Felly

Felly is a Connecticut-born, Los Angeles-based artist, songwriter, producer, and musician whose work has continually moved beyond a single genre. Beginning with music uploaded while he was still in high school, he developed a sound that blends introspective hip-hop, alternative influences, live instrumentation, guitar-driven songwriting, and deeply personal reflection without losing the identity that first connected listeners to his work.

While attending the University of Southern California, Felly helped establish 2273, a creative collective and independent label named after the dorm-room number where he, Gyyps, Jake Standley, and their friends gathered to make beats, freestyle, film content, and release music together. What began as a group of friends creating in a dorm room developed into the foundation for an independent career built through collaboration, experimentation, and community.

That foundation carried Felly through an evolving catalog including Waking Up to Sirens, This Shit Comes in Waves, Wild Strawberries, Surf Trap, Mariposa, Young Fel 2, and Ambroxyde. As his music developed, sampling and self-produced beats expanded into live instrumentation, full-band performances, and collaborations with artists including Carlos Santana and Jack Harlow.

Long before I met Felly, his music had become part of the soundtrack of my friendship with Keaton D. Jones. We listened to his records whenever we were together and followed his journey from the early high-school videos on YouTube through the projects, tours, and Los Angeles studio sessions that followed. We were drawn not only to his raw talent, but to the freedom, personality, and curiosity surrounding everything he created.

That admiration eventually became a real opportunity when Keaton was brought in to direct a music-video production for “Pot of Gold,” a track from Felly’s 2021 album Young Fel 2. William Andrade served as cinematographer, and I joined the crew to document the production through behind-the-scenes photography.

The production was strengthened by several other creatives working across different formats. Adrian Mejia—@docbyadrian—supported the production and captured VHS footage, adding another texture to the visual world surrounding the video. Chevy Wilkins—@chevy.raw—created additional behind-the-scenes photography, preserving his own perspective on the artists, crew, locations, and moments unfolding throughout the shoot. Together, Keaton, William, Adrian, Chevy, and the wider team brought distinct visual approaches into one collaborative production.

Meeting Felly after years of following his work was surreal, but he carried the same relaxed confidence, creativity, and character we had always recognized in his music and videos. The production gave us the opportunity to step inside a world we had previously experienced only as fans and to meet other remarkable Los Angeles artists and filmmakers helping bring the project to life.

The shoot also introduced us personally to Gyyps, Felly’s longtime friend, roommate, and collaborator from the 2273 circle. Learning how closely their lives and creative processes were connected made the music feel even more personal. Their friendship reflected the same spirit that shaped 2273 from the beginning: artists living together, exchanging ideas, and allowing collaboration to become part of everyday life.

One of the most memorable sequences took us to Roy Purdy’s home, where the crew filmed a skateboarding scene on his ramp. Having grown up watching Roy’s videos and Vines, suddenly finding ourselves creating in that environment added another surreal layer to the experience. Every part of the production felt like entering a creative community we had admired from a distance and realizing that, for that moment, we were helping build something within it.

These photographs preserve more than the making of a music video. They document the moment an artist who had influenced our friendship and creativity became someone standing in front of my camera—and the moment years of admiration transformed into genuine collaboration.