By GABRIELLA FAKHOURY
With his mouth moving quickly to the various beats converging together sophomore Kristian Velazquez produces a mix of beatboxing and Dubstep, through noises made by his mouth alone.
When he was 6-years-old, Velazquez heard his cousin beatboxand then taught himself.
“[Hearing my cousin beatbox] was amazing and gave me a feeling that I would like to share with others,” Velazquez said.
The 27th annual Brave Aid talent competition was the first real performance Velazquez performed in. Since then, he has been offered to perform at carnivals, birthday and festivals.
“In front of a small group I get more nervous and my mouth gets dry, but in front of large groups I love it and wish I could be there forever,” Velazquez said.
Despite his popular performance at Brave Aid, Velazquez does not see beatboxing as his main road to travel. He is set on doing something in the field of business. However, if something comes out of beatboxing, then he would love to turn it into a career.
Beardyman, a musician from London renowned for his beatboxing skills and use of live looping technology, is Velazquez role model. Beardyman uses a machine called a Korg Kaoss pad, a synthesizer which Velazquez recently received and is now learning to use.
Besides beatboxing, Velazquez has DJ’ed more than 30 parties, He has made up to $300 per party. After teaching himself how to beatbox, Velazquez would like to start a beatboxing club on campus next year.
For Brave Aid, Velazquez’s beatboxer name was Yolo Beats which was a name given to him by his Modern Warfare Three clan. Due to the overuse of the word Yolo (you only live once) Velazquez and his cousin decided to change his beatboxing name to Kriyo, which is the first three letters of his name Kristian.
Since Brave Aid more people know about Velazquez and his beatboxing talent.
“I think his performance was outstanding and really opened a lot of doors for him and his future. His talents are noticed by this whole school,” sophomore, James Veguilla said.