Rocco Kayiatos, known professionally as Katastrophe and in some later releases as Rocco Katastrophe, is an American rapper. Based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, he began competing in

poetry slams A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word, spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, with the first slam competition designed to move poetry rec ...

in 1997. After winning the 1998 Youth Speaks poetry slam, he went on tour with

Sister Spit Sister Spit was a lesbian-feminist spoken-word and performance art collective based in San Francisco, signed to Mr. Lady Records. They formed in 1994 and disbanded in 2006. Founding members included Michelle Tea and Sini Anderson, Other members i ...

's Rambling Road Show tour. As a teenager, Kayiatos had poems on four compilation CDs. He is widely credited as the first openly

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

singer in the hip-hop genre and he often incorporates his identity as a

trans man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identi ...

into his work.

Music career

In 2001, he recorded with Mark Schaffer the title song, Candyass, to the feature film ''Sugar High Glitter City'', 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 The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') annually to honor achievements in the global Sex industry, adult entertainment industry. ...

but lost to

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

. Katastrophe 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. Katastrophe started making beats in 2002. 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 ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

and

hip hop culture Hip-hop culture is an art movement that emerged in New York City, in the borough of The Bronx; Primarily within the black community. Hip Hop as an art form and culture has been heavily influenced by both male and female artists. It is charac ...

to discuss larger issues of community, space, privilege, sex, and

self-worth Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth, abilities, or morals. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie ...

. 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. In 2005, Kayiatos toured nationally with the Tranny Roadshow, a first of its kind, all transgender, touring variety show. Kayiatos released a second album entitled ''Fault, Lies and Faultlines'' on the Cherchez La Femme label in 2005, 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 Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

show, ''HomeMade SuperHero''. He also performs with Jenna Riot as the music act Ice Cream Socialites. He is featured in the documentary films ''Poetic License'', ''

Pick Up the Mic ''Pick Up the Mic'' is a documentary film, released in 2006, which profiles the underground homo hop scene, which is a subgenre of hip hop that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender artists. The film was directed by Alex Hinton. The d ...

'', ''Enough Man'', and ''Riot Acts''. He was described as one of the most accomplished rappers in the

homo hop LGBTQ representation in hip-hop music has existed since the birth of the genre even while enduring blatant discrimination. Due to its adjacency to disco, the earliest days of hip-hop had a close relation to LGBTQ subcultures, and multiple LGBT ...

documentary ''Pick Up the Mic''. His video for the song "The Life" was on

MTV networks Paramount Media Networks is the division of Paramount Global that oversees the operations of its television channels and online brands. The division was originally founded as MTV Networks in 1984, named after MTV. It would be known under this ...

LOGO A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

top ten Click List for 12 weeks. His music has been featured on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

's soundtracks for the contemporary series ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama series that aired on Showtime in the United States from 2004 to 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated wit ...

'', as well as several

short films A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

. Kayiatos is the subject of a forthcoming

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...

entitled ''The State of Katastrophe''. He has toured in the U.S. and Europe.

Publishing career

In October 2009, he and

Amos Mac Amos Mac (born 1981) is an American writer, photographer and a publisher from Augusta, Georgia. Mac is based in Los Angeles as a writer for television and film . Early life He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ''Original Plumbing'' As a ...

founded ''

Original Plumbing ''Original Plumbing'', also known as ''OP'', was a quarterly magazine focused on "the culture and lifestyle of transgender men." The magazine was started in September 2009 in the San Francisco Bay Area, by editors-in-chief Amos Mac and Rocco Kayi ...

'', the first magazine by and for trans men.

Post-musical Career

Kayiatos has held leadership positions at

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

and

Grindr Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application for gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people. It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009, and has since become the large ...

, is currently Chief Content Officer at FOLX Health, and co-creator and director of Camp Lost Boys, a sleep away

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

"exclusively for adult men of trans experience."

Discography

Albums

*2004: ''Let's Fuck, Then Talk About My Problems'' (Sugartruck Recordings) *2005: ''Fault, Lies and Faultlines'' (Cherchez La Femme label) *2009: ''The Worst Amazing'' (307 Knox Records) *2012: ''Second Hand Emotion'' (307 Knox Records)

Videography

*2007: "The Life" (Katastrophe feat. Shaggy Manatee & Ruby Valentine) *2012: "Sour Milk" (Tommy B, Brookside & Katastrophe) *2012: "Eat Everything" (Rocco Katastrophe feat.

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actress and musician. In her Stand-up comedy, stand-up routines she critiques social and political problems, especially about race and sexuality. She starred in the Ame ...

, De=MC² and Athens Boys Choir) *2012: ''Second Hand Emotion'' including "Wake Me If I'm Dreaming" / "Let Me Go" (Rocco Katastrophe)

References

External links

Logo Online: Music Artist: KatastropheDiamond, Morty, ''From the inside out: radical gender transformation, FTM and beyond'', "For Guys Like Me ... Rocco Rinaldi Kayiatos", p. 72, Manic D Press (2004)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katastrophe 1979 births Living people Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area American LGBTQ rappers American spoken word artists American transgender men American transgender musicians American transgender artists Transgender male artists Transgender male musicians Transgender rappers LGBTQ people from California 21st-century American rappers American founders