Hoodie Allen

Steven Adam Markowitz

Early life Steven Markowitz was born on Long Island and raised in a Jewish household in Plainview along with his brother, Daniel. He started writing lyrics as a child, and would perform raps for his friends at house parties. Markowitz first attended the Long Island School for the Gifted in South Huntington, and later attended Plainview – Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School.

While attending the University of Pennsylvania, he pledged the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He also played as defensive back for Penn's sprint football team. After graduating in 2010 with a degree in marketing and finance, he worked at Google as an AdWords associate in their Standardized AdWords Reseller Training (START) program. He would leave at 7:00 am for a bus ride to the Googleplex in Mountain View, work a full day at Google, return home at 6:00 pm, write songs, answer fan emails, and schedule concerts until 2:00 or 3:00 AM.

Career 2009–12: Beginnings and Leap Year Hoodie Allen originally was the duo of Steve Markowitz and Obey City (Samuel Obey, a childhood friend) on vocals and production, respectively. The group's name is combination of Markowitz's childhood nickname of "Hoodie" and filmmaker Woody Allen; Markowitz later said he wanted a name which "would stick in peoples' minds and be a little bit funny and representative of who I am". Steven and Obey's first two releases were the Bagels & Beats EP and Making Waves mixtape. These earned Hoodie a nomination for MTVU's Best Music on Campus Award in 2009. The single "UPENN Girls" also received notable attention. However, in 2010 Obey City ceased to produce in Hoodie for unknown reasons, and Steven continued making music with RJ Ferguson (aka RJF), giving himself the name Hoodie Allen. In June 2010, he released "You Are Not a Robot," which sampled "I Am Not a Robot" by Marina and the Diamonds and which hit No. 1 on Hype Machine, an aggregator that collects the most-blogged about music in the world. He self-financed a video for the lead single "You Are Not A Robot," which helped the mixtape get downloaded over 200,000 times.

In July 2011, Hoodie released his third mixtape, Leap Year. It reached 250,000 SoundCloud plays in its first week of release. In support of the album, Hoodie headlined a 15-city tour across North America, including stops in San Francisco, New York City, and Montreal, with supporting act Fortune Family opening on several venues. Previously, he had toured with The Cataracs, Das Racist, Chiddy Bang, Mike Posner, and RJD2.

2012: All American

On March 4, 2012, Hoodie announced via Twitter that he would be releasing his first EP, titled All American. He decided on this title because he credited his rise to the American Dream, because he felt the songs showcased his best music to date, and because of a hometown restaurant with the same title. Hoodie spent five months developing the album, building tracks from scratch with his producer, RJF, rather than using sampled beats. Regarding the writing process, Hoodie stated that, "I would describe it as liberating... It was like, 'Okay, I hear this idea in my head, I hear these original ideas, [and] I'm putting them and piecing them together.'" The music video for his second single on All American, titled "No Faith In Brooklyn (feat. Jhameel)," was released on April 9. All American was released on April 10, 2012, and debuted as the No. 1 album on iTunes and at No. 10 on the Billboard 200. Over the months of April and May, Hoodie made a 22-stop tour across the US in support of All American, featuring rapper Wax, Jared Evan, and others varied from show to show. The I Work Better In The UK Tour was his first time performing overseas. The Excellent Adventure Tour, which featured G-Eazy, began on September 7, 2012.

2013: Crew Cuts and Americoustic On February 11, 2013, XXL premiered the music video for "Cake Boy," the first single off of Hoodie's upcoming mixtape. The single was later released on iTunes for purchase. A week later, the music video for "Fame Is For Assholes" (abbreviated FIFA) premiered on YouTube, which featured rapper Chiddy Bang. Hoodie commented, "I wanted to write a track that mixed a classic doo-wop vibe with the more upbeat hip-hop style that my fans have come to love."

Hoodie embarked on his Cruisin' USA Tour with Aer and Jared Evan which began on March 5, 2013. G-Eazy, instead of Aer, accompanied Hoodie on his Boston, Philly, and NYC shows. During the Cruisin' USA Tour, Hoodie directed the audience to chant that they wanted to see him on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Leading up to Roseland Ballroom, Hoodie started the hashtag "#GetHoodieAllenOnFallon" on Twitter to rally his fans. After trending worldwide, Fallon asked to speak with Hoodie.

Hoodie performed his new single "Make It Home" on Fuse alongside Kina Grannis which was released on April 30. The studio version of the single was released onto iTunes on May 15, 2013, where it reached the top ten of the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap charts.

On July 30, 2013, Hoodie released the music video for "No Interruption (Acoustic)". His acoustic EP Americoustic was released on August 13, 2013, and reached No. 1 on the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap album chart and No. 4 on the iTunes overall albums chart. The EP's guitar work was composed, recorded and produced by Our Last Night guitarist Matt Wentworth.

2014: People Keep Talking

The lead single off of Hoodie's debut studio album, People Keep Talking, was released on May 7, 2014, titled "Show Me What You're Made Of." It premiered along with its music video, which parodied the film Happy Gilmore, and featured fellow rapper D-WHY and Tommy Lee from Mötley Crüe. The single was made available for purchase on iTunes and debuted as the No. 2 song overall. The commercial success of People Keep Talking is considered a development in the mainstreaming of frat rap.

