KRNFX | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Terry Im |
Born | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | May 13, 1989
Genres | |
Occupations |
|
Instruments |
|
Years active | 2007–present |
Website | www |
Terry Im (born May 13, 1989), better known by his stage name KRNFX (stylised krNfx; also pronounced "Korean FX"), is a Korean-Canadian beatboxer and singer. He is perhaps best known for his participation in the first season of Canada's Got Talent in 2012, as well as winning the first Canadian Beatbox Championships in 2010 and his YouTube videos.
Born in Toronto to South Korean parents, Terry grew up in a really musical family. His father played piano, his mom sang in the church choir, and both of his sisters played instruments. His dad would play piano around the house and have classical music on the radio. He was completely immersed in music, 24/7. [1]
Some of Im's first memories of beatboxing were of him mimicking his father's piano playing and singing. It was from that point that his parents decided to nurture his joy for music and his hunger to create music, [2] starting with the piano. He picked up the flute after the piano because both of his older sisters played the flute - he would literally pick up one of his sisters' flutes. All three siblings developed as flautists at Claude Watson School for the Arts, an auditioned public arts school for grades 4-8. After losing interest in the flute, he tried the drums and fell in love with rhythms and beats. [1]
After learning to play the drums in Grade 7, whenever he wasn't drumming he was inclined to mimic the sounds he made while drumming with his mouth. [3] [1] It was probably because of his experiences with breath control from playing the flute and beats from playing the drums, that made him stand out from the other kids who were also beatboxing at the time. [1]
His first live performances as a beatboxer, around the age of 14-15, was in high school at Earl Haig Secondary School, the sister school of CWSA. He would successfully audition for spots at the competitive school assemblies, and routinely perform for the ~2000 people school population. [1] [4]
KRNFX began his beatboxing career in 2007 at the South Korean Beatbox Championship in Seoul, where he finished the competition in first place. He then went on to win the Kollaboration event in Toronto the following year, and retained his South Korean crown in 2009.
In 2010, KRNFX competed in the Toronto Beatbox Championships and later the Canadian Beatbox Championships, both in which he finished in first place. Later in the year, he was invited to compete in the Emperor of Mic Beatbox Battle in Graz, Austria, but lost out to Spanish beatboxer Lytos in the quarter finals.
The following year, KRNFX entered the Grand Beatbox Battle in Basel, Switzerland, where he again finished in second place, and finished third in the 2011 Emperor of Mic Beatbox Battle. He returned to winning ways later in the year when he won the Red Bull Academy Culture of Clash event in Toronto, and followed up with a second consecutive Canadian Beatbox Championships title. [2] [5] [6] He rose to fame in Canada when he auditioned for the first season of Canada's Got Talent in Toronto. During his performance, judges Stephan Moccio, Measha Brueggergosman and Martin Short stood up and began dancing to KRNFX's beatboxing along with the rest of the audience, and after his performance he received a standing ovation from the entire crowd. Moccio called the beatboxer "amazing", and host Dina Pugliese described the audience as the "loudest it's ever been" on the show. [7]
In 2012, the beatboxer entered the next Grand Beatbox Battle in Basel, where he finished one place lower than the previous year, and finished in the top 16 at the Beatbox Battle World Championship in Berlin, Germany. [2] [5] [6] During the course of the year, KRNFX also progressed through Canada's Got Talent and made it all the way to the finals, where he and 11 others lost to traditional dance trio Sagkeeng's Finest from Fort Alexander, Manitoba. [8] [9]
In 2013, KRNFX's recognition rose further, collaborating with American dancer Mike Song to make an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in March, [3] and performing live with him at the Red Bull BC One Championships in Seoul, South Korea in December, [10] both in which the duo performed their routine entitled "The Dancebox", in which Song dances in sync with KRNFX's beatboxing.
In 2014, KRNFX made his first appearance as a guest rapper in the online series Epic Rap Battles of History , portraying Grant Imahara in the Season 4 premiere "Ghostbusters vs. Mythbusters". He returned to the series in 2015, portraying Lao Tzu in the Season 4 episode "Eastern Philosophers vs. Western Philosophers". [11]
KRNFX also collaborated on Walk off the Earth's cover of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" in 2013 and on the same band's cover of Adele's "Hello" in 2016 . [12] [13]
In November 2016, KSTYLE TV uploaded the first video of KRNFX's collaborative beatboxing series, Betbaks, and released a cover of Korean girl group Blackpink's "Whistle" with singer-songwriter Megan Lee. The next Betbaks video published by KSTYLE TV was a cover of BTS' "Blood Sweat & Tears", featuring Korean-American musical composer and choreographer for YG Entertainment, Lydia Paek. For KRNFX's next video in the series, he collaborated with Justin Park, a fresh new R&B artist from 5A LABEL in Los Angeles, and the video was published on December 26, 2016. Subsequently, on January 10, 2017, his cover of Twice's "TT", another collaboration with Lydia Paek was uploaded. Following the success of Korean girl group I.O.I, he then collaborated with Choi Yoo-jung and Kim Do-yeon on a cover "Very Very Very", and the video was posted on April 25, 2017.
In 2020, KRNFX made his guest appearance in the American children's television show Ryan's Mystery Playdate. In 2023, his World of Warcraft guild "Passion" disbanded and he joined Get Carried.
