Steve Ellison dreams the future. The Grammy-nominated musician, filmmaker, and Brainfeeder label founder, known to the world as Flying Lotus, possesses that rare alchemical ability to make the objects of his imagination manifest in reality. A sonic and visual storyteller, we've heard and seen the sights and sounds of the worlds he's built over the course of six genre-redefining studio albums, a collection of surreal music videos, and through his own film projects like the experimental horror comedy anthology "Kuso." Then there's FlyLo, the community pillar: In a revitalized LA music scene that saw hip-hop, jazz, a burgeoning beat culture, and electronic music co-mingling, he was at the center of it all. FlyLo was the common denominator from Thundercat to Kamasi Washington to Kendrick Lamar. He lent his talents to transplants too, collaborating with and influencing friends and fellow iconoclasts Mac Miller (RIP) and Donald Glover, all the while bringing the sounds of the LA scene from the fringes to the mainstream.