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An e-mail from the desk of Killa Kela

Who: Killa Kela Where: WSSF main stage and Tommy Africa’s When: Saturday, AprIl 12 Consider Killa Kela a one-man orchestra, then consider Mr. Kela’s job for a moment. His passion actually.

Who: Killa Kela

Where: WSSF main stage and Tommy Africa’s

When: Saturday, AprIl 12

Consider Killa Kela a one-man orchestra, then consider Mr. Kela’s job for a moment. His passion actually. He manipulates his mouth to produce musical instruments and harmonies. Firing three or more sounds from his mouth at any one time, Mr. Kela has wowed crowds across the globe, building a reputation as one of the best beatboxers, or more to the point, multi-vocalists in the world.

This guy is big time in the world of high quality hip hop. How did he start? He’ll tell you in a minute but his CV can be summed up as this: As a launch-pad he teamed up with DJ Vadim as part of the Russian Percussion tour. He then enrolled as a member of the DJ team The Scratch Perverts. Several years later when the Pervs disintegrated, Kela became a member of the legendary Rocksteady crew, cementing his name in hip hop history.

In 2001, Kela released his very own All-terrain series, two 12 Inch records that Introduced himself as an individual artist to the mainstream media. The next year saw Kela create the team known as spit kingdom and release his debut album The Permanent Marker. The album has been heralded with opening doors Into the untapped culture of the human beatbox and multi-vocalist, bringing him to right here, right now at WSSF.

Hold tight kids, It’s all about to go down. Kela has arrived but we got him on e-mail first:

Pique

: Dear Killa, how did you get started In beat boxing and then how did it develop into an actual job and art form for you?

KK

: I started when I was really young.. Didn’t even call It beat boxing, It was just something I did as a kid. Playing with toys, when watching the telly and round the house you know. As far as making it a job, I’m a strong believer of working with what you got. No one can motivate you more than you. That’s what makes it more of a way of life.

Pique

: Describe your style or how you want people to see you.

KK

: When people put on my records, I want them to feel a Killa Kela album, not a beatbox album. An album that takes a multi-vocal look at me and more importantly, my personality. I consider my style purely based on my personality and where I live. Technically it’s all good. I would never get complacent or let myself down. But when I’m on stage or on anything, I want people to take home a piece of KK. Yeah.

Pique

: You are considered the U.K's version of Rahzel and vice versa. I know that's a crap analogy but are you guys friends or competitors? Do you ever get together with Rahzel on the phone and compare notes?

KK

: Not really. But at the same time I don’t consider any one a competitor. It’s when people feel they gotta talk big and defensively outside of the music. That’s when it gets competitive cos the proof is in the music. And it’s hip hop man! I ain’t trying to say anything man, but I always try and stay away from that sort of attitude eh. Keep it big and Rahzel’s dope. Yeah.

Pique

: You must have a different ear to the rest of us because some of those sounds I have no idea how you even hear it, let alone recreate it.

KK

: You just build up a little sound library in your head, almost a separate language. Then when you make sounds, try and curve them to something that it sounds similar to. Vocally or whatever. Yeah.

Pique

: Permanent Marker was your first release. What does it mean to you in hindsight?

KK

: The Permanent Marker was a take on my development. Some tracks were all me, some was me singing, vocal scratching, some was me with other instruments and rappers, DJs and live stuff. It featured Falacy, DJ Plus One, DJ Hype, Akrobatik... and I love It. Cos now I got tons of new stuff for my new album I’m working on in 2003... stuff with Neneh Cherry, Artful Dodger, Super Furry Animals, Stereo MCs and a new way of recording the multi-vocal. Big year, girl.

Pique

: What will the live shows in Whistler entail?

KK

: What you all gonna get is entertainment. A collage of new/old heavy sounds, three or four sounds coming out my mouth at once kinda multivocal Killa Kela meets Chi Turner meets a lot of snowboard dudes in the most beautifulest place to board In North America. Yeah.

All the best.

Www.killakela.com

Www.spitkingdom.com