Jul 18, 2011

We wanted to give the competitors some extra shine in the run up to the battles, and so here we have images and brief biogs from those stepping up.

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sYzYgY

Called The Maniac of  the Mouth for his wildman, sideshow antics co-hosting the monthly variety show Tourettes Without Regrets, sYzYgY (pronounced sizz-uh-gee) is no stranger to the stage and is on a mission to boom his bass from every mic, speaker and stage that he can get his hands and mouth on. He has southern roots in Huntsville and Nashville, which you can still hear from time to time in his speech. His journey has led him to his current hometown of San Francisco, where he honed his skills after finding mentors in Kid Beyond, Tim Barsky, Infinite and Soulati at a local beatboxing salon called the Vowel Movement.

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The Orthobox

Josh Leviton (aka the Orthobox) was born and raised in Delaware and has been beatboxing for 3.5 years. Taking most of his beatbox influences from the new-school technical beatbox scene, he still finds roots in classic rock and drums. Pumped for his first beatbox competition, he looks to make waves in the US Beatbox scene.

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Fitz

Fitz first started beatboxing and producing music in high school around the age of 15. Inspired by hip hop and the legends Rhazel and Kenny Muhammad, he began to experiment with different sounds and techniques. Being from the midwest, the beatbox scene is largely underground/nonexistant so he had to find other outlets for my music. In the early 2000’s, he was able to use the internet to listen to other beatboxers and was blown away by what people could do. In college, he was fortunate enough to land a spot as the beatboxer in the UW Madhatters men’s a cappella group. Being a part of the Hatters was a huge turning point for his beatboxing, giving him the opportunity to hone his skills over those four years and to perform in front of thousands of people.

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DrC

Danny Cavero, or DrC, was born on October 6, 1989. After Danny first heard the famous “If Your Mother Only Knew,” by the legendary Rahzel, he became infatuated with the art of beatboxing.  He was greatly influenced by his sister who introduced him to the traditional old school beats of the late 90’s. Although Danny has been beatboxing for several years, he only recently became serious about it these past three. Danny is currently a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz studying Business Management and Theater. He is part of an a cappella group on campus called Acquire. Danny would like to thank his family, friends, and beatbox influences for help guiding him to where he is now.

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Beat Rhino

Beat Rhino is from Irvine, California. He started beatboxing in February 2008, inspired by his friend Eric Liu in high school. He first performed with Eric in his high school’s talent show and pep rallies. In 2009, he formed Lafia Crew with two other beatboxers Q-Flush and KayG. They organized the Orange County’s first two official beatbox competitions with Irvine’s Youth Action Team. Beat Rhino’s beatboxing philosophy is to present his beatboxing well without a microphone, and to beatbox with power. Above all, he always remembers to enjoy beatboxing as an art and share it with the community.

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Track IX

Track IX began beatboxing at the age of 14. She learned from watching other beatboxers of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Musical influences come from different styles such as hip hop, drum & bass, house and more. Track IX performed at multiple venues varying from small open mic cafes to hip hop dance shows. Spending time in the underground hip hop scene of the bay area, Track IX has been able to expand her hip hop artistry in the dancing scene gaining opportunities to perform in the same shows as talented dancers like the GoGo Brothers Storm. Being open to many genres of music, Track IX has been able to collaborate with many musicians and gaining artistic growth in the process. Track IX looks forward to accomplishing a great amount in her lifetime as a beatboxer and primarily an artist and hopes to positively influence as many people as possible in the beatboxing community.

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 Heaven Beatbox

“…living life in the light of difference to be unique.” A total hip hop head, he is also a skilled b-boy, graffiti artist, and media maker. His career already includes numerous appearances on TV, radio and the stage such as Beatbox Event Europe (Paris), 95.5 and Q100’s “Atlanta Talented Show (ATL), the CW’s TV show “All About The Business (ATL),” and Scribble Jam National Beatbox Championships (OH), and the Sweet Auburn Festival (ATL). In 2008, he opened for Big Boi of Outkast, Kenny Burns, Dr. Cornell West, & DJ Trauma; and toured Mexico and the Caribbean with British artist Makida. In 2009 he was featured in a Converse and Footlocker commercial, Fame National Talent Search performances, show promotions for both Fame the Movie and the Karate Kid, Atlanta Music Convention, A3C Hip Hop Festival, OK! Magazine, Time Out New York Magazine, 99x (97.9) Radio, a multitude of clubs and music venues and in January 2011 the first beat boxer to do an international nationwide tour in the country of India with Havikoro through the US Embassy and Indian Government.

