By the end of the naughties, rap music seems to be turning into the new pop. As a result, it escapes more and more its original milieu, and it is blurring the lines with other genres like rock, or electronica. By then, some rappers are leading the trend, like Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and later on Drake. And of course, we remember the hit machine the Black Eyed Peas, originally a pure hip-hop band, has turned into.
By the same time, another man goes the same way, though in a distinct manner. With his fashion victim looks, Theophilus London, a New-Yorker of Trinidadian descent who will be sponsored by Kanye, looks like a hipster fantasy, up to being a favorite of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
His second project, This Charming Mixtape, shows with no ambiguity that he is not only influenced by hip-hop. The title, indeed, is derived from "This Charming Man", a song from The Smiths, and the cover art from an Elvis Costello album, This Year's Model. Theophilus London, as a matter of fact, focuses on specific times: the late 70's and the 80's.
His mixtape is full of sounds coming from these peculiar decades, and genres like post-punk, synth pop, sophisti pop, electro rap, house music, world music, or late soul. For example, he uses Glass Candy's syrupy cover of Kraftwerk's "Computer Love". Or he provides a deconstructed version of Whitney Houston's hit single "I Will Always Love You".
London enjoys more recent songs, such as Amadou & Mariam's "Sabali", or the Crazy Cousinz's "Bongo Jam". Or older ones, like Bill Withers's superb "Ain't No Sunshine", or an old version of "Oh Happy Day". These, though, don't change anything: even when using Lauryn Hill's "Take My Eyes Off Of You", his music inexorably sounds like the 80's.
This Charming Mixtape is, actually, what a mixtape is supposed to be: a selection, a compilation of existing tracks, more or less remixed, aimed at disclosing someone's own musical pantheon. It is barely a hip-hop project, though. The only reason why it is related to this musical genre is that Theophilius London's raps – at times, at least – and also his resolution to represent his hometown of Brooklyn.
With his neat and trim appearance, Theopholius London is a wet dream for the beautiful people. When claiming his strange passion for water on "Aquamilita", he seems to talk primarily to sushi and organic food eaters. And his mixtape looks like an ideal soundtrack for fashion shows. But anyway: the music we can hear in such events is still, quite often, better than what casual radios broadcast; exactly like Theopholius London's selection on his Charming Mixtape.