Jensen Karp

Career

Music

Karp was raised in Calabasas, California. After a brief stint in hip-hop at 11 years old signed for management to Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate, Karp entered the Roll Call freestyle competition on Los Angeles radio station Power 106, during his time at USC, where he lasted a record 45 days on air to become the show's all-time champion. Karp created a demo exhibiting his satirical style and tightly wound rhymes. He eventually signed with Interscope Records for what he said was a million dollars, where he recorded what was to be his debut album, Your Housekeeper Hates You, which included guest appearances by Redman, Kanye West, will.i.am, DJ Quik, Fabolous, Mýa, Sugar Ray, DJ Clue, and MC Serch. However, Interscope informed Karl that his album could not be commercially released due to scheduling conflicts and he decided to leave Interscope. In 2013, Karp recorded his first song in 10 years for his favorite basketball team, the Los Angeles Clippers, at the request of DJ Dense, the team's in-arena DJ.

In 2016, Karp recorded a song titled "Like Riding a Bike", featuring Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, which is available on SoundCloud.

Books

Karp co-wrote the book Just Can't Get Enough: Toys, Games and Other Stuff from the '80s that Rocked for Abrams Books with Matthew Robinson. Jensen released his memoir, Kanye West Owes Me $300 (and other true stories from a white rapper who ALMOST made it big), detailing the entire experience in June 2016 with Crown Books.

Radio

In October 2018, Karp joined the cast of the Kevin and Bean morning show, hosted by Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter on alternative rock station KROQ 106.7 FM in Los Angeles. He had a regular segment called "Get Up on This", based on his podcast. On March 18, 2020, it was announced that the entire morning crew had been let go by KROQ, over the phone at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was reported that the station lost half its audience in the 2 weeks after letting them go as office and car listening fell rapidly across America as the pandemic emerged.

Television

Karp was a writer for WWE Raw for seven months during 2006.

He also appeared on Season 1 of VH1's Barely Famous playing Erin Foster's boyfriend and was seen numerous times on the final season of Candidly Nicole. Karp also appeared on Comedy Central's @midnight. Karp wrote a sketch on The Late Late Show with James Corden called Drop the Mic, where Corden goes head to head battle rapping a different celebrity each installment. After Late Late Show installments with Anne Hathaway, Kevin Hart, David Schwimmer, and Usain Bolt, TBS bought the concept, which aired 31 episodes starting in 2017. Karp was credited as an executive producer for 7 episodes.

Karp has written for Sacha Baron Cohen's Who Is America? The Grammys, The ESPYs, The MTV Movie Awards, The Masked Singer, and the NFL on Fox.

Art

Karp co-owns and operates Gallery 1988, two pop art focused galleries in Los Angeles, California both located on Melrose Avenue. Gallery 1988 is well known for its annual show, Crazy 4 Cult, where 100 artists reinterpret classic cult movies in their own style. At one time, Karp was also the brand manager and designer for Pete Wentz's Clandestine Industries. His marketing company, Tyson/Givens Design & Marketing created the LOST Underground Art Project for the show's final season and worked with the TV show Breaking Bad. The gallery has also hosted exhibits for movies including The Avengers, Rick and Morty and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Podcasts

Karp hosted a podcast called Hype Men in which he, Eric Rosenthal, and Jeff Rosenthal, aka Itsthereal, discussed hip-hop. It was ran from August 2010 to July 2011.

He hosted a show on Earwolf called Get Up on This, in which he, Matthew Robinson, and a guest discussed things they think they should know about. Robinson and Karp also hosted Get Up Off This, the podcast within a podcast where they discuss things that people should not like and other replacements. The show ran from August 2011 until October 2018 with 371 episodes made. Karp and Robinson choose Ali Segel and Erin Mallory Long to replace them as hosts.

He was a frequent guest on Pistol Shrimps Radio, a podcast on Earwolf following a women's recreational league basketball team in Los Angeles. In the halftime "Sock Report" segment, Karp discusses the socks of Pistol Shrimps and opposing players. In the second season of Pistol Shrimps Radio, Karp's character changed to "Greg Escalante," who later revealed he was Jensen Karp hiding from the Church of Scientology.

On July 1, 2020, Karp and his wife, Danielle Fishel, started a new podcast called Talk Ain't Cheap, where they analyze and dissect the Cameo accounts of celebrities. They also launched a Patreon account that grants early access to the show, as well as other podcasts and an interactive Instagram game show called Scorantine. The podcast has drawn criticism as the idea was stolen from the Canadian podcast Blocked Party. The show was originally called Word Up! which is a direct copy of Blocked Party's segment title. Since the summer of 2022 Karp has been producing the podcast Pod Meets World in which three cast members from the 90s sitcom Boy Meets World, Rider Strong, Will Friedle, and Karp's wife Danielle Fishel, watch episodes of the show, and share behind the scenes stories of what it was like to make the show.

