October London is a dream artist if you’re a label head or A&R looking for new talent – and his voice is just the beginning of what he offers. And on Sunday night (Nov. 26), he performed on the Amplified Stage at the "Soul Train Awards" 2023.

The South Bend, Indiana native has a silky smooth voice but also the ability to write and produce his own music. He also can tap into different genres, which is a big reason he caught the attention of Snoop Dogg, who originally signed him to his fully-owned and revamped Death Row Records (after a stint at his now-defunct Cadillac Music imprint).

Signing to Tha Doggfather in 2016, London has honed his abilities the past few years, dropping EPs like 2020’s The Love Cassette and 2022’s Bell Bottom Nights to strengthen his chops. But 2023 has London at his busiest. Earlier this month, he released The RnB Masterclass, which showcased some of his best songwriting to date, after dropping his latest LP The Rebirth of Marvin – a tribute to Marvin Gaye and a full-on display of how far his voice can take him.

During a recent interview with BET, October London discussed his latest musical works, detailed meeting Snoop Dogg and his longtime cohort Jazze Pha, and signing to Death Row Records and the creative freedom he claims comes with it.

Bet your future on this man. Read below.

BET: You’re from South Bend, Indiana. Take me back to growing up in that town and how you got into music there…

October London: Yeah, I grew up in South Bend, Indiana, which a lot of people know for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It's a very humble town. It's more sports related. It's not really music related. Obviously, you got Michael Jackson, he's from Gary, comedians like Mike Epps that are from Indianapolis and Vivica Fox, and so many more, but it's never been really music related like that. So to break out and get in the music game, you have to leave this place for that. If I was playing basketball, I could stick here, do something at Notre Dame or wherever. You got the [Indiana] Pacers, all that kind of good stuff.

This place humbled me and made me who I am today. And then I just kind of moved over to L.A. and now I'm back and forth. But I love living here. I'm always probably going to have a main place here. My family's here, parents are here, stuff like that. But it definitely grew me into being the person I am just having the patience, I think, and the kindness to deal with a lot of the things that I'm going through now in the music industry. A lot of people can't handle the music industry because they think they're gonna go out there and it's just gonna happen. I think being here, you learn patience because it takes forever if you're trying to get on in music here.

BET: In February you released The Rebirth of Marvin, a tribute to Marvin Gaye. It ruffled some feathers of people, including Marvin Gaye’s sister ​​Zeola. But it was more of a tribute than you trying to bite anyone. Talk about that release and what you’ve learned since dropping it…

October London: I was just in the vibe. Snoop has his compound where he has the studio and all that kind of stuff and he's always playing music throughout Cadillac Radio. And I was in that vibe of listening to old school music. Marvin has always been one of my favorites, definitely top 10 and I kept hearing Marvin and I was like, I'm in that vibe, let me start making songs for it – just for that vibe, not for him, but for that vibe. I kind of just morphed into sounding a bit like him. To me, I don't think I really sound too much like him. Like they're little pieces in the vocals, and the vocal arrangements, the way I do things.

Snoop came up with the name of The Rebirth of Marvin and I was like, Okay, I mean, there were a few songs that sounded like him, but I was going in different directions throughout the album. I helped produce the album, I wrote the whole album. It came out to be incredible. I'm just really happy that everyone loves it.

I get where [Zeola’s] coming from, shout out to the Marvin Gaye estate, because I love them. They're good people. I get where she's coming from with it just kind of haunting her a little bit because it sounds like her family. And that's cool. But I just want her to look at it from the standpoint of I was just paying tribute. I'm not trying to be Marvin. I was just honed in that vibe.

BET: You mentioned writing the entire thing and producing it. I’m sure that took a long time since you were in charge of a lot. Did that give you satisfaction because of how much you were responsible for?

October London: The best part of being signed to Death Row and being signed to the Dogg is that I have full creative control. Nobody's over my shoulder, [Snoop’s] just like, “Oh, that's what you're creating? Alright cool. I'll see what you got in a few hours, see what you got.”

