Alumnus collaborates with Future, Wiz Khalifa

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Alumnus collaborates with Future, Wiz Khalifa

You’ve heard Wiz Khalifa on the radio a million times, and you might’ve heard Future’s hit “Mask Off,” but the rappers have more of a connection to Hillsdale than playing over the loudspeakers at frat parties. Now they’ve recorded songs with a Hillsdale alumnus.

Hyde, aka Chris Greene ’13, has rapped and sung on tracks with each of them, no small feat for an up-and-coming artist. The song with Future, “Showin Off,” came out Sept. 25, while the Wiz Khalifa track, “Only Life I Know,” will release later this month. Both feature vocals from Greene, who opens “Showin Off” with a tongue-tying verse before singing the hook.

Recording himself in his home studio, he never had to leave his Kalispell, Montana residence. Greene said a producer for the tracks, LX Xander, reached out to him on Twitter asking to collaborate. After working on multiple tracks with LX Xander, Hyde joined mainstream artists on the new songs.

“Those tracks were sort of already in the making, and we just managed to hitch our carts to them,” Hyde explained in an email.

The “Showin Off” rapper started out writing poetry in high school, before a youth pastor suggested he transition to rapping. Beside the popular contemporaries Eminem and 50 Cent, he began listening to Christian rappers such as Lecrae, prompting him to make music under the Christian rap moniker “Ovadia.”

His peers, including Alex Gage ’13 and Jonathan Slonim ’14, note that they often heard him listening to these various influences.

“He would listen to Lecrae all the time,” Gage said.

Chris Greene ’13 rapped on tracks with Future and Wiz Khalifa. Chris Greene | Courtesy

Since switching from Ovadia to Hyde two years ago, the lyricist has nearly finished a new EP titled “End of the Beginning” and earned his first check for a performance. He released “Fire from the Heart,” his debut album as Hyde, in 2016.

“Finding a good, meaningful moniker that isn’t already overused is really, really hard,” he said.

While the name Hyde recalls the dual personalities of the literary characters Jekyll and Hyde, the rapper explained that his name represented a more honest version of himself, rather than a depraved alter ego.

“I do think of my rapping as an alternate version of myself,” he said. “Almost a more honest one. A persona that expresses the thoughts and feelings that Chris Greene would be more likely to suppress.”

Though he’s transitioned out of Christian rap, Hyde’s music is still influenced by his Hillsdale education. He said his music features Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot references, and his study of literature strengthened his storytelling skills.

“My studies at Hillsdale have helped to underpin the philosophy behind my music and my perception of art in general,” he said. “My understanding of the purpose of art strongly influences how I’ve approached my own.”

As a sophomore, the rapper lived across the hall from Jonathan Slonim ’14. The two bonded over Old English while the rapper was taking an Anglo-Saxon literature class. He introduced Slonim to Eminem and other hip-hop legends, showing the freshman some of his raps as well.

“Eventually, he had taught me enough that he trusted me to give him my input on some of his songs, which was a lot of fun,” Slonim said in an email. “He sometimes helps me write poetry myself.”

After a decade of rapping, multiple albums and a name change, Hyde is looking to evolve further. His next project, a set of five tracks, will have a “poppier, more polished and upbeat vibe” than his previous work, and the artist expects it to be his best work yet.

Hyde’s music can be found on Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud. He has an artist page on Facebook, and goes by @HydetheRapper on Twitter and Instagram.