listen to.
Do you remember what the first rap song you ever heard was?
Oh god (laughs), there’s two that I remember. One was ‘Chain Hang Low’ by Jibbs and the other was by Lil Bow Wow called ‘Shortie Like Mine.’ Those are my first two, so cheese.
Who introduced you to rap, or how did you stumble across it?
I think it was on the early internet. I was probably nine and I don’t even know how I stumbled across it, really. I like the beat, the flow, the art form, and how they are poetic with it. I just got into that and haven’t stopped.
I think it’s just part of my personality. I’m not an aggressive person, but my skating and how I like going about things is like the beat of hip hop. I feel like I relate to the energy of it, so that’s why I think I like it and that it matches up with things, how I feel on my board and how I feel off my board, kind of.
Who would you say is your all-time favorite rapper?
Kendrick Lamar for sure. Definitely hands down Kendrick Lamar. It just depends on the time frame. I feel like I get into different people’s music at different times. But Kendrick Lamar is someone that I’m always like… He’s the GOAT.
What type of music do you listen to get hyped up before a session? Is it still rap?
Yeah, still rap (laughs). I listen to everything though, I’m not super picky. For me, I’ll put on some rap music. Usually Kendrick Lamar, Joey Badass, Isaiah Rashad are sick. Anyone from Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). All my favorite rappers are on there. Whatever they’re doing is what I’m listening to.
Do you have a specific playlist you listen to for when you compete?
Yeah, I have a playlist called hype, and I think there’s like a hundred songs on there now, and it’s all rap pretty much. Sometimes I’ll shuffle through radio stuff, and whenever I hear a song that I can see myself getting amped up to go skate to this, I’ll like it and add it to that playlist and have my hype music in one place.
Has what you’ve been listening to change at all since the quarantine started?
A little bit. I’ve been getting into more Isaiah Rashad, another TDE guy, some of his older music. I’m into something mellow right now. I’m not really doing much. Editing on my computer, icing my foot, doing that kind of stuff. So, something chill. Not trying to hype myself up right now. Not trying to get the adrenaline going.
What were people listening to more back home?
Definitely country. That’s all that’s on the radio there really, and just being on the river in the summer everybody is listening to country. It’s definitely the biggest genre there. That or classic rock.
I feel like country is big everywhere except California.
I know. Whenever I say I like country everyone is like ‘what?’ They’re disturbed and I’m like, ‘you don’t know where I’m from, all we listen to is country.’ Sometimes a country song will come on and I’ll know all the lyrics, and somebody will be like ‘What? Why do you know this song?’ and I’m like, it’s just how it goes (laughs).
If you could pick any song for a skate video, what would you choose?
Oh my. That’s a hard one. Sometimes I have a problem with the songs I like. [They] don’t go with skating, but I don’t know, maybe like an Ice Cube, like a 90s hip hop song. I feel like if I could get the rights, I feel like an Ice Cube ‘Today’s a Good Day’ you could make a pretty sick edit to.
Ice Cube would be hard!
Yeah, I wonder how much that would cost? What do you think? I don’t even know I can’t even guess. Thirty grand or something maybe?
Maybe Nike will hook it up.
Right! What’s up Nike, can we get an Ice Cube song going?
Do you ever do karaoke?
Yes, I’ll definitely do karaoke once in a while. Nora (Vasconcellos) is the karaoke freaking queen, so she pretty much wants to do karaoke once a week when she’s here, and I’m down for whatever. There’s this good place by us called Smitty’s. It’s a bar, and it’s so fun there. They have karaoke there every night till 1:00 AM or something crazy, so you can go in there any day of the week and do whatever you want. All the people that work there are really good at karaoke, but yeah, I have definitely done a lot of karaoke in my life. Not for a while, but I need to pick up on it again once the quarantine is over.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Anything 50 Cent because it’s slow, you can easily rap because it’s like you’re just talking, so that’s like the easiest thing I would say. Nora always does Zombie (by The Cranberries) she has like four Karaoke songs that she always does, and I’m always like ‘You’re going to do that again huh?’ (laughs)
Last question, what would be your rapper name?
Lil Hause (laughs). That’s a go for sure.
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