Snoop will come in and just say, “Hey, you should make a song about being in this relationship with this woman and y'all going through hard times, but in the end, it added up.” And it's like three o'clock in the morning. So when it comes to the writing process, I don't really write everything comes from my head. I don't write anything down, I don't have a lyric sheet, I don't have anything I'm going to take for take.

BET: You were on “Revolution” from Snoop Dogg’s album Coolaid. Is that how you met him and signed to Death Row or was it long before that?

October London: It's a long story but to make a long story short, a buddy of mine knew Jazze Pha. I ended up singing some songs to Jazze Pha and I think I was doing songs that kind of sounded like Future and Migos, something like that. I sent like 10 records or something like that and he listened to him. He was like, “Yo, you got some hits on your hand like these are dope.” But I didn't know that the next day, he was flying out to go meet with Snoop to go do some songs for his daughter, but he didn't tell me that at first. He told me it later on.

He got there, showed Snoop, I think it was “Color Blind” because I had done “Color Blind” in 2016. I had already had that song done and he played him “Color Blind” and Snoop was like, “Oh, I gotta have this kid” and [he] called me the night before the Super Bowl at my parents house. [Jazze Pha] was like, “You remember that person I said I was going to meet up with?” He put Rick James’ daughter on the phone first. Then she's like, “Alright, hold on” and she hands [the phone] over and he's like, “Hey, it’s the big homie Snoop Dogg, man. I'm a fan of your music.” And I'm like, I'm a fan of your music!

March 2016 is when I was assigned to Snoop and Jazzy Pha at the time. We did a Cadillac Music-type deal where they were going half on doing things for me and putting me out. And yeah, that's how it happened.

BET: And then you transitioned to Death Row after that?

October London: The contract dissolved between me, Snoop and Jazze because it just didn't work out. We were on different terms and Jazze had a bunch of stuff going on. He was producing for people when he was busy, and just didn't work out. But Snoop was like, “Oh no, I want you still here. So stay right here.” I was like, Okay, cool. But the transition over to Death Row was very quick and easy like, “Forget all what we did before. This is the new standard, this is what we're gonna do. But I still want you to be you, do whatever you want. You want to drop country music, R&B? I don't care. This is the new Death Row and I want you to lead the pack.”

BET: You mentioned the Color Blind EPs from 2016. How have you grown from making those projects to where you are now?

October London: I feel like I've grown quite a bit in everything that I've been doing. I'm writing better now than 2016, I'm producing better. My mix wasn't as good. I wasn't mastering anything of that nature. But as far as the growth in writing these types of songs, I've tried to grow as much as possible and as quick as possible because the game changes like crazy. Just growing as far as writing and understanding the topic of love, it hasn't been challenging at all. It's just grasping what [the best musicians at it] were talking about. Sometimes you need taco meat hanging out during your studio session [laughs].

BET: Is there an artist or two that you’ve been waiting to hit Uncle Snoop up like, “Yo, it’d be dope to get such and such on a record?” There’s gotta be a significant collaboration you have your eyes on…

October London: There are a couple people that he'd have to make a call to – one we've talked about about twice – and that's me and Drake getting together and doing a record. That'd be crazy as he's the biggest artist in the game. The second would be probably John Mayer. I've been wanting to make a song with him, but who I've really been wanting to do a record with is Sir, Inglewood Sir. His music is crazy and I think we talked once or twice, it was like just real quick. Sir is probably the one that I really want to work with the most right right now. Drake I think it'll come at some point maybe. I don't know. Depends on if he makes that call.

One producer I've always wanted to work with is Dr. Dre and I've seen him and worked with him several times. We're working on the new Snoop album. I’ll let you know right now: The new Snoop album…

BET: Oh yeah, he’s coming together with Dre for that and I think Eminem is involved too. That was recently announced…

October London: I can't say too much about it, but I'll tell you that I've listened to the whole album from top to bottom. Incredible. I'm not even gonna lie. This is some of Snoop’s best work. It’s nice.

Preeminent Visual:

Latest Release: