KennyHoopla

KennyHoopla surfaced from the Midwestern underground toward the end of the 2010s through a string of attention-grabbing singles that blended new wave, post-punk, and R&B elements. As one of the initial acts signed to the freshly established Mogul Vision Music imprint under Arista, he issued his first album, the Travis Barker-assisted Survivors Guilt: The Mixtape//, in 2021. He reunited with Barker for the 2023 Blink and You'll Miss It EP, which included the track "Dirty White Vans."

Born Kenneth La'Ron in Cleveland, Ohio, he started creating music early on, drawing from Funeral Suits, Passion Pit, and the Drums. While based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his initial output carried loose rap tags, yet the guitar-driven compositions with their somber hues and introspective, pained vocals aligned more closely with indie rock and alt-R&B. Regional and online momentum built through the 2017 single "Waves//" and its 2018 successor, "Sickness." Following Sony's 2019 relaunch of Arista Records, Hoopla joined the new Mogul Vision roster and put out the well-received "Lost Cause//" and "Sore Loser//." After moving to Los Angeles, he opened 2020 with the intense, post-punk-tinged "how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?//." Later that year he unveiled the complete Survivors Guilt: The Mixtape//, incorporating drum work from Travis Barker, then toured in support of Yungblud and Machine Gun Kelly. Additional pairings with Barker arrived via the 2022 standalone single "Dirty White Vans" featuring Wiz Khalifa, followed by the July 2023 EP Blink and You'll Miss It and its single "Sabotage//."