Personal life

On July 4, 2017, towards the end of episode #303 of his podcast Get Up On This, he announced that he was dating actress Danielle Fishel. The two attended high school together but only began a romantic relationship after reconnecting as adults. On March 22, 2018, Fishel and Karp got engaged. They married on November 4, 2018. Fishel announced in January 2019 that she and Karp were expecting their first child in July 2019. After the couple got married in 2018, the couple started a family with the birth of their son Adler Lawrence Karp on June 24, 2019, a month early. Their son spent three weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit. There was fluid that was found in Adler's lungs that had not been present prior to that. Fishel and Karp had a second son in 2021.

In popular culture

Karp appeared on The Howard Stern Show in 2011 to talk about his time in the rap industry and perform The Roll Call with Howard & Lisa G. He also acted as the Creative Director at comedy YouTube Channel, Jash, where he produced and wrote on projects like The ArScheerio Paul Show and the Chance the Rapper music video for "Na Na.". He has written for Rolling Stone, the ESPYs, the MTV Movie and Video Awards, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and Funny or Die.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch incident

On March 22, 2021, Karp tweeted a photograph of apparent discarded shrimp tails he claimed to have found in a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch he purchased, despite the facility not producing a single product containing shrimp. Additionally, Karp said he found a piece of string, "small black pieces" embedded into some pieces of the cereal, and an object that looked like a pea. The tweet about the alleged incident went viral, bringing safety concerns in General Mills' manufacturing process into question. General Mills later issued a statement on Twitter claiming the purported shrimp tails were "an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients aren't thoroughly blended". A company representative said "that there's no possibility of cross contamination with shrimp." On March 23, General Mills said the company was investigating the case, but that contamination "did not occur at [their] facility." Karp's presence on Twitter ceased at the time of this incident, alongside concurrent accusations of emotional abuse and gaslighting by former romantic partners. His last tweet was posted on 24 March 2021.

Bibliography

• Just Can't Get Enough: Toys, Games and Other Stuff from the'80 that Rocked (2007) Co-written with Matthew Robinson
• Kanye West Owes Me $300: And Other True Stories from a White Rapper Who Almost Made It Big (2016)

