The young homie himself, Chris Rene, stopped by Kiss 95.1 and took over The O Show Tuesday! After finishing third on this past season of The X Factor, it seems Chris’ future is looking brighter than ever.  So bright, he even had to sport a pair of custom Kiss 95.1 sunglasses.

After gaining a successful fan base from X Factor and having some pretty famous friends, Chris recorded ‘Young Homie’ (a song he wrote himself about his struggle with drugs).   From that moment on, it was a whirlwind.  “That’s the best feeling, that’s what doing music and loving it and doing it with your heart is all about,” Chris admits in the kick off of The O Show takeover. Chris is in a constant fight with drugs but happily let us know he’s one year sober as of April 20.

His hit song even emulates his struggles.  “And I got the recipe, I don’t need no Hennessy / Yeah, it’s been three years now / Haven’t had a drink and I’m starting to see clear now / I’m putting all my fears down / I can hear the cheers now / Seeing peace signs when I look around”.

While being sober for all this time is already such a huge moment in his life, when asked what the biggest ‘aww’ moment in his life has been so far it didn’t take Chris long to think about it.  “Stevie Wonder called me and was like ‘Chris, your song Young Homie has inspired me to write again’ and I was just blown away by that.”  But all the people he’s met along the way has just been icing to the musical cake.  He met Flava Flav at a party in Los Angeles and Mike Posner during his post-X Factor journey.

But who would Chris love to meet in the future and possibly collaborate with?  Hitting the big names like Lil Wayne, Drake, Kanye West and Rihanna, he was quick to sell himself to his dream collaborators.   “Anyone out there who’s doing things I guarantee you if I was on the song with them… I would bring some attention to the song that wouldn’t normally be there.”

Of course, Chris is a little further out of the box than normal.  When Otis asked him what he wanted to do before he died on his bucket list, he gave an answer no one saw coming. “I want to get a pool filled with jello and swim in it and eat my way out,” he laughed but didn’t stop there.  Secondly, he wants to “go to Italy and France, bring Jimi Hendrix back from the dead and hang out for a minute.”

And just for a minute, Chris broke it down acoustically and performed “Young Homie” live in the studio!