The last time Sagan Lockhart sat down with Hypebeast was fresh off the release of his debut photobook, I Don’t Play, back in October of 2024. He told us all about his creative process and his come-up alongside Odd Future on California’s storied Fairfax Avenue.

“As soon as they forgot about me, I’d pick up the camera,” he said at the time, explaining his fly-on-the-wall approach to his candid way of capturing street photography.

It was only right that Lockhart check back in with us about his latest major career milestone, his first film, which he feels revels in the same creative ideology. “I never wanted to interfere. I wanted to stay on the outside and let them do their thing and just capture it,” he said over the phone after Shangri-La, his debut short, premiered in Los Angeles, in reference to The Alchemist and Freddie Gibbs’ Alfredo 2 project.

Shangi-La is an exploration of Alfredo 2’s creation, though Lockhart is quick to say it’s not a this is how the album was made film. Rather, the twenty-minute (a time-length Lockhart had locked in early on) film is one rooted in the theme of boundless creativity.

For the creation of Alfredo 2, Gibbs and Alc moved into Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studios out in Malibu, bringing Lockhart along with them, who captured everything along the way.  “My mindset was: ‘Let me just get as much footage as possible, edit it later, and then figure it out,’” explained Lockhart, ending up with approximately 40 hours of footage from the recording process.

In between premieres, Lockhart discusses all things Shangri-La in the conversation below, edited and condensed for clarity.

Let’s take it back to the beginning. You have such a natural rapport with Alc and Freddie. How did you first get connected with them?

I met Alc first. We connected during the super early Fairfax days, but we didn’t get better acquainted until years later. He started working with the Odd Future guys and other people I was hanging around with, so I started to see him a bit more. Then he started working with Freddie and ended up spending more time together. Freddie used to come shop on Fairfax, but we weren’t acquainted until I met Lambo, and he started bringing me around a lot.

Alfredo 2 was one of the most anticipated hip hop projects of 2025. What was it like watching it come together firsthand?

Alc and Freddie are masters of their craft. They just have such good chemistry. Watching it, you just knew it was going to be a banger every single time. Al was going to go through some beats, and then he was going to play the one beat he really wanted to use, and that could be looping for five hours or 24 hours. Then, all of a sudden, Freddie would just go body it. Every single track. It was amazing to witness and to hear.

When did you decide you wanted to make the Shangri-La film? Had you known from the jump that you wanted to document the making of Alfredo 2?

I was around for a bit of the Alfredo recording process, and a bit of Freddie’s $oul $old $eperately. Once the talk of Alfredo 2 started, I immediately knew I wanted to get the whole thing on video. But I didn’t know what I was going to do with it.

One day, we went to Al’s studio, and he just started playing beats that he wanted to be on the album. At that point, there weren’t any talks of going to Shangi-La, but shortly, they were able to lock that in. We all lived there for a couple of weeks in the summer of 2023. I filmed Al and Freddie for so long, but I knew I wanted to make a film project that focused solely on our stay and work at Shangri-La because it was so special.

Was that your first time at Shangi-La?

No, we had been going there to record for previous projects, but this was the first time we were actually living there. We were there 24/7, whereas the first time, we’d come in for three to four hours to record in the studio and then leave. But this time around, we could record whenever we wanted during our stay. Some of the recording would be at like 5 am or 6 am, and then we’d sleep all day. It was all scattered.

What was your approach to filming for this?

I wanted to get everything. As much as possible. You never know who is going to walk into the studio or where conversations are going to go. To have DJ Paul, Anderson .Paak or Ye just walk in and out of the studio during recording sessions, just added to it. My mindset was: “Let me just get as much footage as possible, edit it later, and then figure it out.” I had about 40 hours of footage from it.

How did you then parse through all of that footage and decide what was going to make the final cut?

That was really tough. I had to sit and rewatch the footage many times to find the theme I wanted. I didn’t want it to be a front-to-back this is how the album was made film, but rather, a film that was focused on everyone’s boundless creativity bouncing off each other. Once I had decided on the theme, I was able to start selecting footage. I decided on a run time of 20 minutes. That just made sense to me. People’s attention spans are short these days.

After I had the theme and time length, it became about compiling the clips that felt the most important to me. Having lived it and reviewed it so many times, it ultimately wasn’t too hard to put together, but it did take some time to really hone in the theme. There’s so much footage, and the people are only going to see what I put out there; they’re not going to know what’s missing. If I made it 40 minutes long, I don’t know if it would add that much. I think I get the point across in 20.

You mention the boundless creativity in the recording sessions. Could you elaborate on that? How would you describe the energy during the sessions, and how did you approach translating that energy to the screen?

It’s filmed in a very point-of-view style, so I wanted to include the shots that felt important to me. I figured that if I showed those, the viewer would be able to feel like they’re in the room a bit more. I never wanted to interfere. I wanted to stay on the outside and let them do their thing and just capture it.

The last time I interviewed you, you spoke about your approach to photography and how it was rooted in a similar strategy of not wanting to intervene and to capture candidly. Would you say your approach to photography and videography is the same?

I think that they’re the same. At least for this film project. I haven’t done a video piece like this before, so I knew I wanted to keep that same energy for this video, but I’m not opposed to switching it up and trying new things. This is what people may expect from me, and a lot of people don’t have this access, so I’m just going to bring that same energy to my first formal film.

What’s next? Do you have plans for the distribution of the film?

I want people to see this project, but I don’t want to put it online anytime soon. I’m working on a multi-city tour now, so follow me to stay tuned.