Theophilus London on introducing rap music to Guam, the conception of The Charming Mixtape and his new album set to come out in spring 2010.

At first glance, 23-year-old hip-hop artist Theophilus London may seem like an old-school throwback, from the name of the mixtape that’s sent him into the Internet stratosphere (This Charming Mixtape, a take on The Smiths‘ classic) to the cover artwork of the record (a re-creation of Elvis Costello‘s 1978 landmark ‘This Year’s Model.’ ) to the ‘I-can’t-believe-he’s-sampling-these!’ tracks splashed throughout (everyone from Whitney Houston to ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’ ).

But one listen to the 18 tracks of This Charming Mixtape, and it’s apparent that this is something completely fresh and futuristic. Theophilus is taking the Kid Cudi–Kanye electronica-hip hop fusion and running into completely new territory, masterfully mixing time-honored hits with modern synth melodies and icing it with his own rhymes. The result is a gorgeous, seminal piece of work that’s comforting in its familiarity and exciting in the way it envelopes the classic samples in between emotional, haunting melodies.

Take the track ‘Hum Drum,’ a short interlude in which London takes the ‘the rain falls on this hum-drum town’ lyric and works it around thoughtful verses and airy bits of electro. The track opener ‘Grey x Sage‘ swirls into a pretty dancebeat and erupts at 1:56 into a glorious chorus. Then there are dance-hall tracks like ‘Crazy Cousins,’ anchored by a more tribal drumbeat (and the hilarious ‘I love to play my bongos in the morning’ riff).

Theophilus grew up in Brooklyn — as we all know by now, a prime breeding ground for thoughtful future MC’s. “I’ve always been writing, I was always interested in music as a young kid,” he says. We’re chatting on the phone the night before he’s headed to the UK to perform at a party for Spike Lee to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Do The Right Thing.

“I always had a knack for entertainment,” he continues. “Even as a kid in class, at show-and-tell, I was the first one to want to present. It started getting like a trend — no one wanted to present after me.”

He was drawn more and more to hip-hop and soul in his teens. He began writing and meeting with producers and collaborators, figuring out his own sound, Googling what was going on in the scene and finding Open Mic nights around the city where he could watch and perform.

“It was all about just constantly every year and year just growing,” he says. “Working with the right people and having a vision.”

In 2008, he released his first mixtape, JAM! There was little promotion for it; it was put online and if people found it, they found it. “I didn’t really push it out, there were no email blasts,” he remembers. But people did find it, and Theophilus was soon getting booked for shows as far away as Guam (“it was like a whole peace thing,” he laughs, “like introducing hip-hop to to Guam. But I was inspired.”)

He returned from his travels re-invigorated, ready to settle down and work on what would become This Charming Mixtape. He gathered a team together, figured out a schedule, and began writing the music. It was late fall/early winter of 2009.

“It was kind of melancholy, sort of sad stuff,” he says, reflecting on how the time of year influenced the more somber tones of the mixtape. “August, September, November — people just start working harder when that cold stuff comes in. I was around all kinds of stuff — people breaking up, toughening up for the winter.”

In November 2008, he took a trip to visit family in London, where his cousins played him the song ‘This Charming Man‘ in a club that they owned. It inspired not only the title, but also motivated him to finish the recording, mixing and album artwork in the two weeks after he returned to the U.S.

This Charming Mixtape was released in January…and the rest is history. There was a strategic decision to promote it online. “We looked at sites that we loved, like RCRD LBL,” he says. “We wanted to hit the sites that you look at, we looked at content and that stuff. Then we got picked up by everybody. We were getting hits from Germany, then SPIN and RollingStone.”

He soon found himself on the cover of Fader and one of the darlings of this year’s South by Southwest — all on the strength of the mixtape, not even his own album. That album, however, will come.

In addition to gearing up for this year’s CMJ Festival and collaborating, appropriately, with Mark Ronson on a song tied to the release of a new Gucci shoe launch, Theophilus is currently writing and recording in Brooklyn. Expect his first album to drop in Spring 2010. He’s mum on details, only offering the following: “it’s gonna be pleasant melodies and great stories that I create. It’s gonna be honest, great songs.”