Q & A with Theophilus London


If you were lucky enough to attend Rotture last Friday you caught an amazing show! If you missed it, too bad for you. The 10,000 LB Hamburger Tour made its stop in Portland, introducing Theophilus London to our fair city. With a strikingly original style that only shows the ever changing face of Hip Hop and music in general you will be hard pressed to find many legends who will come with more energy than this man did on stage. For those of you who are still waiting for the tour to hit your town: Don't miss it!

And yeah, did I mention some guy named A Trak is headlining? He's up to his usual antics and rocks the house like only he can. A multi-genre set that is guaranteed to have you dancing all night long. Like I said, don't miss the 10K LB Hamburger tour!!!


Before the night kicked off I was lucky enough to sit down with Theophilus for a little chat. Big shouts out to him and Watts for making it happen! Enjoy the convo y'all.

Q: Introduce yourself, who you are and what you do?
A: I'm Thelophilus London, singer songwriter on the 10K Hamburger tour traveling with A Trak. Right now we are in Portland, gonna rock it tonight.

Q: First time being in Portland?
A: Oh yeah definitely first time being in Portland. It's actually my first times in a lot of the west coast dates, and it's been great – love the west coast.

Q: How did you get hooked up on the tour?
A: I just got a call from A Trak. One of the acts that he had supporting him had dropped off, unfortunately. He gave me a call and was like 'Yo tour starts in like 2 days can you do it?' and I was like 'Lets do it!'

Q: What did you think of Bruno?
A: I thought Bruno was very edgy. It was very thought provoking. I enjoyed it. It was hilarious. I understand his humor and just hope the rest of the world does, I thought it was genius and can't wait to see another flick of his.

Q: How do you see yourself in the lineage of Hip Hop?
A: I see myself helping. I see myself adding towards music and not just being part of something that already happened in the nineties or a couple years back. I'm coming into it as somebody that is adding a different color, a different blend to music. I think it's great. I'm excited. Lots of great new artists coming out that you can check out now and discover people on your own. It's a great atmosphere for music right now.



Q: What kind of people are you listening to?
A: I listen to James Brown, the Smiths, Whitney Houston, Kraftwerk, a bunch of stuff. Afro pop music. It's all about Soul. That's what I like to put in my music for the most part, soul.

Q: What's on your iPod?
A: iPod has a bunch of stuff. Brian Wilson, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend. There's a bunch of artists. Prince, of course.

Q: Any new stuff?
A: My friends are in a bad, they're called Passion Pit. Nipsey Hu$$le, Drake.

Q: What's the scene like in Brooklyn right now?
A: The scene is good, lot of artists moving forward, creating dope shit, making cults and exciting to be around. It's very fast. A lot of icons walking around Brooklyn. A lot of sparks in these kids, it's just good to be around the atmosphere cause it's just art constantly 24/7.



Q: Have you found one of those old styled leather bound cameras that you were looking for on your blog?
A: Yeah actually I have to thank some people cause when I put that up three people they sent me the link to ebay and it was good to know that I asked a question and my fans and supporters just hit me back with the information. I love the connection. I'm on it, I'm gonna purchase it at the end of the year for Christmas.

Q: 2Dopeboyz had some of your stuff up, where else can people catch you online?
A: You know what ever your favorite blog is. We got a good connection with a lot of blogs. I started making my own blog, it's called This Charming Blog – you can find my stuff on there first, exclusively. All the other blogs that support us, 2Dopeboyz, Nah Right, Herfection.

Q: Did you like the Bibio Record?
A: I just got done listening to it this morning. It's cool. It's a little J Dilla esque to me, it's a little werid. I'm not really judging it yet, cause I haven't really gotten into it yet. What I heard so far was cool. It wasn't like mind blowing, but his other stuff I really love.



Q: What is your favorite Hip Hop album?
A: I got into Hip Hop kinda late, so, it's either one of Outkast's album or I really like how thorough The Blueprint Jay-Z was so judge me.

Q: You looking forward to The Blueprint 3?
A: Yeah definitely, hell yeah!



Q: Last words?
A: Thanks to all the supporters for keeping my music alive. The best is yet to come, working on new stuff right now. We got so many things in the works that I can't wait for you guys to see. I'm the person, I don't really put it out there too much. I mean I put it out there and the people just find it. So there is a bunch of little stuff and secrets that you can find out about me on the net that I haven't officially promoted. Just do your research, check it out and thanks for supporting. Keep it up!

Thanks again to Theophilus for taking the time to make this happen! And stay tuned here as this won't be the last interview from the Musik Lounge.

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