Hoodie then made his television debut on Good Day Philadelphia playing an acoustic version of "Show Me What You're Made Of" after a short interview on May 15.

To promote the album, Hoodie went on a world tour titled People Keeping Talking World Tour, this included shows in the US, Europe, Canada, and Australia, featuring artists Chiddy Bang and MAX. The tour began on October 29, 2014, at the Royal Oak Music Theater in Royal Oak, Michigan, and ran into June 2015.

After tweeting to bassist Pete Wentz about touring together, it was announced that Hoodie would be a special guest on the Boys of Zummer Tour with co-headliners Fall Out Boy and Wiz Khalifa.

2016–2017: Happy Camper and The Hype On January 22, 2016, Hoodie released his second studio album, Happy Camper. Leading up to its release, the eighth track, "Champagne and Pools" (featuring blackbear and KYLE), and the album's lead single, "Are U Having Any Fun?" (featuring Meghan Tonjes), were released. The lead single was also accompanied by its music video which followed the style of a video game similar to Grand Theft Auto V. Happy Camper was also made available for download on iTunes peaking at No. 2 on the overall albums chart.

On September 29, 2017, he released his third studio album, The Hype.

2019: Whatever USA On August 16, 2019, Hoodie released his fourth studio album Whatever USA.

Leading up to its release, the ninth track "Never Going Back" was released on March 1, 2019. He then released "Come Around“, the second single on the album, with Christian French on June 21, 2019. The third track released before the album released was "Hell of a Time" which was released on August 2, 2019.

2020: Allegations of Sexual Misconduct In 2020, Sarah Flores accused Hoodie Allen of grooming and sexual misconduct. Other women came forward after. Hoodie replied later on Twitter saying he had fired a band member.

Sarah followed up in 2023 on TikTok sharing screenshots of her experiences with Hoodie and band members, as well as other fans who reached out privately sharing similar stories.

2023: Return to music and bub After a three year hiatus, Hoodie returned to music by releasing "Wouldn't That Be Nice", on May 13, 2022. This would later be used as the lead single for his upcoming album named bub.

On March 17, 2023, Hoodie released his fifth album named bub.

Acting career Hoodie has appeared in four episodes of the CollegeHumor series Jake and Amir since March 3, 2011. He made his CollegeHumor debut as Amir's rap teacher in "Jake and Amir / Rap Teacher (With Hoodie Allen)" and returned to that role three more times in videos titled "Jake and Amir / Rap Teacher 2 (with Hoodie Allen)", "Jake and Amir / Rap Teacher 3 (with Hoodie Allen)", and "Jake and Amir / Jake and Amir Finale Part 5: The Auditions".

Reception In July 2011, Hoodie cracked the Top 10 of Billboard'''s Uncharted Territory. For the week of August 5, 2011, he was No. 2 on Billboards Uncharted Territory, with Billboard'' noting that his "growing popularity is undeniable."

Discography Studio albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Details Peak chart positions US US R&B/HH US Rap USInd. CAN GER SWI People Keep Talking Released: October 14, 2014 Label: Self-released Format: CD, digital download 8 2 2 — 24 65 68 Happy Camper Released: January 22, 2016 Label: Self-released Format: CD, Digital download 28 2 1 1 55 — — The Hype Released: September 29, 2017 Label: Self-released Format: CD, LP, digital download 166 — — 15 — — — Whatever USA Released: August 16, 2019 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download, streaming — — — 10 — — — BubReleased: March 17, 2023 Label: Self-released Formats: CD, Digital download — — — — — — — "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory.

Extended plays Title Details Peak chart positions US The Bagels And Beats EP Released: March 10, 2009 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download — — — — — — All AmericanReleased: April 10, 2012 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download 10 3 2 3 18 64 AmericousticReleased: August 13, 2013 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download 28 — 4 5 — — All About It EPAlternative European release to People Keep Talking Released: October 14, 2014 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download — — — — — — Buddy System EPReleased: September 20, 2024 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download — — — — — — "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory.

Mixtapes + List of mixtapes Title Album details Making Waves Released: October 21, 2009 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download Pep Rally Released: September 21, 2010 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download Leap Year Released: July 26, 2011 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download Crew Cuts Released: February 20, 2013 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download

Singles

As lead artist group=upper-alpha40—————"Numbers"—49—————"All About It"(featuring Ed Sheeran) 71 — 13 1093034 RIAA: Gold "Let It All Work Out"2015 — — — ———— "The Moment"(featuring Travis Garland) — — — ————"Champagne and Pools"(featuring Blackbear and KYLE) — — — ————Happy Camper"Are U Having Any Fun?"(featuring Meghan Tonjes) 2016 — — — ————"Sushi"2017 — — — ————The Hype"Know It All" — — — ————"Ain't Ready" — — — ————"Never Going Back"2019 — — — ————Whatever USA"Come Around"(with Christian French) — — — ————"Hell of a Time" — — — ————"Buddy" 2022 — — — ———— "Pretty Face" 2025 — — — ———— "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Other charted and certified songs +TitleYearCertificationsAlbum"Surprise Party"2016 RIAA: Gold Happy Camper