Travis Bennett is a busy guy. Aside from performing as Yung Taco, part of the Odd Future expanded rap universe, Bennett portrays Elz opposite Lil Dicky on the hit FX series Dave and pops up to steal scenes in projects like You People and Confess, Fletch. Now, he’s dabbling in fashion by giving his style sensibility to a collaboration with Jameson Whiskey and Dickies, a brand he’s been repping since his days as a “skate rat.”
Bennett is a thoughtful, hard-working guy who looks back with bemusement on his rapid, disorienting rise alongside his childhood friends Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. He has a lot of doors open to him and, even as he considers what to do next, it’s clear he’s developing a discerning eye and a sense of what it means to be a person people look at and a person people look to for inspiration.
Bennett spoke to SPY about his career, his style, and why he bought so many damn DVDs.
SPY: For a young guy, you’ve already done a lot of stuff. Music. Acting. Stuff adjacent to music and acting. When did you start working?
Travis Bennett: I started working, probably like age 17, with a TV show with my best friends (Adult Swim’s Loiter Squad). I did that until I was 20. So I got my first big check at 17. It was like $8,000, I think, or $10,000. It was supposed to be a certain amount of money. When I saw that FICA took my money, I was so confused. I thought I was getting fucked over by everybody. I was like, what the fuck is FICA and why are they taking so much money from me? I was on tour with Odd Future.
I started acting at 20. I started on “Dave” at 24. Everything kind of took off from there.
SPY: So when you get that first big check, what’s the first thing you spend it on that’s just a luxury? Just something for you.
TB: A 70” and Sharp TV from BestBuy and – remember, this was a different time – a bunch of DVDs. For some reason, I thought that DVDs would be the thing. I didn’t think about streaming. I was an idiot. I was like…Streaming is bullshit and Netflix doesn’t make any sense. I bought so many fucking DVDs. I was at Best Buy or at Amoeba Records every week spending money.
I bought a beanbag chair. Like the biggest beanbag chair I could find on the internet.
SPY: What was your style like when you were growing up in LA at that time?
TB: I grew up around a lot of people older than me. Everything that I was doing was what my older brother was doing. I was the runt of the group. What I was dressing like at school versus what everybody else was dressed like was really different. I was into Supreme pretty early.
SPY: What do you remember the first Supreme piece that you’ve picked up or?
TB: I was like working at the skate shop a little bit. I was a skate rat. I got a gray beanie. I wore that beanie until it was as thin as a t shirt. Like it was huge after I got done with it, it was so stretched.
SPY: Now you’re working with Dickies, which is big in the skate world. How do you work your old sensibility – the ratty beanie sensibility – into the collection?
TB: Right now I’m on like a pair of insanely baggy pants and a plain white t-shirt and Converse. Very simple. I wear a normal Dickies jacket to most events. I’ve been dressing the same since I was like, 13. Dickies has been with skate culture for a long time.
SPY: Working across television, music, and now fashion, are there other areas you’d want to explore creatively?
TB: Fashion is not something I want to make per se, but I love stepping into it a little bit. When I was younger, I didn’t give a fuck. I used to wear slides on stage every day. Tyler and I were on tour together and he would come out and they would be dressed to the nines, like head to toe everything. I used to wear just Adidas sweatpants, Adidas slides, socks, any t-shirt I found on tour. And then I started to like grow into myself a little bit more.
Writing. I want to write. It’s a hard thing to do, but I enjoy doing it. I want to create more stuff.
SPY: Now that your work has been so successful, what are the indulgences like for you today?
TB: Furniture, watches, and art.
SPY: Oh, what sort of artists are you looking at?
TB: I went to Art Basel last year and bought some things at the NADA show. I’m not really looking to invest in art to make money off it or anything. I just find things I like looking at and want to keep looking at. And I like to support Black artists or pieces representing Black people. I feel like when I go to a museum, most of the people are all white figures. I feel like in my house, if one day when I have kids, there’ll be Black art in my home. And when I moved out, I’ve gotten a bunch of things and thrown around the house. And then there were moments where I didn’t feel like somebody’s art. Now my house is all covered in Black faces.
Dickie’s x Jameson Jacket
This zip jacket for the Jameson x Dickies collab is perfectly simple, and comes in a black or brown colorway to go with everything. It still has the streamlined cut to stay straight without a taper.