Killa Kela stands poised to enter a new chapter of his career with a new album, 'Elocution' and single, 'Secrets', his first releases with a major label. Added to constant promotion and appearances this year with his crew SpitKingdom and even a Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles advert, unmotivated is certainly not a word we'd use to describe the UK's first globally recognized beatboxer and the best since the days of Rahzel.

"I wasn't really a bad boy," multi-vocalist Killa Kela muses of his school days. "I was a bit of an outsider at times and not very motivated. I barely took a pen into school. Funny how things change!" After all, how many 27 year olds can claim to have toured with Jurassic 5 and Busta Rhymes, been inducted into the legendary Rock Steady Crew, and count Pharrell Williams amongst their drinking mates?

Yet Kela, real name Lee Potter, is still something of an underground sensation here in the UK. One of Britain's most uniquely talented musicians, he writes and performs all of his own songs, layer by layer, rapping, singing and creating all of the beats armed with the most versatile of instruments - his own mouth. Whereas other hip hop artists and producers use samples in their material, there is nothing like that to be found on a Killa Kela record. It really is something that needs to be seen and heard to be believed. Stunningly, new single 'Secrets' has Kela beatboxing while singing at the same time and although the tune features soaring violin strings, the rest, scratching and all, is the main man himself.

So how exactly does somebody realise that they are able to beatbox? It's a bit of an unusual talent really. "I started a long time ago man, way before I knew it was called beatboxing," explains Kela. "I was doing it when I was really young... maybe seven or eight." Much to the distaste of his father, Kela began to make sounds around the house while he played with toys and watched television, providing backing beats to TV show theme tunes such as 'EastEnders' and 'Grange Hill'. Growing up in the small, quiet village of Billingshurst in West Sussex, there was very little contact with black music, although after hearing Salt n Pepa's 'Push It', Kela was hooked.

"I didn't pay much attention to music at school, man. Never went to music class or anything like that. But there was a lot of expression in hip hop for me. It was more than just music. And I loved it, cos it gave me an identity and a feelin' of being a part of something. Other types of music followed, but that was the scene for me back then."

Undoubtedly Kela grew up in a musical family. His father played the drums in a local band and as he played in the house, his son would beatbox along to himself. "I wouldn't say I grew up with music all around me, but I think I had the right music around me," says Kela. "My mum used to listen to rare groove and soul; Michael Jackson, Barry White, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Ritchie. While my Dad listened to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Cream, Whitesnake. Lots of rock bands like that."

Listening to his father's records, Kela got into rock at a young age and for the first time began applying his beatboxing to music.

"It was only when I got into hip hop at about 12 years old, that I realised it was a serious thing that people did. And even then I didn't take the whole thing too seriously. It seemed a bit of a "side show" in the hip hop world, you know."

It wasn't long before Kela's talents led to performance. While 17 and still at college he became associated with a large group called the 360 Physicals, a collection of would-be rappers, DJs dancers and graffiti artists. The 25-strong group would go to clubs and gigs together and before long they were performing at these same nights, slowly gaining recognition and building their own circuit. At one particular show at the Alley Cat in Reading when the lights and sound went down for another act that were performing, grasping the opportunity, Kela began providing the beats. The crowd was shocked when the lights came back on and it became apparent that the 17 year old was doing the beats.

Says Kela, "I would do graffiti, I would MC, DJ, hang out with other hip hop kids from other towns and cities. It was a wicked time for street music back then. It's still the biggest part of my life. We lived the very spirit of hip hop."

Kela's big break came when he approached Ninja Tune's DJ/producer DJ Vadim who heard a tape of Kela's beatboxing and invited him into the studio. The Russian Percussion tour ensued enabling Kela to take his show around the globe to 17 countries. Since then, he has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, touring with DJ Vadim, performing with N*E*R*D and Justin Timberlake and appearing on tracks for the likes of Basement Jaxx, Black Eyed Peas, Dizzee Rascal and the late ODB and admits that nothing has ever been the same for him.

Today, however, Kela prefers not to feature on other artists' records, performing instead with Spitkingdom, his own team and hip hop family. "SpitKingdom is a collective, comprising of writers, producers, singers, MCs and DJs," he tells me, "it's also a soundsystem, it's a club night and it's a multimedia team. It's myself alongside; Skelectrik, Trip, Rookwood, Badlands, Spider J, Splinter, Porge 1, Solo One and the Mixologists. It's a solid team." With the help of his crew, Kela has concentrated his recent career on his own work, releasing low key singles and his own artist album.

The art of beatboxing is very much involved with the visual elements of live performance and the task of transferring the spark of a live show to the stereo has always been a difficult one. As impressive as it can be to watch a beatboxer blowing up the stage using only their mouth, it's unlikely that many are going to endure an hour's worth of homegrown beats and scratching. This is a problem that all beatboxers have met with, namely Rahzel whose efforts 'Make the Music 2000' and 'Greatest Knockouts' failed to cause orgasmic reactions even within the hip hop community.

WORDS: DANNII LEIVERS