For three days, a studio in Mexico City streamed nonstop on YouTube while Fred again.. and LATIN MAFIA built a mixtape from nothing, in front of anyone who wanted to watch. The person running point in the room with them, credited as co-writer and co-producer on nearly every track, was not a guest. He was family. His name is Benjy Gibson, and until this year, most people outside the music industry had no reason to know it.

The project, titled "9 months & 50 hours," closed out a livestream that ran from a studio at Lago Algo in Bosque de Chapultepec until the record was finished, then moved straight into a sold out show at Palacio de los Deportes the same night, according to DJ Mag, which reported the mixtape was recorded over two days in Mexico City before the artists played the arena show that Thursday night. Latin Mafia's Milton de la Rosa told Rolling Stone that Fred again.. is one of the most talented people the group has worked with, calling the collaboration a demanding but rewarding experience. Latin Mafia, the Mexico City trio of brothers Milton, Emilio and Mike de la Rosa, had been building toward this moment since Fred first named himself a fan of their 2024 debut album, a connection that led to a December tour stop and eventually the marathon session that produced the mixtape. DJ Mag

Benjy Gibson's Path Ran Through Session Work Long Before the Livestream

Benjy Gibson is Fred again..'s younger brother, and the two have worked together for years, largely out of public view. He co-produced across Fred's earlier catalog and has separately produced for artists including Teezo Touchdown and Baby Keem. On "9 months & 50 hours," he stepped further into the frame, co-writing and co-producing the project and taking the lead vocal on "Quiereme," one of the mixtape's standout tracks. He also performed the material live at Palacio de los Deportes, sharing a stage that Rolling Stone en Español described as an arena of roughly 20,000 people turned into an intimate electronic club for the night. Latin Mafia's Mike de la Rosa said working with Fred and Benjy pushes the group to keep pace with two collaborators who move fast and expect the same from everyone in the room.

What the livestream introduced to a much wider audience, Benjy Gibson had already been building for three years. He fronts bby, a five piece formed in London in 2023 after Gibson connected with guitarist Tommaso Medica online and the rest of the band assembled from there, rehearsing out of a Shoreditch warehouse space the group calls their headquarters. The band released its debut album, "1," in the summer of 2024, followed it with the 2025 EP "i just want next year to be better," and has built a following through sold out sets at their own DIY shows alongside festival slots at Reading & Leeds, All Points East and Boardmasters. Coverage has come from Rolling Stone, The FADER, NME and Pigeons & Planes, among others.

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bby Is Not Waiting on the Mixtape Moment to Keep Moving

While the Latin Mafia mixtape circulates, bby is already working through a release calendar of its own. The band put out the single "Change" on July 15 and is set to release "Ur Bedroom" on August 19, a date that will also serve as the announcement and pre-order launch for the band's second album. Two more singles, "Roll Me Up" and "Pull Me Under," are scheduled for September and October, ahead of the full album in November, which the band has said centers on a theme of shadows. None of that timeline depends on the attention Gibson is getting as Fred again..'s brother, and the band's own momentum, from Rolling Stone UK's early praise to a growing U.S. festival footprint, predates the mixtape by two years.

The two threads of Gibson's year, a high profile collaboration that put his name in headlines for the first time and a band he has led from a rehearsal space to festival main stages, are converging in the same summer largely by coincidence of timing rather than design. What happens next, for the mixtape's rollout and for bby's second album, will say more about whether Gibson becomes known on his own terms or stays defined by who his brother is.

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