You likely know of Lil London thanks to his distinct online presence: The rapper has a signature “uniform”—a white shirt and black Prada tie—that he’s worn for nearly three-and-a-half-years straight. He’s documented himself wearing it around his home city of Berlin on Instagram, shot grainy, 2016-style Instagram filters, soundtracked by his own songs, on which he’s crooning about Louboutins.
Outside of music, Lil London has a fashion side hustle too, walking for brands like Prada and Dior and, most recently, taking over i-D’s channels during the Ann Demeulemeester show at Paris Fashion Week. That wide-reaching approach to creativity speaks to how the skateboarder-turned-model-turned-rapper has built his own world, positioning himself alongside contemporaries like Fakemink and EsDeeKid. Although Lil London is based in Berlin and has released music exclusively in German, he’s part of a generation less defined by place and more by connection. As he puts it: “It’s no longer just the Berlin scene, the Paris scene, or the London scene—it’s all starting to grow together sonically.”
Despite his dense catalogue of videos on social media, we don’t know much about who Lil London is as a person. When I met him on Zoom in February, he hadn’t done an interview before. But he didn’t seem nervous, or unprepared. While he remained cagey on the specifics of his life (no one knows his real age, for example), he spoke eloquently about other things. This all made sense once he revealed one thing: he has studied linguistics in the past.
Today marks day 1265 of him wearing his uniform, but it’s also day one of his new single, “CDJS.” In celebration of its release, we catch up with Lil London to see what he’s actually all about.
Marley Wendt: What initially pulled you towards making music?
Lil London: I’m a skateboarder. I grew up listening to Uzi and Carti, and wanted to make my own beats for my edits. It took me a few years to really get serious. The first time I actually started songwriting—really making music with me as a vocalist—was about three or four years after that.
Also, when I was modeling, I had all these experiences from traveling and meeting different people like Raf Simons, which I wanted to share. So that was the catalyst for everything.
You mentioned Uzi and Carti. Can you tell me about your other musical influences growing up?
Sure. Can I ask what yours are?
Growing up, I was very opposed to listening to pop music, but now I love pop music! I love Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber.
Justin is having his moment. People are really appreciating his maximalist production style. Now Justin Bieber is appreciated for his music, whereas people used to be like, “that’s gay”—which obviously I hate—but that’s what people were saying about him when I was growing up. To give these people like Justin Bieber and Zara Larsson their flowers now is really cool. I also unironically love listening to Justin Bieber.
What’s the key to making great music?
What distinguishes most good artists from great artists—and I’m by no means saying I’m a great artist, but I aspire to be one—is that they play to their strength. If you look at Bob Dylan, for example, he’s one of the best songwriters to this day, and he put his auditory spotlight onto his songwriting. The same way Uzi was basically saying, “get money, fuck bitches”. It sounded cool because it was melody driven, and that was the sign of the times then.
So, what’s your strength?
I’m actually a lot more focused on songwriting and lyrics than people in the rap space tend to be. I studied linguistics, and I really love language. I’m drawn to starting my songs with acoustics—like guitar, piano, or violins—which becomes the base of everything. I want the lyrics and the acoustics to drive the song. And everything else, like synths and drums, you can take it all out, and the song will still be there. Like “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber, in that moment, he never needed more than that. And I want to build from that same place.
Have you noticed your fame changing in the last few years?
I’m the most famous Asian person in Germany, which is sort of funny. It’s weird, because in America, that would never be the case. But there are like 10 Asian people to choose from here, so it’s not that hard to be the most famous one, but it also makes me very recognizable on the street.
Have you had any crazy fan experiences?
The fans have all been super nice. There were a few people in the rap scene who were trying to press me because of my lyrics. I talk about fashion and the way it makes me feel, and the way capitalism and fashion ruins the world, but at the same time I’m profiting from it—and that’s sort of what I’m all about. But as soon as you go viral in this very small ecosystem of Berlin, some people try to harm you, I guess.
Talking about fashion, what sparked your interest in it?
I always wanted to look cool—whether that be my tricks or my actual outfit. We also had this skateboarding collective which I was a small part of, and Virgil reached out to us—may he rest in peace. Skateboarding and fashion just kept growing closer together. For a while, skateboarders were running the modeling industry: it was all us skinny skater guys who were doing all the shows.
Where did your outfit idea come from?
Modeling was such a huge part of my life for two years. It felt like I was on tour, but I didn’t know the next stop. I would get a call from the airport, telling me I had to be in Paris in 14 hours, and from there Egypt, and from there Milan, and from there Malaga. That’s where my outfit idea came from: everything needed to fit into a suitcase, because I didn’t know when I would come home again.
You’ve gained a lot of attention through posting online. What does it mean to translate that energy into live shows?
It’s tough, you know. If you have fans in Tokyo, Paris, Seoul, London, and Berlin, those people can’t all come to your show. I think you have to be very aware of what kind of success you want, and that success can mean 100 different things. Do you want to do arena tours in your hometown? Or do you want to play a show in Tokyo or Paris at smaller venues? Once you know what you want, it becomes so much easier to plan steps to get there.
Would you ever consider releasing music in English?
Obviously, English is my mother tongue, so I do feel connected to that. I have a bunch of English songs lying around, I’m just trying to be strategic about when it makes sense to take that step. I feel like Germany is my practice run. Whenever I leave here, nobody fucking knows me, which is cool.
