“Do you believe in fate?” I ask Teezo Touchdown. “Absolutely,” he replies camera-less over Zoom, eight hours behind my dark, gloomy London evening in the morning LA sun. “I’m literally walking now with my eyes closed. I worry – and I think that’s the human part of me – whether this will work out. But every year we get bigger, and I continue to do things that I could never have imagined. Every time that I think I plateau, something amazing is around the corner. So yeah, this is all by design, this is all what I asked for.”

It’s been a remarkable rise for the 31-year-old. His journey towards the release of his long-anticipated debut album, How Do You Sleep At Night?, which dropped in November of last year to ardent praise from fans and media alike, has ebbed and flowed. It’s come with cynical criticisms and fear-inducing self-doubt, but now, ultimately, triumph (and a significant Drake endorsement). This spring, Teezo is set to embark on a debut headline tour which includes an incepting London show at Electric Brixton on 29th March, is now in the campaign for HUGO BLUE, HUGO’s new line with denim at the core and is quietly becoming one of the US’s most illustrious new age artists.

Teezo was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas. A city which he describes as a melting pot of magnetic cultures, with its close proximity to the borders of Louisiana and Houston. “I’m so privileged to be from Texas,” he says. “There’s a lot of perks that come with that: I can throw in an accent whenever I want, wear cowboy boots and a hat [laughs]. To me, Beaumont is a place that I want to continue to shed light on because I want the people there to open their eyes and see how beautiful it is. I’m guilty of it, I had to leave and come back to appreciate what the city offers. No one looks like us, no one talks like us, no one cooks like us; we have such a unique blend of what we’re pulling from.”

This inherent individuality induced by his geographical make-up became uncompromisingly propelled by his surroundings as he grew up. His father, a DJ and avid music collector, inspired Teezo to dabble with production and then songwriting, providing him with a discipline synonymous with his personality. “I knew I wasn’t athletic because I remember vividly in elementary school being on the basketball team, throwing up a shot and I got put out the very next play,” he laughs achingly. “So I knew that sports wasn’t really my thing. But music was a special thing that was so unique to me, I didn’t really know anyone else who did music.”

Although always a maverick, it wasn’t until an incident of tragedy – the passing of his then-girlfriend from gun violence – that Teezo found unwavering tenacity in his nonconformity. A self-epiphany that went beyond a state of mind and bled into a physical form: the, now notorious, nails in his hair.

“I leaned into my individuality of dressing how I want to dress, shopping in the women’s section, making an event out of thrifting,” he offers. “Also just watching the playing field, seeing artists like Lil Yachty come out with the iconic red beads, watching how Lil Uzi Vert came out. But you don’t want to copy anyone. All of these artists have something: if you drew a silhouette, you can recognise them. I just had that in mind – ‘All right, what is that going to be for me?’ In 2019, I came back home from LA and was like, ‘Let me literally look around my backyard.’ I was already leaning into the Rock thing, so I just took it a little bit forward. Seeing that Rock’n’Roll and Punk is very spiky, I found nails lying around the crib and was like, ‘Cool, I’m gonna start putting these in my shoes and my hats.’ And then it wasn’t until the end of 2019 that I had the idea to put nails in my hair.”

Beneath the flamboyance of Teezo’s avant-garde exterior, there is a rigid determination to remain authentic and relatable. Despite the auteurism of his visuality, lyrically his music is rooted in humanism and in empathy. “That’s the juxtaposition I guess,” he pinpoints. “When people see me and then hear the type of music that I make, how I talk and carry myself – it’s very opposite. But it’s just showing the dualities of humans; we’re all different and I’m just mirroring that. Sometimes it’s kind of abrasive to look in the mirror and see this reflection of another version of you.”

Bold in his stylistic experimentation, Teezo’s sound is impossible to pin down. He treats creation like a playground, exploring and trialing without limit or compromise, deep-seated within the joy of the process. Given how disparate he is as an artist, as well as the loudness of his look and his “fashion rapper” label, Teezo has found himself under the critical microscope, with media publications often questioning his intentions and labeling him as an industry plant. He admits that it still affects him deeply, but has learnt ways to overcome any uncertainty in himself through a lens of endearment and optimism.

