Katastrophe (rapper)

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Katastrophe
File:Katastrophe @ Grog Shop, 2011.jpg
Katastrophe at Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, 2011
Background information
Born October 2, 1986[1]
Genres Hip hop, homo hop
Occupation(s) Rapper, producer
Years active 1997-Present
Labels Knox Records
Cherchez La Femme
Sugartruck Recordings
Associated acts Ice Cream Socialites,
The End of the World
Website RoccoKatastrophe.com

Rocco Kayiatos, best known by his stage name Katastrophe, is an American hip-hop rapper and producer.[2][3][4][5]

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he began competing in poetry slams in 1997. After winning the 1998 Youth Speaks poetry slam, he went on tour with Sister Spit's Rambling Road Show tour.[6] As a teenager, Kayiatos had poems on four compilation CDs. He is widely credited as the first openly transgender singer in the hip-hop genre and he often incorporates his identity as a trans man into his work.

Music career

In 2001, he recorded with Mark Schaffer the title song to the feature film Tijuana Donkeys, directed by Shar Rednour (who broached the project to Katastrophe on a Sister Spit tour) and Jackie Strano; the soundtrack was nominated for an AVN Award but lost to Snoop Dogg.[7] Katstrophe and Schaffer then formed hip-hop group The End of the World along with Ricky Lee; Schaffer subsequently began performing solo as Schaffer the Darklord.[7]

Katastrophe started making beats in 2002.[8] He raps about lives lived outside the mainstreams of education, gender, and culture. He uses his struggle as a trans man and his contested place in contemporary queer and hip hop culture to discuss larger issues of community, space, privilege, sex, and self-worth.[9]

He was named Producer of the Year by Outmusic Awards for his debut album Let's Fuck, Then Talk About My Problems on the Sugartruck Recordings label, released in 2004.[7][10] Kayiatos released a second album entitled Fault, Lies and Faultlines on the Cherchez La Femme label in 2005,[11] and a third full-length release, The Worst Amazing, was released in October 2009 on 307 Knox Records. In 2008 he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in a multimedia show, HomeMade SuperHero. He also performs with Jenna Riot as the music act Ice Cream Socialites.[12]

He is featured in the documentary films Poetic License, Pick Up the Mic, Enough Man, and Riot Acts.[13][14][15] He was described as one of the most accomplished rappers in the homo hop documentary Pick Up the Mic.[16] His video for the song "The Life" was on MTV networks LOGO top ten Click List for 12 weeks. His music has been featured on Showtime's soundtracks for the contemporary series The L Word, as well as several short films. Kayiatos is the subject of a forthcoming biopic entitled The State of Katastrophe. He has toured in the U.S. and Europe.[17]

Publishing career

In October 2009, he and Amos Mac founded Original Plumbing, the first magazine by and for trans men.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Marech, Rona, "Heavy-handed but tender-hearted, transgender hip-hopper Katastrophe is a rebel with a cause," The San Francisco Chronicle, February 25, 2005, accessed November 6, 2009
  3. ↑ Ganahi, Jane, "Michelle Tea mines her colorful past for a graphic memoir. And we mean graphic," The San Francisco Chronicle, August 25, 2004, accessed November 6, 2009
  4. ↑ Marech, Rona, "Throw out your pronouns -- 'he' and 'she' are meaningless terms in the Bay Area's flourishing transgender performance scene," The San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 2003, accessed November 7, 2009
  5. ↑ Schwartz, Abby, "Queer on the mic: Is rap music the final frontier for GLBT artists?," Gay and Lesbian Times, Issue 881, November 11, 2004, accessed November 9, 2009
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  9. ↑ Sawyer, Terry, "Queering the Mic," Pop Matters, March 18, 2004, accessed November 7, 2009
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Reighly, Kurt B., "Trans-hop," The Advocate, November 8, 2005
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Martinfield, Seán, "Frameline 32", San Francisco Sentinel, June 27, 2009, accessed November 7, 2009
  14. ↑ "Review of "Pick up the Mic"", After Ellen, October 18, 2006, accessed November 7, 2009
  15. ↑ "The Actor Slash Model Film Project", accessed August 12, 2010
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Greenfield, Beth, "Gay: Original Plumbing launches: New publication celebrates transmen," Time Out New York, October 22–28, 2009, accessed April 29, 2015

External links

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