Lt Headtrip is a rapper, producer, and head of indie hip-hop label, WATKK. Headtrip cut his teeth as a performer and promoter in NYC with a DIY mantra, embracing its gritty underground. Intense performances and off-kilter yet thoughtful lyricism have garnered him respect as a diverse, passionate musician on and off stage.
A sought-after artist and diligent project manager, Lt Headtrip has booked and performed with art rap legends such as Armand Hammer, Open Mike Eagle, Quelle Chris, Beans, and Mega Ran. During his time working in NYC, he collaborated with members of Backwoodz Studioz, such as billy woods and Elucid, artists on Uncommon Records, Reservoir Sound, Smoker’s Cough, and many others. He’s also shared the stage with international stars such as Biz Markie, Slick Rick, Ghostface Killah, and Action Bronson. Headtrip also tours with Midwest funk band Bassel & The Supernaturals, spreading awareness about the war in Syria, performing at jazz clubs, festivals, community centers and everything in between.
Catch Headtrip on both coasts in 2025.
A live show. An international tour. A late-night drive through Portland. A visit to the site of the Kent State Massacre. The maps charted through Novel Path, the short but mighty new EP from Lt Headtrip and NorthernDraw, branch out across time and space, but all converge in our protagonists’ heads. It’s a list of metro stops along the astral plane, train doors opening to reveal telepathic kittens and sudden 40-story drops. You can smell the streets of Queens and climb over the rubble of the destroyed stages Headtrip and Draw leave in their wake. Novel Path is a psychedelic journey deeply rooted in place, even if that place is the ether.
Lt Headtrip, founder of Karma Kids, is a dynamic performer. He raps with an elastic Midwestern twang, his voice sometimes presenting as a low, menacing growl, other times squeezing through percussion like a rubber ball under a hydraulic press. Verses that initially read as abstract puzzles click into place to reveal a simple existential truth: It’s all about the experience. Armed with a crate of records and a dusty sampler, Northern Draw crafts beats that feel like they’ve existed forever, each lived-in loop cycling like a locked groove. The production on Novel Path is warm and radiant, all rounded edges and thick, rubbery bass.
Headtrip and Draw have a natural chemistry, working on the songs in close quarters during the three years Headtrip lived in Portland, Oregon. Artists from around the world show up, rapping or singing in Swedish, German, Arabic, and French. The legendary Rob Sonic (Sonic Sum, Definitive Jux, Hail Mary Mallon) appears with a typically outstanding verse before retreating into the mist. Though it represents a tone shift for Headtrip — it’s lighter and funkier than anything he’s done before — it’s still densely packed and begging to be decoded. It’s much bigger than its 19 minutes, a richly detailed exploration of how location and identity meet.
Dash Lewis
Rapper Lt Headtrip teams up with producer Bloodmoney Perez for their ode to underground hip hop, EMBLEMS. A psychedelic journey through confrontation and escape, EMBLEMS delivers a wide range of moods in the 30-minute LP, from compelling dissent to contemplative grooves. Headtrip pays homage to art rap traditions atop Bloodmoney’s dynamic production tempers with classic hip hop sentiments including anti-conformity, visceral storytelling, and ascension. Bloodmoney’s industrial crate-digger loops radiate with instrumental flourishes from a slew of musicians, adding to the approachable complexity of the album. Boasting features from SKECH185, OLD SELF, Samurai Banana and Googie, and more, EMBLEMS is a finely curated collaborative project. Known for his intensity on a mic and a pen, Headtrip addresses cultural appropriation, harrowing personal tribulations and hopelessness, leaving room for meditative levity and exploration. EMBLEMS is available now on Bandcamp to stream or purchase digitally and physically in a limited edition high fidelity cassette tape, as well as digitally on all DSPs.
released August 30, 2024
Headtrip’s rapping ability is incredibly refined at this point in his career, and Bloodmoney is an incredible talent on full display here.
If you’re into alternative Hip Hop—anything that doesn’t sound basic and predictable—you do not want to miss this record.
- Nick Marsh, Focus Hip Hop
Teaming up with Bloodmoney Perez, who handles production throughout the album, the Portland artist has composed a psychedelia-tinted trip that successfully distills the fervour he directs towards his craft, into 10 superb tracks. There are notable features too, with Googie, Skech185, OLD SELF, Samurai Banana and more, all leaving their mark.
- Tim Fish, Gingerslim
“Lt. Headtrip, one of the founding members of The Karma Kids collective, teamed up with Melbourne producer DOS4GW to create their first collaborative album, Tap on the Glass. DOS4GW is known for his avant-garde drone soundscapes and has worked with artists like Curly Castro and Armand Hammer. In this album, he brings some of his darkest and most experimental beats to date, creating a dystopian soundscape that looms over the rest of the album.
Tap on the Glass features appearances from Collasoul Structure, SKECH185, Teddy Faley, Samurai Banana, ELUCID, and Christina Pecce. Pecce, in particular, adds an interesting layer to the album as she contrasts Headtrip’s growls with her beautiful, operatic singing on the standout cut “In Somnis Praestigiae”. Samurai Banana provides sharp turntablism, while the verses from ELUCID, SKECH185, Teddy Faley, and Collasoul Structure are gripping.