References

References

1. Leeds, Jeff. (November 11, 2002). "No Rap on Eminem: He Gets His Shot, His Opportunity, and Doesn't Let It Slip: Record labels trying to duplicate Eminem's cross-racial success are finding it difficult to make a connection with rap audiences". [[Los Angeles Times]].
2. (August 10, 2005). "Hot Karl: Honesty Is The Best Policy".
3. Wright, Abbe. (September 16, 2017). "A Conversation with Jensen Karp".
4. Stirling, Stephen. (January 9, 2006). "Hot Karl: The Great Escape".
5. Getz, Dana. (June 21, 2016). "'Kanye West Owes Me $300' author Jensen Karp remembers his 'ridiculous' rap career".
6. Karp, Jensen. "Jensen Karp (Hot Karl) – Where You At? (Clipper Song)". [[Tumblr]].
7. "Like Riding A Bike (feat. Mike Shinoda, Hot Karl, Intuition, Abnormal)". SoundCloud.
8. Banks, Alec. (June 8, 2016). "Jensen Karp Releases Book on Kanye West's Life Before Fame". [[Highsnobiety]].
9. Venta, Lance. (October 12, 2018). "Jensen Karp Joins Kevin & Bean Show". RadioInsight.
10. (March 11, 2020). "Get Up On This with Jensen Karp: The Platform / Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness / The Most Dangerous Animal of All".
11. (March 18, 2020). "KROQ's Kevin Ryder Says Entire Morning Show Team Was Fired {{!}} Hollywood Reporter".
12. (April 15, 2020). "March 2020 (2/27 – 3/25) Nielsen Audio PPM Ratings Day 1: And Then COVID Happened".
13. (July 19, 2011). "Former WWE Creative Team Members Discuss MITB, Triple H & Vince, More".
14. (March 18, 2015). "Barely Famous". [[IMDb]].
15. "Candidly Nicole (TV Series 2014– )". IMDb.
16. (June 28, 2016). "@midnight with Chris Hardwick – Tuesday, June 28, 2016".
17. "Drop the Mic (TV Series 2017– )".
18. "Jensen Karp".
19. Berkowitz, Joe. (June 20, 2016). "How A Former Rapper Turned Comedy Writer Merged His Two Careers".
20. "Behind the MTV Movie Awards' outlandish 'Leo got f--ed by a bear'".
21. "'Hamilton' Parody Tackles Tom Brady's Sub".
22. "About Us – Gallery 1988".
23. Thomasian, Deborah. (September 26, 2012). "Jensen Karp & Gallery 1988". Serial Optimist.
24. Sciretta, Peter. (December 17, 2009). "Cool Stuff: The LOST Underground Art Project". [[/Film]].
25. "Tyson Givens t-shirts, Tyson Givens merchandise, Tyson Givens hoodies". DamonCarltonAndAPolarBear.
26. (June 14, 2012). "Marvel's The Avengers featured at Gallery1988". [[The Walt Disney Company]].
27. Chitwood, Adam. (April 23, 2012). "Gallery1988 to Host Art Show Inspired by The Avengers". [[Collider (website).
28. Sciretta, Peter. (November 2, 2015). "Cool Stuff: Gallery1988's Art Awakens Star Wars Art Show". [[/Film]].
29. Karp, Jensen Karp & Danielle Fishel. "Talk Ain't Cheap".
30. (July 20, 2020). "10 Things Fans Will Love About The Karps Network With Danielle Fishel And Jensen Karp".
31. (March 24, 2021). "John Cullen".
32. (10 April 2023). "Young Danielle, Rider & Will Meet World". [[iHeartRadio]].
33. Borresen, Kelsey. (November 5, 2018). "Danielle Fishel Of 'Boy Meets World' Marries Jensen Karp". [[HuffPost]].
34. "Danielle Fishel Engaged to ''Drop the Mic'' Producer Jensen Karp".
35. (November 5, 2018). "Mr. & Mrs. Karp. Established 11/04/2018. 📸: @jillianbob 💁🏼♀️: @_hairbylaurie 💄: @julie4makeup Coordinator: @union3events @lisagaskarth..."".
36. Jaime, Natalya. (November 5, 2018). "Danielle Fishel Marries Writer-Producer Jensen Karp". The Hollywood Reporter.
37. Fishel Karp, Danielle. (January 2, 2019). "I'm eating for 2. I'm napping w/ wild abandon. Baby shoes. Baby clothes. I'm shopping. I'm nesting. I'm madly in love w/ my husband. I cry at commercials. I'm a walking cliché. I'm confident. I feel inadequate. I'm nervous. I'm excited. He's due in July. We can't wait. #BabyKarp pic.twitter.com/w4qHs4DGbj".
38. "Danielle Fishel's 2 Kids: All About Sons Adler and Keaton".
39. (April 10, 2013). "Chance The Rapper – "NaNa" Video (Dir. Hannibal Buress)".
40. "Paul Heyman's WWE Secret? A 'Perfected Arsenal of Bullsh--'".
41. Ducker, Eric. "Jensen Karp Defines His Failure". FRANK151.
42. "Jensen Karp Videos, Articles, Pictures".
43. Karp, Jensen. (March 22, 2021). "Ummmm @CTCSquares – why are there shrimp tails in my cereal? (This is not a bit)".
44. Karp, Jensen. (March 22, 2021). "I was convinced to go back through the bag, since when I first noticed the shrimp tails, I freaked out and closed the box. Here's all my findings, which also now includes a weird little string?".
45. Karp, Jensen. (March 22, 2021). "For real – someone tell me they aren't like maggots or bugs. Is it shrimp adjacent? (also just found this weird cinnamon covered pea thing?) I wish this was a joke.".
46. D'Zurilla, Christie. (March 23, 2021). "Jensen Karp didn't plan for the shrimp tails in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch to go viral".
47. (March 23, 2021). "Man Says He Found Shrimp Tails in Cinnamon Toast Crunch Box".
48. Marcus, Ezra. (March 23, 2021). "The Curious Case of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Box". [[The New York Times]].
49. Official Cinnamon Toast Crunch Twitter Account. (March 23, 2021). "Cinnamon Toast Crunch Statement".
50. Ortiz, Andi. (March 25, 2021). "Cinnamon Toast Crunch Guy Jensen Karp Goes Silent After Emotional Abuse Accusations".
51. Jennings, Rebecca. (March 25, 2021). "A guy (maybe) found shrimp in his cereal. Then it got dark.".
52. Karp, Jensen. (March 24, 2021). "No real update and I'm not posting about this bullshit all day again. Waiting for the envelope I agreed on from General Mills to send them back pieces and some of a shrimp tail will leave home for DNA testing at Noon. They grow up so fast.".