Artist Database: K > Kal Sereousz Lyrics
Born and raised in East London, Kal Sereousz had a modest upbringing in the 1980’s and grew up heavily influenced by Reggae and the UK dance music culture. He learnt instruments as a child and took to music quite naturally, always tapping out a beat or humming a rhythm. His first rhymes were written to Jungle/D&B which was the most popular underground genre that was rapped on at the time. In school Kal was the go to beat-boxer for all the young budding emcees and always wanted to be a beat maker. In the early 1990’s he discovered Hiphop which had an enormous impact on his life. The 90’s was a legendary era of Hiphop and Kal was influenced by artists such as Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Biggie and pretty much all of the golden age greats who were in their prime. Armed with a frantic fast-faced paced D&B flow and influenced by artists that spawned timeless Hiphop classics, a young Kal Sereousz made the transition from Jungle to Hiphop.
In the late 90’s Kal teamed up with local lyricist and mentor Lego Man, who together formed Phobia. As the years passed Phobia evolved into a team consisting of many like-minded producers and emcees all from the local area. Kal learnt to produce at college and recorded the first ever Phobia song: ‘Any Moves’ before the turn of the millennium. While honing his production skills in his teenage years he also completed a full length solo project produced entirely by Rap Raven. ‘Dirty Little Secret’ released in 2001 gave Kal Sereousz recognition as one of the finest upcoming lyricists in the local area.
Kal and Phobia member Rory Breaker were making waves on the underground MC battle circuit, during which time they also recorded an EP and full length solo LP for Breaker. ‘The Breaker EP’ was entirely produced by Kal Sereousz and spawned Phobia’s underground smash single ‘Keep It Moving’ released in 2004. This would be the last recording Kal would do before he went on to University and retired his microphone, although he did continue to record and produce for local artists.
Changes in Hiphop culture and the loss of his life’s work made Kal Sereousz lose his patience with the art form he once loved and focus on having a career. After a long Hiatus, Kal returned seeing himself as having unfinished business. Although his talents were recognized locally, as well as selling records in Europe, Japan and Australia, Kal Sereousz still feels as though he never proved himself on the world stage or even nationally.
In 2008 Kal started recording again. In 2009 he featured on Canadian rapper Modulok’s Two Cities LP and in 2010 Kal dropped the much slept on underground release Terrorist City: Beta Version. In 2011 the foundations were being laid to have a studio of his own and he began working on the Eastenderz mixtape. In 2012, S.A.Music was formed as an outlet for the new material to come and the last quarter of 2012 promises to be a big year with 3 releases due.
What does the future hold for Kal Sereousz? “I just want my music to be heard all over the world. The goal is to have my music or my name thought of wherever there’s underground Hiphhop. Clearly I've got a lot of work to do.”
