I always tell myself, 'When I'm working on my record, I won't cut my hair.' I get so focused on the music that I'm not really going to the hair shop and getting cut up. I just have one thing to focus on.
— Theophilus London
I can't really change for a climate. I've got to be Theophilus London in any weather.
People are always looking at their phones and computer. It's the first place people turn in the morning and where everyone's keeping in touch and getting their news.
I can pull off anything; I have the height and the attitude. The only thing I can't wear is a leotard, but I can wear anything else.
In high school, I always dressed to impress the girls.
A lot of my favorite artists are fashion icons.
I'm a big fan of pop music - I think Marvin Gaye was pop music; things like that.
I'll buy an old jacket and attach gold buttons and a couple royal patches. Or I'll find an old busted sweatshirt, tear out the zipper, and replace it with a $700 zipper. I make things my own.
I don't want to be easily defined.
I'm kind of brandless. I don't like big logos or whatever.
'Billie Jean' was a negative dance song, and that was one of the best dance songs ever.
Go to American Apparel; they have all of the colors of socks.
While my cousins were gang-banging, I was trying to learn what the Internet was about.
I want to produce the best popular music I can.
Brands are in your face 24/7; I'm sure you've consumed a couple brands today. So it's fun working with them. People recognize brands, and people are starting to recognize my brand.
Let's see: I'm into a whole bunch of different people - Alexander Wang... that's my dude.
The Royal Family doesn't go out shopping for their uniforms: they've got some guy sewing on all the ornaments in-house. You could say I've got my own in-house team as well.
I focus a lot on my voice because I want it to be an instrument as well. I want my voice to add color.
I never go black tie. I never grew up wearing ties or bow ties or anything.
I've made sure to always update my web properties constantly - Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, my Hypebeast blog... making sure I divided content across all of them to keep each outlet fresh to keep people coming back.
I didn't grow up drawing runway models and deciding what they should wear.
When I say 'rare,' it's my own term. It's like you're doing something with a photo that is dominant that no one has ever seen before. #Rare means that it can only be seen here. It's just a rare moment that I'm sharing with the world.
Some people thought Theophilus was a fake name. Whatever.
Punk music is rebellious.
I might want to open a hotel and design all the rooms. Or maybe a museum that lets me curate all the events.
I admire traveling; I appreciate it a lot.
I collect a lot of clothes when I travel around the world.
I wanted to only collab with women for 'Lovers Holiday.'
You should treat your body like a canvas.
I believe your atmosphere and your surroundings create a mind state for you.
I started performing music about the age of 16. I lived in Brooklyn, New York, and this thing called the Flatbush Fair comes once a year. That was my first time on stage.
I keep a creative group around me.
I like Jeremy Scott, and he has some really dope sneakers.
I hate writing texts to girlfriends because you can't really see emotions in texts. You can get confused on what she says.
I like to wear a lot of one-tone color outfits - same color trousers, same color shirt.
We're a fast-moving, needy species.
If you show you're human and have something to say, people will connect with you.
Brooklyn, where I grew up, is a competitive burg - there's always a pretty boy around the corner there, and you gotta look better than him.
A lot of young kids like myself use Instagram because it has swag - it's more personal, and your friends generate it.
I take references from the past and flip them.
When you're a new person and a new idea, you get invited to all these different things, and everybody wants a piece of you. And you want to be polite and say yes to everything, but it gets dangerous.
DMX wasn't checking what his fans were saying to him on Twitter or Facebook. Jay-Z is on a boat in Saint-Tropez. I'm hands-on. Girls write to me like I'm their diary. That's a huge responsibility. I don't take it for granted.
I am international. When I put out my second mixtape, we did four tours and a tour overseas.
I love an art-school girl. I mean... don't we all?
I'm on the sockless and un-sockless teams. I'm on both sides.
Europe were kind of the first ones to embrace my music; the kids from around the way would come out to my shows and really enjoy it.
I'm trying to fuse popular and commercial music and just make very creative music. It's popular music: it's everything for everybody.
Hip-hop is like underground. I don't know if hip-hop exists anymore. I don't know if it does.
The most time I spent home in 2009 was about a month.
I connect to SpongeBob in a way; like, that's the homie. He can chill on the corner with me.
