Theophilus London | The Bebey x He Tells Stories Sessions
Theophilus London was tired, y’all. It was January and the eve of him dropping Bebey, his first album in just over 5 years. In his bedroom, he was approving Off-White pieces his buddy Virgil Abloh co-designed in honor of the project (maybe you saw Rihanna wearing a sample pair of the boots?), which had recently been shipped to him here in Los Angeles.
At the dining room table, a member of his team prepped for the release of another merch collection that’d partner with the album’s release. His iPhone buzzed on the coffee table. A lot. Whether it was Abloh hitting him from Paris on Whatsapp to consult about their various endeavors, Apple Music’s Zane Lowe reaching out for a hello, or publicists trying to yank him to the East coast for an NYC press run, Theo was doing plenty on little sleep—taking hits of weed to calm down and sips of Red Bull to stay up.
Still, he wanted to talk. When I showed up to his house for our documentary shoot, an exhausted London hid under sunglasses and a bucket hat and talked to me about Bebey—what it meant to him, how it helped him heal after being emotionally banged up, and shared memories from times with contributing peers like Leon Ware and Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker.
When Theo and I talked this project through, the idea was to give his fans an intimate look inside his world and mind. I think we accomplished that and I appreciate him for allowing me to enter and work with him. It’s been more than a year since I interviewed London as a traditional journalist for a feature story I wrote on him for Billboard Magazine. This go ‘round I executive produced a video series with him. We dropped three of the doc-shorts last week. I’ll post the rest here as we release them. Enjoy.
Special Thanks to:
Sir Fleming - Producer
Better Vision - Photography
My Bebey Records
Independently Popular.