Kangol Kid

Shaun Shiller Fequiere, known by his stage name, Kangol Kid, or, alternatively, The Kangol Kid, is a Haitian-American hip hop producer, songwriter, break dancer, and emcee. Fequiere is probably best known as a member of the old school hip hop group, UTFO.^[1]

Biography

Early life

Fequiere was born in Haiti, and emigrated to the United States as a child, eventually settling with his family in Brooklyn, New York.

Fequiere acquired his nickname, The Kangol Kid, from neighborhood friends during the early 80s, because of the many Kangol hats he owned and wore.^{[citation needed]} He was also officially sponsored by Kangol Headwear, Inc.^{[citation needed]}

UTFO member

Fequiere originally joined the rap group UTFO as a breakdancer. In 1984, UTFO became one of the most popular rap and breakdance acts in the country on the strength of their breakout single, "Roxanne, Roxanne."^{[citation needed]}

During the mid-80s, as "Roxanne, Roxanne" gained popularity and chart position, UTFO was voted best rap group, at the 1988 Urban Music Awards, had featured spots on Don Cornelius' Soul Train, The Phil Donahue Show, and performed live for actors such as Dustin Hoffman, and Tony Danza. UTFO was the first rap group to perform at Harlem's Apollo Theater as they opened for Hall & Oates and the Temptation's Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin.^{[citation needed]}

In 1987, UTFO released their most popular selling album, Lethal. The title song featured the rock group Anthrax and later that year became the number one rap album in the United States.

Production, management, and songwriting career

In 1985, Fequiere wrote and composed a song on the Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force platinum album.

Later that year, he managed and produced the rap group, Whistle. In 1986, Whistle's first single, "(Nothin' Serious) Just Buggin'" (written and produced by Whistle,Fequiere and Howie Tee) became an international hit which contains a distinct whistling sample that can be heard scratched on DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s recordings.

In 1989, Fequiere left UTFO and began production of a re-make of Heatwave's "Always & Forever" for Whistle which also became a Top 10 seller. His success with this project landed more producing projects with LAM 'n R.E.C., Gerardo, 7669, and Cheryl "Pepsii" Riley.

Fequiere also produced baseball player Darryl Strawberry's (then, of the New York Mets) rap record "Chocolate Strawberry" then later wrote the theme song for professional basketball player Scottie Pippen's (of then Chicago Bulls) Sega CD-ROM Slam City with Scottie Pippen.

Current activities

Besides writing and producing songs, Fequiere has recorded voice-overs for various MTV commercials & animations, jingles for New York City's HOT 97 radio station and wrote his own column in Black Beat magazine entitled, "Yo Kangol". The column was designed to answer music related questions for up and coming artists nationwide.

In 2004, Fequiere scored the music for an independent film entitled Nightmare which later won an award for “Best Movie Score”.

Fequiere currently balances his time between Producer, Composer, Performer, Artist Manager, Songwriter, President of his music production company, Kangol's Kreations, Inc., and CEO of his Public Relations firm, Kreative Media Group. Fequiere's lecturing at High Schools and Colleges nationwide on today's business of music has led this Brooklynite to receiving a proclamation from the City of New York for being among the first Haitians in Hip-Hop Music.^[2]

Today, the Kangol sound can be heard on female R&B groups such as 3LW, Tres Jolie, and Blaque, as well as Latin pop group C-Note, who recorded a remake of Whistle's "Right Next To Me".

Fequiere's "Yo Kangol" column can be found monthly on the Allhiphop.com site, while up and coming projects include his first solo R&B recordings, scoring the independent film The Other Side of Hip-Hop, which will include new songs, written and produced by Kangol which will feature his son’s R&B group, Project: Plan B.

References