Bio
April King is astonishing crowds around the globe with her superhuman ability to rap while drumming. Poised on her throne, King sits in command of a Roland V- Pro electronic drumset, acoustic drums, organic cymbals, a microphone and an arsenal of empowering and sensual lyrics. Since she got her hands on the V-drums in 1998, King began her quest to bring live and improvised beats into sample and machine-based music through sound creation and electro-acoustic collaboration. Following the groove evolution of the Afrikan diaspora from drum’n’bass to funk, afro-beat to punk, house to hip-hop, rock to trip-hop, King inspires every audience to move to her transcendental grooves. Originating an exclusive “free hip-hop fusion” sound, King may perform solo while triggering samples, sequences and sound libraries or with Mr. Kwick (a.k.a. Kenny Gross Jr., drummer for Go-go Godfather Chuck Brown) and other guest instrumentalists and electronic artists. A pioneer in the expansion of five-way independence, this metamusician and poetess elicits a new vision of “Goddess” when she spits behind her kit.
Since 2001 King’s trademark style has led her on musical adventures with an eclectic variety of some of the worlds’ most brilliant artists. While she was the house drummer for Black Lily (hosted by Black Thought of The Roots) in Paris and Los Angeles, Mz. King played with Black Lily featured artists such as Common, Jazzyfatnastees, Les Nubians, Jennifer Johns and Ty (the “KRS-ONE” of England). King’s vocal collaborations with Top Rocking on the Q-tape label, Dataswitchbox (“The Real New World”) and Cosmic Broadcast (“B4,” “Eternity iz Now”) have received international airplay and rave reviews. Dataswitchbox hit “The Real New World” can be found on Champs Elysees Café 2 and famed DJ Gilles Petersons’ Eclectic 2. King has played numerous times on Radio Nova 101.5 as well as at the Sunset, the Batofar, La Scene, Le Resevoir, Glaz’Art, La Grande Halle de la Villette, Sept Lezards as well as locations around the world including Kuwait (for the wedding of a Princess of the Royal Family), England and Italy. In Europe and across the USA she has played electro/acoustic drums in concerts with father of Afro-beat Tony Allen (Fela Kuti), Dierdre DuBois (Ekova), Princess Erika, Estha, Ferricia Fatia, Boney Fields, Klymaxx, Keziah Jones, Julien Lourau, Cae Joseph-Massena, Andre Nkouaga, Kenyatte Abdur-Rahman (The Last Poets, M’Boom), Mokhtar Samba, Herve Samb, Raoul de Souza, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Hugh Coltman, Spleen and The Black and White Skins, Tribad, and the Zarmazones. She has performed as an MC with Saul Williams, Marque Gilmore’s Drum FM, U.H.T., Allonymous as well as Nya, and Patrick Muller (Eric Truffaz).
How did it begin? Her mother says she would kick the womb in time. She was tapping by age 2, did her first play and commercial at age 4 and began studying piano at 5 years old. Mz. King picked up her first pair of sticks at age 10. She played percussion in Kern County’s Honor Youth Symphony Orchestra while exploring the world of traps in alternative high school/college bands. King’s passion led her to the University of California at Santa Cruz where she majored in Community Studies, focusing on Social Change through Music. King has studied music with Zakir Hussain, George Marsh, Steve McCraven (Archie Shepp), Rick Walker and Kharon Harrison (student of Billy Higgins and mentor to Thomas Pridgen of Mars Volta and drumming phenomenon).