More often than not, when an artist has “overnight success” they’ve been grinding diligently for years, and the only thing “overnight” about it is that the internet finally caught up to them and made them trending.

These last two weeks have found our boy Holt in such a whirlwind. The singer formerly known as Hollywood Holt, the Chicago MC was signed to Kanye West’s Def Jam imprint G.O.O.D. Music two weeks ago, and suddenly his name was on the side of everyone’s Facebook page. He’s even hinted that he’ll be working with G.O.O.D on a non-rap full length album soon. What can we say; the dude is versatile.

Adding fuel to the fire, he released a song and accompanying video today: his cover of Kavinsky’s Nightcall, which some of you may recognize as the opening credits song from the film Drive. Holt’s take on the song is aptly described by his publicist as “slowed down and more gangster,” with a slower BPM and a male vocal stripped of Kavinsky’s heavy effects. More importantly, it embodies a drastic change in Holt’s steez: he has announced that he won’t be rapping at all on this album.

It’ll be nice having a singing rapper who isn’t going on about his WOEs and The 6. 

The video Holt released is a true homage to the film: slow motion driving, colorful but somber lighting, blank faces akin to Ryan Gosling’s Aspergers-y stare.

Our history with Holt goes back to before he dropped the Hollywood, and happily our history continues: he’ll be playing at Austin Party Weekend this year, so if you’re around for SXSW, you have no excuses.