FILTER
The Story of The Homeless G-Funk BeatBoxer Named Red
- Author: Faith-Ann Young
- Posted on: Wednesday July 22, 2009 at 3:00 PM
- Filed under: music, red, funk, beat boxing, exclusive
Once upon a time there was a homeless man from Los Angeles who had a unique talent: he could beatbox better than any man or machine before him. In other words, he "sounds like Ginuwine filtered through Roger Troutman and performed by a 90-year-old barbershop singer," said The Fader.
Red has got a raspy voice that's peppered with raw emotion, funk, and hardship, cheeky lyrics made real from years on the streets and still surviving, and a perfect machine-like pitch that can only come straight from the womb.
Repeatedly in a song, Red will slam on his chest like Tarzan and omit a deep, probbing bass sound - half like a 100-year-old toad at the bottom of a 10 foot well - half like a new-age robot burping - a sound so deep and dense it gives you goosebumps. It's hypnotic. It's mythical. It's the stuff that under-dog's dreams are made of.
As the story goes, one day, he drifted by the Los Angeles street art gallery/design studio HVW8 Gallery; got seen and heard, and became an unlikely protege of the gallery. He recorded Youtube videos and then recorded tracks in a studio, all of which spread like wildfire on the internet and echoed through the streets. People began whispering that he may be the new shinging star that LA needs to bring hip-hop back to the city of Angels. However, the mission was much simpler: use music to help get a guy off the streets.
The best part of this story? It's only just begun.
His tracks became available Wednesday, July 22nd, on I-Tunes: Itunes
You can buy the 7" via Stones Throw HERE.
NEXT POST: SUMMER SWING DANCE REVIVAL
RELATED CONTENT
COMMENTS
“besides his obvious talent that's inspiring to some people to observe a person who finally exposed his gift and started getting the well-deserved appreciation of it... ”
“seriously when I lived in LA I saw this guy! he was dope! He looks like he could be Mos Def's dad! This is what hip hop is all about!”
