Flying Lotus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Flying Lotus
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Flying Lotus at Premiere of his film Ash at SXSW 2025
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Steven Ellison
October 7, 1983 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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| Years active | 2006–present |
| Relatives | Marilyn McLeod (grandmother) Alice Coltrane (grand-aunt) |
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Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known as Flying Lotus or FlyLo, is a talented American artist. He is a record producer, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper. He has released seven popular albums. These include 1983 (2006) and Los Angeles (2008). Other albums are Cosmogramma (2010), Until the Quiet Comes (2012), and You're Dead! (2014). He also released Flamagra (2019) and Yasuke (2021).
Flying Lotus also started his own record label called Brainfeeder. He has made music for many Adult Swim TV shows. He released rap mixtapes as his other identity, Captain Murphy. One famous mixtape is Duality (2012). He also hosted a radio station called FlyLo FM in the video game Grand Theft Auto V (2013). More recently, he directed the science fiction film Ash (2025).
Early Life
Steven Ellison was born in Los Angeles on October 7, 1983. His family has roots in the Tikar people of Cameroon. His grandmother, Marilyn McLeod, was a famous songwriter. She wrote hits like "Love Hangover" for Diana Ross.
His grand-aunt, Alice Coltrane, was a jazz pianist. She was married to the famous saxophonist John Coltrane. Many people, including The Fader magazine, say Alice Coltrane greatly influenced Flying Lotus's music. Steven studied at the Los Angeles Film School and Academy of Art University.
Musical Journey
Starting Out: Adult Swim and First Album
In 2006, Steven saw an ad on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim asking for music. He sent in some songs using the name Flying Lotus. This name was inspired by his interest in lucid dreaming. His music was accepted by Adult Swim.
Around this time, he was also working at Stones Throw Records. He released his first album, 1983, on October 3, 2006.
In 2006, he took part in the Red Bull Music Academy in Melbourne. In 2007, he joined Warp Records. He released his first short album, Reset, on October 1, 2007. He quickly became a key artist for Warp Records. His second album, Los Angeles, came out on June 10, 2008.
Los Angeles Album and Brainfeeder
In 2008, Flying Lotus released Los Angeles. This album had 17 songs and was a tribute to his hometown. He also released other music that year. This included songs with Samiyam and Gonjasufi. He also put out EPs (short albums) inspired by Los Angeles. These EPs had remixes and unreleased songs.
The third EP, L.A. EP 3 X 3, showed a new, dreamy style in his music. In the same year, Flying Lotus also remixed a song called "Reckoner" by the band Radiohead.
Cosmogramma and Working with Others
His third album, Cosmogramma, was released in May 2010. In January 2011, Cosmogramma won an Independent Music Award. This album was a mix of soul, hip-hop, jazz, and electronic music. It also had a stronger lyrical message.
The album featured live musicians like Thundercat on bass. It also had singers like Thom Yorke and Laura Darlington. These artists helped share the musical history of Ellison's family. Ravi Coltrane, his cousin, played the tenor sax on the album. Stephen Bruner, known as Thundercat, became a big part of Flying Lotus's future albums.
In 2010, Flying Lotus worked with the Ann Arbor Film Festival. He performed live music for the 1962 film Heaven and Earth Magic. He also released an 8-song EP called "Pattern+Grid World" in September 2010. The song "Camera Day" from this EP was used in a Killer Mike song.
In January 2011, Flying Lotus won another Independent Music Award for his music video "MmmHmm". In 2011, it was reported that he would work with singer Erykah Badu. He also planned to remix a song from Radiohead's album The King of Limbs.
Until the Quiet Comes and Captain Murphy
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Flying Lotus was inspired by hip hop artists like Odd Future. He started producing music for them, including Hodgy Beats' Untitled EP. This led him to make more hip hop music. In the summer of 2012, his alter ego, Captain Murphy, started appearing more often. Captain Murphy would wear a Luchador mask.
In August 2012, Flying Lotus announced a project with filmmaker Miwa Matreyek. It was called The Mapping of Countries Yet to Come. He also produced the song "S.D.S." for rapper Mac Miller. He created a song for the TV show Adventure Time called "About that time//A glitch is a glitch".
His fourth album, Until the Quiet Comes, was almost finished. This album continued his interest in dreamlike states. It featured Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead. Other artists included Niki Randa, Erykah Badu, Laura Darlington, and Thundercat. A short film by Kahlil Joseph was made for the album.
In late 2012, a website for Captain Murphy appeared online. It hosted Duality, a 34-minute mixtape. People wondered who Captain Murphy was.
