Much after Fred Flintstone yelled “Wilma-aaaa”, vocal percussion or multivocalism evolved to be considered the fifth element of hip-hop. Such human orchestration is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms, and melodies using the mouth. Beatboxing, as its commonly called as well, is a true musical art – for it requires an innovative sync. Making these sounds requires talent.
A young bloke named Joel Turner is someone whose creative work instantly comes to my mind when I think of beatboxing. I first caught Joel on TV while watching the Australian Idol. He may have missed the finale, but his talent just awed me. And then came his first independent single titled “These Kids”, which the guys wrote when one of their mates committed suicide. It’s a song about the youth, their hardships, their life, their side of the story …
so many songs, so many times
tha world had to hear so many rhymes
about how life is for strugglers
minority groups, kids with single mothers
young hommy’s turn hustlers, stealing for money
it’s kinda funny how tha crime rate is so high
in suburbs where family ties are low, n suicides on tha rise
oh why – so many die coz in their eyes
tha mistake they made, cant be erased tha only way out is to take their life
n if they dont do it sudden then they do it slowly
polluting themselves with drugs, because they on this world lonely
so we as a nation just class em as a waste of space
n if they dont help the economy then strip em naked
put em on tha streets n make sure tha police hate em
n feed tha public phony information on tha evening news
“kids may bomb police stations, to get at tha boys in blue”
this song goes out to tha whole justice system
instead of listening to tha kids with tha problems
you just tick them off more
until these kids in prison or dead before they 24
Listen up to “These Kids” (RM video / lyrics) to experience the musical talent. Recently, Joel took out the title of World Beatbox Champion in Germany. These Kids are all right!