Year | Competition | Final position |
---|---|---|
2007 | South Korean Beatbox Championships | 1 |
2008 | Kollaboration | 1 |
2009 | South Korean Beatbox Championships | 1 |
Beatbox Battle World Championship | Top 16 | |
2010 | Toronto Beatbox Championships | 1 |
Canadian Beatbox Championships | 1 | |
Emperor of Mic Beatbox Battle | Top 8 | |
2011 | Grand Beatbox Battle | 2 |
Emperor of Mic Beatbox Battle | 3 | |
Red Bull Academy Culture Clash | 1 | |
Canadian Beatbox Championships | 1 | |
2012 | Canadian Beatbox Championships | Top 4 |
Grand Beatbox Battle | Top 4 | |
Emperor of Mic Beatbox Battle | Top 8 | |
Beatbox Battle World Championship | Top 16 | |
Canada's Got Talent | Top 12 | |
2013 | Emperor of Mic Beatbox Battle | 2 |
2015 | Beatbox Battle World Championship | Top 8 |
Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines, using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. It may also involve vocal imitation of turntablism, and other musical instruments. Beatboxing today is connected with hip-hop culture, often referred to as "the fifth element" of hip-hop, although it is not limited to hip-hop music. The term "beatboxing" is sometimes used to refer to vocal percussion in general.
Simon Shlomo Kahn, known professionally as SK Shlomo and previously as Shlomo, is a British singer-songwriter, beatboxer, music producer and live looping technologist.
Killa Kela is a British beatboxer and rapper from West Sussex. He is considered to have been the first beatboxer from the UK.
Darren Alexander Foreman, better known as Beardyman, is an English musical producer, DJ, multivocalist, musician and comedian from London known for his beatboxing skills and use of live looping.
Singapore hip hop is a collective of hip hop music, graffiti arts, deejaying/turntablism, break dancing and beatboxing, which are performed by hip hop enthusiasts who are of Singapore descent mainly from the four races of the metropolis; the Chinese, Malays, Indians and the Eurasian. This movement began in the mid-1980s, influenced significantly by Singapore's role as an international port that facilitated cultural exchanges, notably with the United States where hip hop originated.
The first season of Canada's Got Talent, a reality television series, premiered on City in 2012. Unlike America's Got Talent, the show only had the audition round, Top 37, semi-finals and a finale. The premiere episode aired on March 4, 2012. It had a viewership of 2 million on average, throughout the night, which was a record for Citytv. The season ended on May 14, 2012.
Kim Nocifs also known by his stage name K.I.M. is a French beatboxer, known for electronic and dubstep style beats. K.I.M. began beatboxing in 2007, making his international début in 2009 at the French Team Beatbox Championship. With his group Nocifs Sound System, K.I.M won the competition. He also won the same competition the following year. In 2011, K.I.M. won the French Beatbox Championship. He is now a member of Team Paname with their French slogan: "Le beatbox c’est mieux maintenant."
Nguyen Cuong, best known by his stage name Mr. T, is a Vietnamese beatboxer. He became more popular for his appearance in Vietnam's Got Talent. He had been famous after his winning K-Battle Beatbox in Thailand on 9 November 2012. He is now a leader and trainer of Saigon Beatbox Club.
The Beatbox House is an American beatbox crew based in New York City originally consisting of six beatboxers. The Beatbox House has since its formation helped many beatboxers along their journey.
Terry Lewis, also known by his stage name Kid Lucky, was an American beatrhymer, beatboxer, singer-songwriter, teacher, and activist born in New York City. He coined the term "beatrhyming", which he defines as "rapping, singing or performing spoken word while beatboxing simultaneously".
Kaila Mullady is an American beatboxer, beatrhymer, musician and actress. She won on Beatbox Battle World Championship 2015 & 2018 by category solo female. She is a former member of the Beatbox House crew. Kaila is a current member of the improv rap group Freestyle Love Supreme under the name Kaizer Roze.
Gene V Shinozaki, better known as Gene Shinozaki and formerly GVSBeatbox, is a Japanese-American beatboxer, singer-songwriter, street performer, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer. He is currently a member of the beatbox crew Beatbox House and half of the world-champion tag team Spider Horse.
The Beatbox Battle World Championship (BBBWC) is hosted triennially hosted by Beatbox Battle Tv in a week-long festival held in Berlin, Germany. Face-to-face beatbox battles take place in five different categories:- individual male, individual female, tag-team, loop station and crew battle. In 2015, more than 150 national or major event champions of beatboxing gathered from 50 or so countries, after qualifying to participate in the world event by winning their respective national championships.
Berywam is a French beatbox crew based in Toulouse, France. They won the French Beatbox Championship 2016. Their EP was released on 2 June 2017. They also won the Beatbox Battle World Championship 2018 in crew category.
The Grand Beatbox Battle is an annual international beatboxing competition hosted by Swissbeatbox. The competition holds multiple tournaments for different forms and categories of beatboxing which include: Solo, Loopstation, Tag Team, Crew, Tag Team Loopstation, Producer and Under 18.
Yoon Dae-woong, better known as Bigman, is a South Korean beatboxer, singer-songwriter, composer and producer. Bigman is perhaps best known as Top 8 in the Asia Beatbox Championship 2017, as well as for a viral video from his wildcard winner on YouTube. Bigman officially signed under Sidus HQ and made his debut with released single album DAY BY DAY on May 31, 2019.
Maël Gayaud, better known as Alem is a French beatboxer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest beatboxer of his generation as well as one of the best technical beatboxer in the world.
Sota Kato, better known as SO-SO is a Japanese beatboxer, looper, singer-songwriter and producer. He is currently a member of the beatbox crew SARUKANI.
Sung Lee, professionally known as SungBeats, is a beatboxer, live looper, and former busker based in New York City. He is best known for winning Amateur Night at the Apollo (2014), and the American Beatbox Championships, Loopstation (2018).
Dana McKeon is a Maltese beatboxer and singer-songwriter who has competed in several international competitions, including the Beatbox Battle World Championships and the UK Beatbox Championships. She was the first female Maltese beatboxer to perform at the international level and her music has been featured in several Netflix series.