“What’s really been helping me lately is that connection to the people who are into your music, hearing how much my expression motivates them. I’m finally able to connect with them, I’m finally able to see that they exist, people who discover me and really are into this art. Also, the hope and excitement that someone new today is going to hear Teezo Touchdown for the first time and go down that rabbit hole. I’m just as excited and optimistic for that; the people who haven’t even heard what’s going on with me are yet to find me.”

Amongst the zeitgeist’s underbelly for years now, Teezo showed his star-power potential with early heavy-hitting singles like “Careful” and “I’m Just A Fan”, as well as feature turns with artists like Rico Nasty and Tyler, the Creator (whom he also supported on tour). Then suddenly last year, Teezo’s bubbling cynosure erupted. His appearance on Travis Scott’s blockbuster record UTOPIA and ensuing support slot on its tour caused plenty of discussion, and a relationship with Drake was nurtured on his For All My Dogs record. Drake himself went on to describe Teezo’s debut album as “some of the best music ever made.”

How Do You Sleep At Night? had been a long time coming; he explains that at several points throughout his career he has been close to releasing a body of work, but “never felt connected, there wasn’t enough moments.” The wait has proven to be a calculated risk that has paid off, amassing giddy hype and unveiling the project just as his stock was at its peak. “It’s just the way that my story goes. I could have pressed the button years ago but it’s just how it planned out.”

The LP itself is eclectic, erratic and imperfect – a perfect epitomisation of Teezo’s character. It sees him coin a new sound that is self-defined as Rock & Boom, and within the opening two tracks of the record – the Pop-Punk gimmick opener “OK” followed by the sensual, Janelle Monáe-featuring R&B slow jam – the sonic disparity of the project is blatant. This breadth of style continues across the initial 14 cuts, as well as the additional three on the deluxe, which was unveiled at the start of 2024. What the LP lacks in tonal cohesion, it more than makes up for in presence, vivacity and chutzpah. It’s a bold record, one that isn’t afraid to fail or not take itself too seriously. For Teezo though, the album is, more than anything, a welcoming greeting into his artistry.

“I was studying debut albums and wanting to make an impact,” he says. “I think you can hear how grandiose it is but at the end of the day it’s just album number one. It’s a snapshot to where I was from when I discovered music, all the way up until when I was like, ‘This is the album.’ It was about making that first impression, extending my hand and saying: ‘I’m Teezo Touchdown.’”

Following the success of his debut and his mouth-watering feature laurels, Teezo finds himself settling into a career as an artist. He intends to nurture his creative output, obtaining a healthy relationship with the pressures that come with success as a musician. “I always say that my creativity is like a deer, it’s very easy to startle away; it’s very beautiful, very strong but if you step on the twig it’ll run away,” he conceptuailses. “I’m at a place now of going into the studio and just being very honest. If I don’t feel it, I’ll tell everyone thank you for their time and we’re getting out of there because I don’t want to sit here and just bang my head against the wall. I like to take advantage of the luxury of what I do for a living. I worked many jobs where even if there’s a death in the family you still gotta call and say why you’re not showing up, so I really just take advantage of the freedom that I have with what I do and I try to be as healthy as I can.”

With his debut tour on the horizon, a fan base multiplying every moment, and the support and backing of what seems like the entire American Rap scene, it’s clear that Teezo has a career of prosperity ahead. His main goal though, is to show the romanticists that austerity is possible for anyone, no matter your personal situation. “I want to make a playbook. Not only to cater to musicians, but to anyone with a dream. I want to give a detailed playbook of how I got here. And in that same playbook, I want there to be some blank pages for the next person to pick up, and to keep on passing it on to the next person. I want to be a beacon of belief. I want to show that it’s possible, that’s it’s real life. That’s my legacy, not an album or an accolade, it’s showing you how I did it and how you can do it as well. Not in a cheesy way, but a literal ‘I have to go out and yell this’ because I didn’t believe in myself, so if you’re having that doubt, look over here and I’ll show you that it’s very possible to keep going, even when it’s very mundane.”

Whether it’s with his music, image or attitude, Teezo strikes me as fearless. I relay the observation to him. “Oh no, I’m afraid. I am so scared,” he disagrees.” Well,” I say. “You do a very good job at hiding it.”

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