Theophilus Martins, known professionally as Theo Martins, is an American Artist, Songwriter, and Actor. Martins founded ''Theo Martins Inc'', an entertainment company that produces, distributes and markets his works.http://www.suspendmag.com/blog/2015/9/27/good-posture-by-theophilus-martins-official-launch-party-at-dope-fairfax His output has drawn praise from outlets including ''

The LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', '' GQ'' magazine, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' and Wallpaper Magazine.

Life and career

Martins was born Theophilus Martins Jr in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. He is of

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

descent. His Mother immigrated from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

by way of

Lagos Island Lagos Island (''Ìsàlẹ̀ Èkó'') is the principal and central local government area (LGA) in Lagos, it was the capital of Lagos State until 1957. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian census, the LGA had a pop ...

and his father from Surelere. Martins credits his parents for the musical and artistic exposure gained throughout his upbringing. He noted that his mother found casting calls searching local newspapers while his father was a trumpeter and avid music collector. Martins embarked into a career as a DJ after visiting the home of a family friend who owned a pair of Technic SL-1200

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

. He attended Community College of Rhode Island before attending

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

, performing DJ sets on campus. After achieving success as a DJ he began to pursue a career as a solo artist.

Music

Martins first project, The Birth, was released in collaboration with

Questlove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thou ...

website,

Okayplayer Okayplayer is an online hip-hop and alternative music website and community, described by ''Rolling Stone'' as a "tastemaker" and "an antidote to dull promotional Web sites used by most artists". The community was founded by The Roots' drummer ...

. In 2013, he released album, ''Wonderland'' and supported the release with a domestic tour and performance on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

music video show,

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

. His music video, ''KILLER'' was aired as the program's, "New Joint of The Day". In 2014, Martins launched Posture, a design company and record label to further support his artistic endeavors. In 2017, Martins partnered with producer

Thelonious Martin Malcolm Martin (born September 19, 1992), professionally known as Thelonious Martin or King Thelonious is an American hip hop record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the Chicago collective Savemoney. Life and career Malcolm ...

on EP, ''TM''. In 2019, he launched Cereal & Such, a line of

cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

and

snack A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snacks are p ...

s. The launch accompanied a compilation album featuring,

Asa Taccone Asa Taccone (born September 20, 1983) is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and frontman of the band Electric Guest with whom he has released three albums since 2012. He is noted as a close collaborator of The Lonely Island and has co ...

, Shelley (FKA DRAM),

Kelsey Bulkin Kelsey Bahiyyih Bulkin (born March 25, 1985 in Encinitas, California) is a singer and musician based in Los Angeles, California formerly based in Oakland, California. She is best known for her work as singer and songwriter of duo Made in Heigh ...

, Mez and others. Martins released single, ''Be With You'', directing its music video with director Jimmy Marble. In 2020, Martins released, ''Walking Music'', an album in support of his

walking club Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

initiative. The album accompanied, ''Walking Not Talking'', a film written & directed by Martins. In 2021, Martins released, "It's Right Where You Left It", a book containing short stories, essays and

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

s. The book, containing

QR Codes A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about the ...

, led readers to a song or music video from a corresponding chapter. A Second Edition was released, with an accompanying

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. Contributions from artists, CeeLo Green,

Ts Madison Ts Madison Hinton (born October 22, 1977), also known as Maddie, is an American reality television personality, actress, and LGBT activist. With the reality show ''The Ts Madison Experience'', she became the first black trans woman to star in and ...

, Liv.e and Triathalon each recite passages from the book. The soundtrack includes a

foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...

from former American professional basketball player,

Lamar Odom Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. As a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he won championships in 2009 and 2010 and was named the NBA Sixt ...

Acting

Martins was cast as a page in the

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film, Amistad. Martins starred in the film, "End of Babes", alongside actress

Gillian Zinser Gillian Zinser is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Ivy Sullivan on The CW teen drama series '' 90210''. Early life Zinser was born in Washington, D.C. She is of German and Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Career Zinser's first ...

for media platform

NOWNESS Nowness (stylized NOWNESS) is a digital video channel that was launched in 2010 by its founder Jefferson Hack as a brand of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.

. In 2017, he starred as himself in, "United Colors of Shirley", a second film for

NOWNESS Nowness (stylized NOWNESS) is a digital video channel that was launched in 2010 by its founder Jefferson Hack as a brand of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.

. In 2018, Martins wrote and directed web series, ''The Theo Show'', playing a fictionalized version of himself. He starred in the film, ''If You're Ready'', earning a

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

Staff Pick and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Short of The Week. In 2020, Martins starred, wrote & directed, ''Food For Thought'', a web series produced by

Issa Rae Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, producer, and comedian. Rae first garnered attention for her work on the YouTube web series ''Awkward Black Girl''. Since 2011, Rae h ...

's Hoorae Media.

Artistry

Martins launched Posture, a design & clothing company. He followed with Cereal & Such, a Los Angeles cereal bar and line of

gluten-free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The inclus ...

cereal & snacks. His explorations have encompassed publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and e-commerce. He has written two books, is the publisher of Reading Material, a quarterly magazine and currently hosts a television program, ''Theo’s House'' on the Vans Network. In 2020, Martins launched a ''Posture''

. The company has partnered with athletic shoe company Hoka on its initiative. In 2021, Martins founded ''Theo Martins Inc'', an entertainment company engaging in the production, distribution and marketing of his works.

Discography

Studio albums

Filmography

Film

Bibliography

References

External links

* *
Official Soundcloud profileOfficial WebsiteTheo Martins Discography on Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martins, Theo Living people African-American male rappers University of Rhode Island alumni Actors from Providence, Rhode Island East Coast hip hop musicians Male actors from Rhode Island Musicians from Providence, Rhode Island African-American record producers American bloggers American hip hop record producers Songwriters from Rhode Island Rappers from Rhode Island 1987 births 21st-century American rappers American male bloggers 21st-century American male musicians African-American songwriters 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American people American male songwriters