In April 2013, Flying Lotus announced his own radio station, FlyLo FM, in the video game Grand Theft Auto V. It featured new songs and a Captain Murphy song. The station included music from artists like Aphex Twin and Tyler, the Creator. In November 2014, Flying Lotus worked with MF DOOM on a song for the reissued game. They worked together again in 2020 for Grand Theft Auto Online.
On July 17, 2013, Flying Lotus was nominated for a VMA for his song "Tiny Tortures".
You're Dead! and Grammy Nominations
On July 15, 2014, Flying Lotus hinted at a new album on Instagram. On July 22, he announced his fifth album, You're Dead!. It was released in October 2014. The album featured famous artists like Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, and Herbie Hancock.
On August 15, 2014, Flying Lotus released a new song called "Cosplay" as Captain Murphy. He also created music for the short film A Portrait of Noomi Rapace in September 2014.
In the summer of 2015, Flying Lotus performed at many music festivals. These included Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. His performances were highly praised. He also appeared on Kendrick Lamar's album To ... a Butterfly. In July 2015, Flying Lotus made his TV debut as a DJ on Why? with Hannibal Buress.
He received two Grammy Award nominations in 2016. One was for "Never Catch Me" (Best Dance Recording). The other was for his work on Lamar's To ... a Butterfly (Album of the Year).
Kuso Film and New Music
On July 5, 2016, Ellison announced that Brainfeeder would start a film division. He then showed a short film called Royal at the Sundance NEXT festival. This film was part of his first full-length movie, Kuso. The film featured new music from Flying Lotus and Captain Murphy. Kuso premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017. It was released on the streaming service Shudder on July 21, 2017.
On November 2, 2017, Ellison released a music video for his new song "Post Requisite". He also wrote the music for the 2017 short film Blade Runner Black Out 2022. He contributed music to the 2019 anime series Carole & Tuesday.
Flamagra and Yasuke
On April 17, 2019, Ellison announced his sixth album, Flamagra. It was released on May 24, 2019. The first song from the album, "Fire Is Coming", featured David Lynch. A second song, "More", was released with a music video directed by Shinichirō Watanabe. An instrumental version of the album, Flamagra (Instrumentals), came out in 2020.
In 2021, Flying Lotus released Yasuke. This was the music he created for the Netflix series of the same name. It was his first full anime score.
On June 16, 2022, Ellison released two songs, "You Don't Know" and "The Room". Both featured Devin Tracy. On October 29, 2024, Ellison surprise-released an EP called Spirit Box. It included two songs released earlier: "Garmonbozia" and "Ingo Swann".
Directing Films
V/H/S/99
Ellison directed a part of the film V/H/S/99. This segment was called "Ozzy's Dungeon". He also helped write it with Zoe Cooper.
Ash
Ellison directed the science fiction film Ash in 2023. The movie was released on March 21, 2025. Flying Lotus also wrote the music for the film. The soundtrack was released on March 19, 2025.
Albums
- 1983 (2006)
- Los Angeles (2008)
- Cosmogramma (2010)
- Until the Quiet Comes (2012)
- You're Dead! (2014)
- Flamagra (2019)
Film and TV Work
Film and TV Scores
- Until the Quiet Comes – music (2012)
- The Mapping of Countries Yet to Come – music (2012)
- A Portrait of Noomi Rapace – music (2014)
- ... (by Eddie Alcazar) – music (2016)
- Lovetrue – music (2016)
- Blade Runner Black Out 2022 – music (2017)
- Perfect (by Eddie Alcazar) – music (2018)
- Carole & Tuesday – extra music (2019)
- Yasuke – music, executive producer (2021)
Director
- Royal – short film (2016)
- Kuso – also writer and music (2017)
- V/H/S/99 ("Ozzy's Dungeon" part) – also writer (2022)
- Ash – also writer (2025)
Actor
- The Eric Andre Show – played himself (2016)
- YOLO: Crystal Fantasy – played himself (2020)
Awards and Nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
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| 2013 | UK Music Video Awards | Video of the Year | Until the Quiet Comes | Won | |
| Best Alternative Video – International | Won | ||||
| 2016 | Grammy Awards | Album of the Year | To ... a Butterfly | Nominated | |
| Best Dance Recording | Never Catch Me | Nominated | |||
| 2021 | Producer of the Year, Non-Classical | Himself | Nominated | ||
| Best Progressive R&B Album | It Is What It Is | Won | |||
| 2020 | AIM Independent Music Awards | Best Independent Track | More | Won |