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FriSco

Francisco (aka FriScO) is the 1st American Beatbox Champion, born and raised in San Francisco, California.  I am 20 years old and a full-time college student.  I have been beatboxing for almost four years, and I find beatboxing to be more than just a hobbie. I’m always trying to find new ways and techniques to enhance my beatboxing capabilities, whether be it at home, on the stage, in the streets, or within the cypher.  Beatboxing has brought me many memorable and joyful oppurtunities in life.  It has also lead to meeting many new people and creating new friendships.  I am thankful to have discovered and developed this talent, and hope to bring a positive and new vibe to the WBA and its viewers.

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Brian Bernstein

Beatboxing and playing piano at the same time is the main passion of Brian Bernstein, a composition major and voice principal at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.  He has been beatboxing for 15 years and loves to make unusual combinations of musical genres.  Brian believes that the global beatboxing community is very much like a family.  His favorite musical artists include Tommy Emmanuel, Royksopp, Beethoven, Aaliyah, Led Zepplin and Thelonius Monk.

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Musical Mammal

The Musical Mammal (real name: Gabriel Arguello) has been beatboxing for about 14 years, but considered it nothing more than a hobby until about 4 years ago. Born and raised in southern California, he wishes to travel the world, and hopes that beatboxing will aid him in accomplishing his travel aspirations. Having performed all over California, as well as Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico, he is well on his way. Musical Mammal first discovered beatboxing in junior high while listening to such artists as the Fat Boys, The Roots, and Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh. Then, after hearing Rahzel’s “Make the Music 2000″ he began to realize that beatboxing had much more potential than he thought. Nowadays, he finds influence in the more modern beatbox scene, as it is much easier to follow what’s going on in the beatbox community since the advent of media sharing sites like Youtube.

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Cwest

He started out making music 11 years ago using a keyboard and Windows Sound Recorder. Mixing was a complicated process, so he tried a program called Fruity Loops, making things easier and giving him a wider variety of clearer sounds. Subliminally, he would always use beatbox to come up with ideas for beats using the three basic sounds: kick, hi-hat, and snare while humming a tune. Then he would translate that to Fruity Loops choosing the right sound. It wasn’t until last year that he stumbled upon the world of beatbox after looking up Rahzel on YouTube. He found that beatbox was in virtually every country and it applied to all styles of music. He began learning new sounds and how to incorporate them into his beats and has been addicted ever since.

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Von3s

A lover of Hip Hop first and foremost with inspiration from all other genres you can name, he has opened his heart to the art of Human Beatbox and hasn’t stopped enjoying it since. Beginning about 5 and a half years ago with no knowledge of the art, a friend got him hooked after kicking the most basic hip hop beat with a bass kick and the outward p snare. There was no stopping from there, as this became his new love passion. Self taught from mainly YouTube Videos at first from artists such as Rahzel, Kenny Muhammad, Faith SFX, and Roxorloops, he has made it his goal to reach the world championships no matter how much time it may take. Also part of the Stony Brook High C’s acapella group, he has spread his fan base across the entire university and has won intercollegiate acapella competitions for best vocal percussionist. His next stop is the American Beatbox Championships.

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SwiZZ

Ben ‘SwiZZ’ Swislow, 20, is a beatboxer from Chicagoland. He has been performing and practicing for several years in school, university, and independently with rappers, singers, and instrumentalists. He primarily beatboxes hip hop, dubstep, drum n bass, jazz, and a few other genres.

SwiZZ is probably most known in the beatbox community for his originality, throat bass/singing, and vocal horn. Popular beats include:Signature Beat, Laughbox, Stand By Me Dubstep Cover, and What a Wonderful World Cover. However, he mostly improvises.