This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome manager, dot-connector, and Cinematic Music Group partner Hovain Hylton to the Upper West Side! Hovain discuses the dark realities in growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, exploring all other parts of the borough as a young man, gaining musical inspiration from seeing Puff Daddy and the Family at Madison Square Garden, and life inspiration from seeing his own cousin's music video on television. Hov talks putting off real jobs and industry internships in favor of running around with Sickamore, road managing Rich Hil, and building a truly independent operation with Troy Ave. We get into the excitement of inspiring the streets, putting on for New York City, and selling themselves as an authentic movement, as well as the validation that comes from playing Hot 97 Summer Jam's main stage, taking and walking away from major label meetings and starting over after one business ends. His talks about the perfect situation he has these days at Cinematic alongside Jonny Shipes, managing OGs like Styles P, Sheek Louch and Smoke DZA and young stars like Luh Kel, and what it means to still be a fan and have the ear of luminaries like Fat Joe and N.O.R.E. All that, plus how he pulled up to the Summer Jam parking lot, what his mom thinks he does for a living, why he can no longer be a Knicks fan, the one and only pair of shoes he's missing in his extensive collection, and much more!

4:26 AKAs

Eric aka The One-Ders aka Cinematic Music Group 

Jeff aka Thinking Outside the Box aka Sitting in the Friend Zone 

Hovain speaks about:

7:35 Growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn

18:16 His relationship with Sickamore/Beginning his management career 

29:23 Staying independent/ What he brings to the table as a manager 

39:44 His fallout with Troy Ave/ Interviewing for Fancy and starting to manage other artists 

50:01 His relationship with Jonny Shipes/Striving to be great

1:02:24 His sneaker collection/ Working with people he grew up admiring 

1:11:12 Sean Price/ Still being ambitious/ Having a Brooklyn bias 

1:16:31 Outro

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