Terry Lewis (September 15, 1972 – October 23, 2020), also known by his stage name Kid Lucky, was an American beatrhymer,
beatboxer
Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.
, singer-songwriter, teacher, and activist born in New York City. He coined the term "beatrhyming", which he defines as "rapping, singing or performing spoken word while beatboxing simultaneously".
Early life
Lewis grew up in New York City, and as a child, began
scat singing
Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal Musical improvisation, improvisation with Non-lexical vocables in music, wordless vocables, Pseudoword#Nonsense syllables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, t ...
and making sounds with his mouth. His desire to become a performer came from watching the music video of
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...
's hit song "Rhythm Nation". He began writing plays and spoken word poetry, and was motivated to pursue
beatboxing
Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a Roland TR-808, TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.Doug E. Fresh in the movie ''
Beat Street
''Beat Street'' is a 1984 American dance drama film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to vari ...
''.
Career
Lewis's career began founding and performing with the first production company in America for beatboxing, "Beatboxer Entertainment".
Beatboxer entertainment has been featured on shows such as MTV and Fuse, and has performed in Madison square garden. Lewis is a beatbox mentor who has worked with artists such as
Kaila Mullady
Kaila Mullady (born April 11, 1993) is an American beatboxer, beatrhymer, musician and actress. She won on Beatbox Battle World Championship 2015 & 2018 by category solo female. She is a former member of the Beatbox House crew. Kaila is a cur ...
,
Taylor McFerrin
Taylor McFerrin (born June 28, 1981 in San Francisco, California) is an American DJ, music producer, keyboardist & beatboxer based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. He is the eldest son of popular vocalist and classical conductor Bobb ...
, D-Cross, Masai Electro, and
Butterscotch
Butterscotch is a type of confection whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter. Some recipes include corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt. The earliest known recipes, in mid-19th century Yorkshire, used treacle (molasses) in plac ...
. He is the founder and director of "Beatrhyme Communications". A collective of artists dedicated to promoting beatrhyming, beatboxing, and the vocal arts. He was featured in the movie ''Begin Again'', beatboxing alongside Cee Lo Green. He is the organizer and curator of events such as the "American Human Beatbox Festival" and "The Hip Hop Subway series". He is currently being represented as a sound artist by "International Fine Arts Consortium". He is the conductor of "Nu-Voices". The first all-vocal orchestra consisting of beatboxers, beatrhymers, and vocalists of a wide variety of vocal styles.
In 2018 Lewis received the lifetime achievement award for his role in the development of beatboxing and beatrhyming as paid professions through his work, promoting the careers of older and younger beatboxers and curating events and movements in which these artists are able to perform.
Lewis had been battling cancer for several years and died at 9:30am on October 23, 2020.