Get Up On This With Jensen Karp: Hobo Johnson

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Every Thursday morning Jensen Karp brings our attention to something that we may not know about yet or something we may have overlooked in the past.

Now it's time to "Get Up On This."

This week Jensen got us up on 24-year-old Frank Lopes Jr. from Sacramento, California, also known as Hobo Johnson - the frontman for Hobo Johnson & The Love Makers. He’s of Mexican and Portuguese descent and at 19 years old, he was kicked out of his father’s home. He was temporarily homeless and living out of his car, which is how he picked the name, Hobo Johnson. While homeless, he worked at a pizzeria but decided to quit and follow his passion. He’s been making music since and steadily climbing the buzzworthy ladder all year.

In 2016, he released his debut album, The Rise of Hobo Johnson, which was sparsely heard until he taped a music video for a NPR Tiny Desk contest. Though he didn’t win the contest, the video went viral for a song called Peach Scone.
Jensen finds when Hobo utilizes his Alternative influences, it feels a lot more natural than when he employs a hip-hop focus. His latest single, which is a perfect fit for KROQ, sounds like something you may hear from Suicidal Tendencies and is called Typical Story.
Another amazing, and somewhat heartbreaking, fact about Hobo Johnson is that he’s also a Sacramento Kings fan. Here's another one of his songs called DeMarcus Cousins & Ashley.
Hobo Johnson is unlike any artist, riding the line between Alternative Rock, Hip-Hop and even spoken word, sounding at times like a drunk Barney Gumble from The Simpsons. He is the perfect hybrid fit for the new generation of alternative music and he should be getting tons of attention on KROQ.
Jensen’s excited to hear what his new album, The Fall of Hobo Johnson, will sound like when it’s released on September 7, 2019. He has a large scale tour throughout October and November and is playing Lollapalooza, Reading and the Leeds festivals. And On October 14th you can see Hobo Johnson & The Lovemakers at The Wiltern and October 16th at the House of Blues in Anaheim. These two shows may easily sell out so get your tickets as soon as possible.