Daily Inspiration: Meet Jeremy Hecht

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Hecht.

Hi Jeremy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in Winnipeg, Canada and always had dreams of creating something bigger. When I was 12 years old, I fell in love with Hip Hop but at 16 years old listening to the “Middle Child” generation of rappers like Kid Cudi, Drake, J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean and more, I was inspired to want to express myself through music. I had been making YouTube videos for fun but in 9th grade, I finally had the confidence to put out my own music online. I grew a local following and started doing shows. One day, a classmate sent me a video link of this kid who posted a YouTube video called “Goodbye.” He couldn’t have been any older than 12 years old and wanted to end his life. I felt called to post a video reply to his story and urged him to think about all of the possibilities of the future. Whether my reply had any influence or not, he decided not to do it. That same night I wrote a song called “Hold On” from his perspective. It was the first time I felt like God wrote a song for me. From that moment on, I knew that I was called to help tell other people’s stories. I started conducting phone interviews for Elliot Wilson’s RESPECT magazine with artists like Marc E. Bassy and Oswin Benjamin and learning more about the interview craft. I fell in love with learning about someone else’s journey and diving deep into who someone truly is. I decided that I wanted to pursue my dreams of working in the music industry so I took what I call the “J. Cole” method. Cole went to New York through school but really wanted to “produce for Jay Z or die trying.” I knew that I needed to move to LA to influence the space at the highest level. As a Canadian, I needed to find a way to work in the states and I used school. So I got a scholarship to USC to study my Masters in strategic PR and marketing.

Within my first couple of months of living here, I scalped a ticket to a charity basketball game hosted by Power 106, the #1 Hip Hop radio station out here. The game was almost over by the time I got in there but for some reason I was called to stick around after the game. I told myself I was going to meet someone from the radio station. I ended up waiting until all of the lights were off in the building, snuck by security and met J. Cruz, the morning show host at the time and radio legend. I asked him for advice and he told me to “say yes to everything.” I think he could see my hunger so he gave me a shot and actually gave me his number. He invited me to the studio the next day where I met Mac Miller and began helping with interview research and questions for an upcoming interview he had with Chance The Rapper. Over time, I started interning at the station and became their go-to guy for interview research, questions and marketing. Eventually, I was given the opportunity to conduct my own interviews at a red carpet event for Will Smith’s “Bright” movie premiere where I felt like I was in a whole new world. I interviewed MGK, Ty Dolla $ign, Xzibit and even asked Will Smith a question about Aliens. I happened to be placed next to some people from HipHopDX at that red carpet. Fast forward and I was sending out cold emails to people hoping to interview them for my own YouTube channel to build my portfolio. Most of the hundreds of emails I sent went with no replies but one person who replied was Michael McCrudden from the YouTube channel Before They Were Famous with 3 million subscribers. He liked our interviews and my research so much that months later, he invited me to be a host on the show.

So I quit my internship at a marketing firm and began making YouTube videos full time. Pro, the head of video at the time from HipHopDX at the time saw what I was doing and asked to meet for coffee. I ended up selling him a video script that did really well so we kept working together. One of the defining moments for me where preparation met opportunity to create luck was when Jeezy was in the HipHopDX office for an interview. I was preparing all of the questions for the host who couldn’t end up making it to the interview. So I convinced the team to let me do the interview myself and it went viral. Clips were aggregated by Complex, Genius, Def Jam and more. So after a while, I was brought on as a full-time digital content strategist. I have conducted interviews with artists that I grew up listening to like The Game, Sean Kingston, TI. and close to 100 more artists. This year I am closing out work as a producer and interviewer for a documentary with Wiz Khalifa and Taylor gang where we got to interview Wiz in his studio. That was surreal. I also love exploring the universe, spirituality and rap relationships on Tik Tok. I don’t know where the future leads but I’m looking forward to following my instincts and seeing where the journey takes me and my team.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No road to the top is completely smooth but I’ve been blessed with a lot of privileges to start out in life. I had both of my parents who were still married (I wouldn’t have survived Eminem’s final rap battle in 8 Mile), I was given a good education, I had good friends and influences growing up and I was told that I could do anything I wanted in life. So with that delusional confidence, I always believed that I could be everything I wanted and more. That being said, I was born in a smaller city where not that many people around me were dreaming to the level that I was so there was a lot that I had to overcome in order to hold onto my vision. Also trying to make it in America as a Canadian comes with many challenges that most non-immigrants in LA might take for granted but I think it only made me hungrier to not have any plan B’s. I knew I had to make it.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a storyteller. I think my unique talent lies in human connection. Being able to truly get to the core human truths through research, conversations and truly listening. I love analyzing how artists have dealt with fame at extremely high levels and I think people have gravitated to my perspective on the human experience through some of my Tik Toks. But I think the craft that I have put the most work into is my interviewing. I have studied how people communicate properly, how to ask the right questions and have really spent a lot of time trying to work on that craft. I’m known for conducting in-depth research and asking questions that artists have never heard before as I take them through their career journey and making them feel comfortable because they know that I’ve done my research and know a lot about what they’ve gone through. I think my genuine curiosity about life and the universal human condition has helped me get really deep conversations from some of the game’s biggest artists. I’m most proud of my interviews with Ice Cube, The Game and Wiz Khalifa so far.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
One of my favorite childhood memories was singing Karaoke on my little tape recorder with my parents.

Contact Info:

• Email: jeremy.hecht@hiphopdx.com
• Website: https://linktr.ee/JeremyHecht
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremy_hecht/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jeremy_Hecht
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/jeremyhecht
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremy_hecht?lang=en

Image Credits
Jordan Saint-Pierre (Red Carpet Pics) Elise Ricks (Blueface pic) Ashley (Ashley Teague) Eugene Powers/ Alamy Live News (Purple Background)