Headtrip’s low, gruff voice and big personality feed off the energy provided by the production and the features, dropping some of his most unsettling wordplay to date. The dark, loud, and aggressive Tap on the Glass is not for the weak of the heart. The album carries listeners from the dusty styles of raw East Coast rap to the fervor and existential dread of a classic tragedy. It’s enthralling as it is prescient and showcases some of the grittiest, darkest left-field underground Hip Hop of the year.” Hip Hop Golden Age
“There’s nobody who can rap the way Lt Headtrip does.” - Focus Hip Hop
“Lt Headtrip and DOS4GW have joined forces to make some hip hop for the days when your hope for humanity is at its lowest. It’s dark, loud, aggressive hip hop that confronts you from the first notes and then just doesn’t let up until it’s over.” - Scratched Vinyl
“… a densely packed behemoth that insists on playback at the loudest volume. Headtrip has a voice that would leave any lightweight instrumental in tatters, so accordingly, DOS4GW's beats display the weight and intensity needed to carry that vocal strength.” - The Wire Magazine (UK)
This album is a celebration, an overdue ode to a time and space in which the Karma Kids experimented, grew, and strived. The revolving door of Headtrip’s studio and home, 25-88 Steinway, Karmastoria, saw countless artists in its fruitful six years. Duncecap, Samurai Banana, Googie, and Gruff Lion all called this their home, and many others sought refuge, found a bed, or endured Trip’s relentless ramblings and generous imbibing within NYC’s bustling hookah bar district, Little Egypt.
Produced entirely by Headtrip, Steinway offers one last glimpse into this legendary collaborative space with over a dozen features. Trip’s heavy, knocking drums and bold, sometimes impish samples lay an intense groundwork for each vocalist to express their unique persona, all tied together with haunting electric organ and driving bass guitar.
The walls of Steinway were smattered with artwork, the water ran dangerously hot, and the cups overflowed, just as this collage of provocative styles enraptures its listeners while allowing plenty of room for playfulness and levity. Cheers to breaking day one last time, ashtray full, minds swimming with creativity and hearts full with companionship. Remember, the deli’s 24/7 if anyone wants to keep going. WATKK (2022)
“… you get an album that is a lot of fun to listen to at all times, and one where you keep coming across absolute gems every couple of moments that you missed the last time through. So while this is technically a Lt Heatrip release, this really feels more like a label mixtape type of compilation, raw and playful and showcasing a tone of talent. This isn’t about finished products with hooks for big singles, this is about a bunch of artists coming together over a love of hip hop and just taking in the creative energy of a certain time and place.”
“Steinway is an album for the heads that long for the days of crew albums, posse cuts, and mix tapes. Headtrip not only showcases his ability for producing some bangers and rhyming with a lot of energy and charisma, but for cultivating a space where creative people could coalesce and thrive and all push each other to make the best hip hop. “
- Scratched Vinyl
Last we left our anti-hero, he’d been swept into a vast, relentless storm, eventually becoming one with his captor, his voice echoing thunderous warnings. Now we find him washed ashore an isolated island, replete with curious characters and familiar yet foreign faces. Greeting him stands the forgotten, sun-bleached signage standing crooked as a barfly balancing clumsy behind the local pub, soggy cigarette between the yellow fingers of one hand, warm ale in the other, reading, “This Island is a Dream.”
To witness a mere sedated observer displeases the inhabitants, for they labor tirelessly during the few moon cycles in which they earn. Guests are spoiled, but welcomed only as temporary resources to lose themselves in the shallow pools of false treasures so abundant, merrily supplying the islanders with their own riches, maintaining the hideaway’s providence. They graciously allow the weary traveler into their exclusive community, where he immerses himself fully, knuckling down and celebrating alongside his newfound colony.
Somehow, this enigmatic enclave is both sanctuary and shackles, both paradise and purgatory. He certainly has found a dreamland, but perhaps, he worries, the dream is not his own. If not, then in who’s consciousness is he a brief glimmer? If this entity were to awaken, would it reveal his vehicle home, or might he fade away as does a nightmare at the onset of dawn, so many worries of the upcoming day drowning dull the hum of horror no longer comprehensible to a waking mind?
Open a stranded wanderer’s journal, follow him into a dream.
(WATKK 2020)
This album is pretty amazing to me to be honest. I think C $ Burns’ production is absolutely superb, and Lt. Headtrip is a very talented writer. So, this album has a recurring motif of an island, and I wasn’t totally sure what it was supposed to represent at first. I actually think it’s supposed to represent a dream itself now.
Headtrip has always been one of my favorite new New York MC’s because not only can he write his ass off but his songs ooze personality, pain, humor, and all of the ups and downs of life effortlessly. Pressure of The Tempest proves that not only is he a dynamic voice but an excellent writer who’s willing to expose all the painful areas of life for everyone to see and relate to.
“…an emotional album that rewards multiple listens . a singer song writer approach with the vocals over beautiful lo-Fi electronic based beats . Dusty, yet beautiful , told simply, to create something more complex . there's a genuine pain heard in his gruffy voice that makes it irresistible . “
addicted-2-booombap (Bandcamp)
we are the karma kids (karma kids) founder, emcee, and producer Lt Headtrip has returned with his first proper offering of 2019, "Water Wings." Headtrip has reunited with his one-time Impervious Machine collaborator, producer Rich Courage FKA Defpotec. Impervious Machine released Impervious Machine v1.28571429 on karma kids back in 2014; Headtrip & Defpotec re-emerged in May 2016 for ImpMac_DLC, a remix collection featuring edits from the likes of Duncecap, Teddy Faley, Samurai Banana, E L U C I D, Carl Kavorkian, Uymitsu, and Headtrip himself. "Water Wings" is Lt Headtrip's first proper, non-remixed single since his 2018 single, "WET BRAIN" Remixed By Teddy Faley, as preceded by 2017's Comedy of The Filthbeast. Lt Headtrip stated "this is the first time in my career that I've written a nice, pleasant song, let alone, record and release one..." within an emailed press statement to The Witzard. "Water Wings" is accompanied by a fittingly glitchy Headtrip & Brita Enflo-shot music video wit after effects added on by Rich Courage & Headtrip. "Water Wings" is the first single from an upcoming Rich Courage-produced EP…”
Matt Horowitz (The Witzard)