Early on in his career, he worked for Kanye West’s GOOD Music, which turned out to be a fantastic launching pad for the record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter known around town and within the music community as Hit-Boy.
The in-demand collaborator went on to write and/or produce singles and albums with top artists like Jay-Z, Drake, and Nipsey Hussle. The first of his three Grammys came in 2013, for Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Paris,” and his most recent was in 2021, in the Best Rap Album category, for Nas’s “King’s Disease.” And it’s a pretty good bet he’ll add one or two more professional feathers in his cap this year as one of the many producers on Beyoncé’s Grammy-nominated mega-hit album “Renaissance.”
The music industry veteran and L.A. native, who’s lived in a series of upscale rentals in and around West Hollywood for the last few years, has now parlayed his success into the $3.3 million purchase of a stylishly appointed home in L.A.’s celeb-saturated Toluca Lake neighborhood. An example of the six degrees of real estate separation that goes on all across Los Angeles, Hit-Boy bought the modern farmhouse-style home from his former boss Kanye West’s ex-wife’s makeup artist!
It was only a month ago that the two-year-old home was put on the market, at $3.295 million, by celebrity makeup artist Mary Phillips, who was able to purchase the house, in 2021 for $2.7 million, by being really good at conceptualizing and carefully applying the makeup for always immaculately maquillaged women like Kim Kardashian, her half-sisters Kendall and Kyle Jenner, Jennifer Lopez, and Bella Hadid.
On the outer edge of the coveted showbiz enclave — a cat cannot be swung in Toluca Lake without knocking down at least two famous folks trying to go incognito in dark glasses and a ball cap — the home was designed and built by local outfit Core Homes. There are five bedrooms and five bathrooms, plus a couple more powder rooms, dispersed throughout the two-story home’s 3,800 square feet.
Designer features include wide-plank floorboards, handcrafted woodwork, and bespoke light fixtures, while the plethora of high-tech and security features include tall hedging for privacy, cameras for recording all comers, goers and passersby, and a comprehensive home automation system for touch-pad convenience. Other highlights include an open-plan living space anchored by a gourmet kitchen, a steam shower in the primary bedroom, and in-ceiling speakers throughout.
The relatively small parcel doesn’t allow for a particularly expansive backyard, but the fully hedged space has been maximized with drought-busting fake turf, a crystalline swimming pool with inset spa and Baja shelf, and an outdoor kitchen. There’s even a sweet open-air cabana with a dedicated pool bath.
The home was listed with Jen Winston at Compass; Anna Marie Simpliciano at Carolwood Estates managed the transaction for Hit-Boy.
