LONEWOLF‘s vision — and star-studded track record — truly speaks for itself. Collaborating with Brent Faiyaz, Joony, MadeinTYO, Lil Yachty, A$AP Ferg and predominantly LUCKI, the Chicago-born multi-hyphenate is a prime example of what it means to be a jack of all trades.
While his passion for cinematography has ultimately bled into other avenues, his grip on the culture stems from an early love of skateboarding — finding solace in shooting skate reels and posting them onto YouTube. “A lot of stuff came from us asking ourselves, what can we do to be different,” he said, as LONEWOLF’s signature style soon became synonymous with the many artistic directions of our generation’s blossoming creatives.
Despite attending Purdue University for graphic design, he “wasn’t sure what I was doing” at school, ultimately finding his way on his own accord. Along with cultivating close relationships with artists and producers in Chicago’s underground scene (shooting videos for free for experience), LONEWOLF’s art is instantly recognizable — spanning from cover designs, pop-up shops, clothing collaborations, music videos and even the production of his upcoming influencer incubator LONEWORLD: A place where he says up-and-coming directors, photographers, editors and other creatives can submit their work for exposure.
Humbled and soft-spoken, LONEWOLF embodies the true nature of never losing sight of your roots — referencing how impactful his hometown of Chicago is to his work, making sure to give thanks to those who have helped him along the way (including his parents).
Having a major hand in Chicago “underground king” LUCKI’s aesthetic — directing a handful of his videos and curating cover art for his latest album WAKE UP LUCKI — his work continues to expand beyond the arms of the director’s chair. Championing his new book that contains physical reproductions of his work, he just wanted to create something “different” for people to find out about him.
“I just wanted to create something that anybody can look at and kind of know what I’m doing instead of looking me up [online],” he said. “I started with the goal of 20 pages, and I ended up with like 60. It was right before COVID hit, and I was just building on it. I had so much archive footage and photos that I really wanted to put in a physical form.”
Recently linking up with rising DMV star Joony for his visual “Anytime,” LONEWOLF’s creative direction is truly awe-inspiring. With colorfully-clad frames and pasted text that resembles pieces of magazine lettering glued to paper, his art not only wholeheartedly mirrors his intrinsic desire to create, but has taught him to say “f—k it” when he catches himself overthinking his craft.
“As a creative, you can tend to overthink. But sometimes, also have that ‘f—k it’ mentality where [you can say] it’s okay to shoot wherever and whenever you like. I was doing videos for free for a minute, and we didn’t care. I just wanted to shoot wherever. Don’t overthink [your work], it’s definitely important to want to move toward doing professional videos, but it’s fun and it gives you experience [regardless].”
LONEWOLF to Our Generation Music
As LONEWOLF continues to etch his name alongside creative icons, he caught up with OGM host Hakeem Rowe to speak on LUCKI, Brent Faiyaz, Nike, his first book, his creative direction and more in this Our Generation Music exclusive interview.
Watch LONEWOLF’s OGM exclusive below!
