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KILLA-JEWEL'S VIDEO SINGLE: SORROW (BY MARIELLE QUESNEY)
Killa-Jewel has always had a love of music for as long as she could remember. Instruction in classical piano performance began when she was seven years old, and continued until she was eighteen. At seventeen, she gained an interest in electronic music, and has been DJing since December 1997. She began by spinning House, Techno, Drum and Bass, and Break-Beats for private house parties. One year later, she was introduced to Hip-Hop music and became acquainted with scratching. Her love for the scene grew and her passionate interest has remained with it ever since.
Over the past eight years Killa-Jewel has been interviewed for many publications including The Gazette, The Mirror, The Concordian, The Link, Pound Magazine, Le Soleil, Selective Hype Magazine and Music Works Magazine. She has been featured on CKUT 90.3FM, CISM 89.1FM, CKCU 93.1FM, www.koolout.com (a live internet broadcast show based in New York), www.capitalmag.com, www.33-mtl.com, www.hiphopcanada.com, www.phemphat.com, www.i-jonez.com and many more websites to date. Television appearances include Global T.V., the CBC television show Music Works with Dubmatique, French CBC's L'Ecuyer, Musique Plus, Much Music's Much On Demand and on the final episode of The Downlo.
Killa-Jewel has performed with big-name artists, including Kardinal Offishall, The Swollen Members, The Sebutones (Buck 65 and Sixtoo), Mr. Lif, Virtuoso, Blurum 13, and Manchild. During the summer of 2000, Killa-Jewel performed with Dubmatique on three separate occasions. She participated in Legendary One, and Under Pressure 1999-2005. She was the resident DJ at Bluedog, Blizzarts, Angels, and guest-appeared at Quartier Latin Pub, Istory Pub, Saphire Club, Jingxi Club, Club Aria, Alena Montreal, Luba Lounge, La Sala Rosa, Salon Daome, Babylon and Surface in Ottawa, C'est What in Toronto, headlined at Club Sona, and opened for Grand Master Flash at Cream's outdoor festival. She performed for Canada Day at Montreal's Old Port as well. Killa-Jewel has also been a regular participant in the open-turntable night Tableturns ever since it came to Montreal in December 1998, and showcased at the opening of Tableturns in Toronto in April 2001, and in Ottawa in August.
Year 2001 was an explosive one for Killa-Jewel. In March, she entered her first Gemini battle where she was awarded 2nd place. Then in April, Killa-Jewel represented Gemini at the annual trade show Salon Pepsi Jeunesse. She also performed with Rock bands Okoume and The Respectables for a crowd of 50,000 in Quebec City for its annual Fete D'ete. In July, Killa-Jewel competed in the International Turntablist Federation's (ITF) Scratching Categories competition in New York City, where only six people out of the Western Hemisphere were chosen to battle! It was a personal best. Shortly thereafter, she performed with Quebec singer and songwriter Marie-Jo Therio at the Spectrum for Montreal's annual Francapholie festival. In October, she performed at Thriller in Ottawa. Killa-Jewel also collaborated with pop band Play (along with vocalist and guitarist Antoine Sicotte of Sky).
During the summer of 2002, with the sole use of her turntables and CD player, Killa-Jewel composed and performed the entire soundtrack live, to the theatrical production 2000 Questions at Place-Des-Arts. She was also involved in Robert Lepage's production of Zulu Time (which was part of the Montreal Jazz Festival), co-produced by Peter Gabriel, and had performed a scene from the production later in the year at the Governor General Awards Ceremony (a televised Canadian awards show) in Ottawa. Furthermore, Killa-Jewel recorded with Nam: Live on their latest album. Her essay on females and turntablism was recently published in an accompanying book. Killa-Jewel also produced the introduction track to the Under Pressure Magazine hip-hop CD compilation Up North Trip Vol. 2 (released worldwide in conjunction with the magazine). In September 2002, she opened for Non-Phixion and The Beatnuts with Patrick Bateman in Ottawa. She appeared in DL Incognito's video, "Rugged Raw" as well.
During the summer of 2003, Killa-Jewel placed 2nd at Dawson's Street Heat DJ battle. She came 3rd at the Ottawa regional DMC, brought heat to the Montreal eliminations on June 6th, and also placed 2nd in DMC Teams in Toronto on July 11th. In August she performed at Honey Jam, an all Canadian female showcase in Toronto. She was featured on Teen TVO in the fall as one of a selected few to represent Honey Jam. She was also highlighted in an interview with www.hiphopcanada.com for the month of September. Killa-Jewel is currently featured on Q-Bert's newly released Scratching Volume 2 DVD, also being released worldwide.
In 2004, Killa-Jewel released a mix CD sponsored by Triple Five Soul called The Official Misstape Vol. 1 (featuring Eternia, DJ Serious and DJ Simahlak). She was also featured on the well-known Return of the DJ 5.5 CD series compilation. In addition, Killa-Jewel scored and performed in 26 episodes of a cooking/game show for kids called Surprise! It's Edible, Incredible! which is currently airing on CBC Television. She was also featured as part of a series of Much Vibe commercials on Much Music in early 2005.
In 2005, Killa-Jewel toured with The Busker's Opera, also directed by Lepage, in which she played the piano, the drums, acted, danced and sang, as well as scratched. The production opened in Montreal in 2004, and more recently onto France, Australia, Germany, Italy, Slovania, Spain, Singapore and the United States. In between tour, she was invited to battle at the World Vestax Extraveganza in Tokyo, Japan, where she represented Canada. In addition, Killa-Jewel performed and recorded with a local Montreal Jazz/Soul/Funk band called the Vanessa Rodrigues Soul Project. The group was chosen to play at the Montreal Jazz Festival this past summer.
In the next few months, Killa-Jewel looks forward to working on many more upcoming personal projects. She is collaborating with a number of hip-hop artists in the production world including rapper/producer K-the-I?? (Shadow Animals, 2nd Records, Big Dada, Beyond Space Entertainment, Filthy Habits, Subversive, 6months and Uncommon Records), who is a recent newcomer to the underground hip-hop label Mush. Not only has she contributed a track to his first release with the label, but they are also assembling an EP to be released later in the year. In addition, Killa-Jewel is teaming up with Mr. Dibbs as part of an exciting upcoming project on Self Core Records. Furthermore, Killa-Jewel is providing cuts on west coast producer/DJ T-Rock's album on Why Records (based in New Zealand), and on Scott Da Ross's album on Endemik RecordsMicrotone Kitchen, with whom she is currently recording.
Finally, Killa-Jewel has a BA with a specialization in Communications at Concordia University, helping her pursue her goal of becoming a music producer and a successful, world-renowned DJ.
