Hollywood Holt Talks M.I.A. Cameo in ‘La La La’ Video

The first question that Hollywood Holt's video for his song 'La La La Freestyle' begs is, what is M.I.A. doing in the clip? "It took a lot of work man. Round the clock," Holt tells The BoomBox. "The video is all pictures with 7,000 frames to make it look like she's moving, which is why she isn't moving that much," the Chicago rapper laughs, suggesting he used Photoshop. But all kidding aside, that really is M.I.A. sitting next to Holt, sipping from a red plastic party cup in the video. So, the real question is, how does he know the Grammy and Oscar nominated singer?

"I've known her for years actually," he says. "The thing is that people forget these big artists are still just regular people making music. They're regular people, sometimes they're a--holes; sometimes they're cool as hell. Maya is super cool, she's the nicest person, super chill. I don't remember where we actually met, but over the years, every time we've seen each other it's been super cool. Mano, my cousin, started DJing for her," he says of Million Dollar Mano, who also creates beats for Holt's raps. "But I can't remember where I met her, she's like, 'Where did we meet?' We can't remember."

The video was shot in front of Holt's house in Chicago earlier this fall, the day after M.I.A. performed in the city. "My idea was to shoot a video with three dudes, just chillin'. We went by her show and she's like what you been doing and s---." When Holt told the 'Paper Planes' singer that he was shooting a video the next day, M.I.A. enthusiastically asked if she could be in it. "I was trying to act all cool and said, 'Yeah sure'. I was like, oh my god!" he squeals. "Even though she's my friend, you don't ask. I don't ask for favors. I count friendship over everything. That's the point of it all."

Hollywood Holt - La La La from Justin Oh on Vimeo