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Flying Lotus
Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), better known as Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper. He has released seven critically acclaimed albums: 1983 (2006), Los Angeles (2008), Cosmogramma (2010), Until the Quiet Comes (2012), You're Dead! (2014), Flamagra (2019), and Yasuke (2021). Flying Lotus' other work includes creating the record label Brainfeeder, producing much of Adult Swim's bumper music, releasing rap mixtapes such as Duality (2012) under his Captain Murphy alter ego, curating and hosting the in-game radio station FlyLo FM in Grand Theft Auto V (2013), and directing the sci-fi horror film Ash (2025).
Flying Lotus was born Steven Ellison in Los Angeles on October 7, 1983. He has Cameroonian ancestry, being descended from the Tikar people. He is the grandson of singer-songwriter Marilyn McLeod, best known for writing hits such as the Diana Ross song "Love Hangover" and the Freda Payne song "I Get High (On Your Memory)". McLeod's sister Alice Coltrane was a jazz pianist who was married to saxophonist John Coltrane, and was named by The Fader as the biggest influence on Flying Lotus' music. He attended the Los Angeles Film School and Academy of Art University.
In 2006, while at his mother's house, Ellison saw an advertisement on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block asking for song submissions. He sent some in under the name Flying Lotus, a moniker inspired by lucid dreaming, and was accepted. Around this time, he was interning at the pioneering hip hop label Stones Throw Records. He released his debut studio album 1983 on October 3, 2006.
In 2006, Ellison participated in that year's annual Red Bull Music Academy in Melbourne. In 2007, he announced on CSU-Fullerton's Titan Radio that he signed with Warp Records. He released his debut EP, the six-track Reset on October 1, 2007. Soon afterwards, he became one of the label's cornerstone artists and released his second studio album, Los Angeles on June 10, 2008.
In 2008, Flying Lotus released Los Angeles, a 17-track album dedicated to his home city. That same year, he followed up Los Angeles with collaborative tracks with Samiyam and Gonjasufi, a limited white label run of remixes ("Camel", "Lightworks", R2-D2 sound effects, "Shadows of Tomorrow" and "Promiscuous") called Shhh!, and a series of LA inspired EPs. Each of the La EPs features remixes and unreleased tracks from his Los Angeles Album. The third in that series (titled L.A. EP 3 X 3), marked a new atmospheric style in his sound. The same year, Flying Lotus also remixed "Reckoner" from In Rainbows, an album by Radiohead.
His third studio album, Cosmogramma, was released in the UK on May 3, 2010, and in the US on May 4, 2010. In January 2011, Cosmogramma won in the Dance/Electronica Album category in the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards. The multi-award-winning Cosmogramma was a hard-hitting afrofuturistic shrine to soul, hip-hop, jazz and IDM but, with more emphasis on a lyrical message than ever before. The album was accompanied by live instrumentation (Thundercat on bass, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on strings, Rebekah Raff on harp) and live vocalists (Thom Yorke, Laura Darlington) – all picked to help communicate the spiritual musical lineage of Ellison's family (Ravi Coltrane, himself, played tenor sax). Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat, who is featured extensively on Cosmogramma, would later become a large part of future albums by Flying Lotus.
In 2010, Flying Lotus collaborated with the Ann Arbor Film Festival in the performance of a live scoring of the 1962 avant-garde film Heaven and Earth Magic. In a post-viewing interview with the audience, Flying Lotus said that he was unsure whether or not a recording of the performance (or a recreation of it) would be publicly released, but he would be enthusiastic towards similar projects in the future. He was chosen by Battles to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that it co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England, UK.
In September 2010, Flying Lotus released "Pattern+Grid World", a 7 track EP featuring Thundercat on bass & art by Theo Ellsworth. The Track Camera Day was used in the Killer Mike song Swimming, which was released as part of the Adult Swim Singles Series.
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Flying Lotus
Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), better known as Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper. He has released seven critically acclaimed albums: 1983 (2006), Los Angeles (2008), Cosmogramma (2010), Until the Quiet Comes (2012), You're Dead! (2014), Flamagra (2019), and Yasuke (2021). Flying Lotus' other work includes creating the record label Brainfeeder, producing much of Adult Swim's bumper music, releasing rap mixtapes such as Duality (2012) under his Captain Murphy alter ego, curating and hosting the in-game radio station FlyLo FM in Grand Theft Auto V (2013), and directing the sci-fi horror film Ash (2025).
Flying Lotus was born Steven Ellison in Los Angeles on October 7, 1983. He has Cameroonian ancestry, being descended from the Tikar people. He is the grandson of singer-songwriter Marilyn McLeod, best known for writing hits such as the Diana Ross song "Love Hangover" and the Freda Payne song "I Get High (On Your Memory)". McLeod's sister Alice Coltrane was a jazz pianist who was married to saxophonist John Coltrane, and was named by The Fader as the biggest influence on Flying Lotus' music. He attended the Los Angeles Film School and Academy of Art University.
In 2006, while at his mother's house, Ellison saw an advertisement on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block asking for song submissions. He sent some in under the name Flying Lotus, a moniker inspired by lucid dreaming, and was accepted. Around this time, he was interning at the pioneering hip hop label Stones Throw Records. He released his debut studio album 1983 on October 3, 2006.
In 2006, Ellison participated in that year's annual Red Bull Music Academy in Melbourne. In 2007, he announced on CSU-Fullerton's Titan Radio that he signed with Warp Records. He released his debut EP, the six-track Reset on October 1, 2007. Soon afterwards, he became one of the label's cornerstone artists and released his second studio album, Los Angeles on June 10, 2008.
In 2008, Flying Lotus released Los Angeles, a 17-track album dedicated to his home city. That same year, he followed up Los Angeles with collaborative tracks with Samiyam and Gonjasufi, a limited white label run of remixes ("Camel", "Lightworks", R2-D2 sound effects, "Shadows of Tomorrow" and "Promiscuous") called Shhh!, and a series of LA inspired EPs. Each of the La EPs features remixes and unreleased tracks from his Los Angeles Album. The third in that series (titled L.A. EP 3 X 3), marked a new atmospheric style in his sound. The same year, Flying Lotus also remixed "Reckoner" from In Rainbows, an album by Radiohead.
His third studio album, Cosmogramma, was released in the UK on May 3, 2010, and in the US on May 4, 2010. In January 2011, Cosmogramma won in the Dance/Electronica Album category in the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards. The multi-award-winning Cosmogramma was a hard-hitting afrofuturistic shrine to soul, hip-hop, jazz and IDM but, with more emphasis on a lyrical message than ever before. The album was accompanied by live instrumentation (Thundercat on bass, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on strings, Rebekah Raff on harp) and live vocalists (Thom Yorke, Laura Darlington) – all picked to help communicate the spiritual musical lineage of Ellison's family (Ravi Coltrane, himself, played tenor sax). Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat, who is featured extensively on Cosmogramma, would later become a large part of future albums by Flying Lotus.
In 2010, Flying Lotus collaborated with the Ann Arbor Film Festival in the performance of a live scoring of the 1962 avant-garde film Heaven and Earth Magic. In a post-viewing interview with the audience, Flying Lotus said that he was unsure whether or not a recording of the performance (or a recreation of it) would be publicly released, but he would be enthusiastic towards similar projects in the future. He was chosen by Battles to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that it co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England, UK.
In September 2010, Flying Lotus released "Pattern+Grid World", a 7 track EP featuring Thundercat on bass & art by Theo Ellsworth. The Track Camera Day was used in the Killer Mike song Swimming, which was released as part of the Adult Swim Singles Series.