In 2013, Stelios Phili composed the runway music for En Noir's Spring/Summer 2014 show. In early 2014, he composed the music for designer Mark McNairy's Fall/Winter 2014 show. According to an interview with MTV Rap Fix, Phili met the rapper A$AP Ferg while working at GQ in 2013. The two began collaborating after fellow A$AP Mob member A$AP Nast passed along one of the producer's beats, which would later become the A$AP Ferg song, "Ja-Rule," featuring Big Sean. In 2014, Phili produced the first single from A$AP Ferg's mixtape, Ferg Forever. The song, "Doe-Active," was met with positive reviews. Pitchfork Media described the song as "a minimalist beat that could've slid right into Yeezus," Stereogum called it "a total nutso banger," and Complex named it a "certified banger, with club-destroying drums." Phili's production was featured on four additional tracks on Ferg Forever. In 2015, Phili produced DonMonique's debut EP, Thirst Trap. The New York Times described it as "full of transfixing slo-mo production by Stelios Phili somewhere between modern-day Internet-rap sparseness and the hard, murky slap of mid-1990s New York street rap." In 2017, Phili began collaborating with New York-based artist Lolo Zouaï. Their first collaboration, "High Highs to Low Lows," topped Spotify's Fresh Finds Best of 2017 list. In 2018, Phili produced the Young Thug and Elton John collaboration, "High." According to Rolling Stone, the song came together after Phili read an interview with Elton John, who expressed his admiration for Young Thug. After Phili built a new beat around an edited version of the "Rocket Man" a cappella, 300 Entertainment A&R Geoff Ogunlesi played the song to Young Thug. On September 24, 2018, "High" was released on his EP, On the Rvn. The song was awarded Best New Music by Pitchfork Media, with The Fader describing the song's reception as "swift and rapturous" and "a return to iconoclastic form for Young Thug."
Musical Style
Phili's production style is described as fresh and understated. In the article, "10 Rap Producers You Might Not Know," Pigeons & Planes writes: "Stelios Phili is one of those producers you can recognize from the jump—he utilizes a unique collection of sounds that is both muted and aggressive: murky synths and pillowy cymbal taps are cut by a fierce snare, or a saxophone seamlessly transforms into an electric guitar. It's all about subtlety with SP, and he's got it down to a science."
