You might know Na-Kel Smith from his affiliation with Odd Future—his guest verses on Tyler The Creator’s “Trashwang” or Earl Sweatshirt’s “DNA.” You might know him from his various collaborations with Adidas, with whom he’s released several signature Matchcourt sneakers. Most likely you know him as a Supreme team skateboarder and model, one of the stars (alongside Sean Pablo and Sage Elsesser) of Supreme’s iconic 2014 skate video, Cherry.

A few short years later, Smith is breaking out in different ways. We’re chatting in the grand upstairs of the Brooks Brothers on Rodeo Drive, where he and his friend Mikey Alfred (the mastermind behind the brand Illegal Civilization) are getting fit for suits in advance of a pop-up Smith’s hosting on the 24th where he’ll perform music off his forthcoming debut album. They’re not trying on just any Brooks Brothers suit. Hanging on a rack behind Smith is the result of his most recent collaboration, done with both Adidas and Brooks Brothers: a textural grey suit with a bright blue lining adorned with Smith’s signature doodle. Along with the custom suit (63 have been produced for the pop-up), Smith designed a black-and-white Adidas sneaker-loafer dubbed the “Nak-apulco,” both of which debut exclusively here.

If an album and signature suit weren’t enough, Smith is also being preemptively hailed as the breakout star of Jonah Hill’s forthcoming A24 film Mid ’90s, which Mikey is co-producing and which Smith filmed during a break from the next Supreme video. In a recent Instagram post, Hill called Smith’s performance “extraordinary,” and Smith’s already auditioning for future roles. How does Smith feel about all this? “It’s like Tetris,” he says slowly and thoughtfully, the way he always speaks. “I really liked that game, I used to play on my Game Boy all the time. It’s just like, well, I gotta do this, so I gotta move this piece to fit there so it will all work out.” Smith’s mind and style are singularly his, and his strategy of only working with people who want to work with him has clearly been, well, working out. “This is my track record now,” he says. “I got to do better than last year. I gotta go more outfield and do something else. I don’t really even think about it. Like, I never sit back just get to be stoked about life.”

What was designing a suit like?

I thought making a suit would be cool because I had to buy a suit from Brooks Brothers to go to a party. And I was like, “What the fuck, I don't know how to shop for a suit.” I wore two suits in my life, and one of them was for sixth grade graduation and the other was to a Born x Raised Sadie Hawkins party. People where I come from really only wear suits to weddings, funerals, and sometimes court. So I was like, let me make a good suit that people could wear. You know, show people that side of fashion.

What’s it like seeing things you designed being worn?

It's one of the things that keeps me around. It's fun, seeing this suit or seeing the shoes. We've been working on this whole project for a year, so I worked on other stuff and kind of just forgot. It's like getting film photos developed. You shoot them and then go get them developed. Then you'll see shits in that first roll that’s like, “What, I took this, like what the fuck.” And you get to remember again.