Rodney “HotRod” Washington’s love for music sparked at a young age. While his father drove him to school, he would play Tupac, Snoop Dogg and Vanilla Ice. Rodney loved the bond he and his father had rapping to “Gangsta Party” on his way to school.
“There was this song that I had to know. It was ‘Gangsta Party’ by Tupac and Snoop Dogg, we would go back and forth. He challenged me to not say the cuss words, so I had to go and learn it.”
His love for music kept on developing through the years. His freshman year of high school, he would use his father's computer to go on LimeWire and create CDs with different mixes and sell them. He would call those mixtapes “The R” after the first letter in his name.
“I’d mess up my dad's computer every time. I used to illegally sell CDs, I was strictly a hustler.”
During his time at Morgan Park High School, he also developed a love for basketball. This followed up to Morton College, which he attended on a basketball scholarship. That is where he was given the name “HotRod.”
“I had to make a name for myself. There was one game where I was just hot. I was hitting every shot, layup, and-one and free throws. One of the guys, his name was X he was like ‘Yo name Hot Rod, you hot’ so it just stuck with me.”
In 2012 Rodney graduated from Chicago State University with a bachelor's in communications.
Today, Rodney is a DJ at Power 92.3 Chicago. He’s the radio host of ThaLitPiT that runs Monday through Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Rodney has been a part of Power since 2012 and steadily rose through the ranks. In 2015 he got his own weekend show on Saturdays. Eventually, he became part of Power full-time in 2017. What ultimately led Rodney to radio was Martin Lawrence.
“You watch ‘Martin’ and he was doing radio on his show, WZUP. Me watching it as a kid was like ‘this is what radio is? This looks fun!’ But now I’m in it and I’m like ‘this not what radio was like.’ But I’m trying to bring it to that level where it’s fun.”
Pep Rally Take Over was a project Rodney began in 2014 alongside an old friend from college. It was a way to give back to the community and advocate against serious issues such as gun violence and bullying, all while having fun. In the beginning, it was only at three high schools which he would go to and bring out special guests such as DLOW and Stunt Taylor.
“Pep Rally Take Over started as an idea he and I came up with while playing 2k. T.I. did an event in Chicago where he gave back to the youth. We wanted to use that but to impact schools in the city, suburbs and Indiana.”
Producer / Co-Founder of Pep Rally Take Over
As of now, Pep Rally Take Over has become a massive success across the city and Rodney has hosted over 50 of them in 2019. He has had big names come by and perform such as Chance The Rapper, Young Thug, London On Da Track and Calboy.
“Rodney is one of the most helpful people I’ve ever met. He’s the type of person that will help anybody. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. If there’s a way that he can help you, he will. In Chicago, it's something that’s unheard of. He gives lots of people opportunities.”
Videographer founder of LakeShore Hy Media
ThaLitPiT has been a massive success for Rodney, since he’s allowed local Chicago artists to be heard on air. He has put on local rappers who are now big names in the industry such as Juice WRLD, Tobi Lou, The Future Kingz and even Chicago’s very own Chance The Rapper back in the day when he released his debut mixtape “10 Day.”
This past December, he put on a concert titled after his show on air, TheLitPit. The first show he put out was on Dec. 18, 2018. One year later, he was signed to Power 92. It now is an annual show that gathers funds and donations in order to create more opportunities for the youth. This past year the line-up consisted of names such as Lil Zay Osama, Cosha TG, HappyBirthdayCalvin, Wemmy Mo and Brittney Carter.
“I’m in this city, I’m on this earth to help people and I get that from my dad. He helped so many people. I would say I’m an angel for the city, I’m not saying that on no cocky stuff. I’m saying I’m a blessing to many others because I love to help people do whatever they want to do.”
Rodney plans on changing radio and helping people one day at a time. Rodney knows that he won’t be on air all his life and therefore he pushes to build bridges beyond that by expanding TheLitPiT and Pep Rally Take Over.