Surely everyone knows Ya Kid K (aka Manuela Kamosi), lead vocalist for eurohouse innovators Technotronic. And surely everyone knows that after their first album, she left the group to pursue a solo career. Her first solo track was "Awesome (You Are My Hero)" from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack in 1991, and it became a minor hit in the UK. A year later Technotronic's "Move This" was used for a Revlon commercial in North America and brought the group back to the top of the charts. Even though Ya Kid K was no longer a member, she got a "featuring" credit and appeared prominently in the video (unlike Technotronic's first hit, "Pump Up The Jam", where her vocals were credited to model Felly, who also appeared in the video in her place). This success led to an album deal with SBK Records. "Move This" was featured on the album, but this inclusion did little to garner interest in it. Which is too bad, because had people picked it up, they would have discovered an album with much to offer, with pop, house, techno and hip hop songs aplenty. Backed by a bunch of popular producers, including Technotronic's Jo Bogaert, Gail "Sky" King, Dan Hartman, Biz Markie and the lady herself, the album is a fun, danceable mix of singing and rapping. "Let This Housebeat Drop" (featuring a hot vocal by Lonnie Gordon) and "That Man" were released as singles but failed to make much of an impact and she was dropped from the label. A couple years later she rejoined Technotronic (along with previous postee Daisy Dee) for their album Recall, and was the featured vocalist on their first single from the album, "Move It To The Rhythm". The album was nowhere near the success of their debut, unfortunately, and this new version of the group disbanded. Ya Kid K released a couple more singles over the years, and popped up on occasional Technotronic singles, but she has yet to return to the spotlight she deserves. She still occasionally performs with her sister Karoline, however, who has achieved great success as a pop-rap solo artist in Europe under the moniker Leki. Check her out, she's amazing!Video for Move This
Video for Let This Housebeat Drop
Download One World Nation (The Kids Shall Overcome)
| 1 | Move This | |
| 2 | One World Nation | |
| 3 | That Man | |
| 4 | Jump It Out | |
| 5 | You Told Me Sex | |
| 6 | Come Back Home | |
| 7 | Let This Housebeat Drop | |
| 8 | Life | |
| 9 | Break It Down | |
| 10 | Risky Business | |
| 11 | Melt In My Arms | |
| 12 | Question Of Why | |
| 13 | Let This Housebeat Drop (French Version) | |
| 14 | Come Back Home (French Version) |
I vaguely remember this solo album. LOL, and Ya Kid K was another person whose gender I could never figure out until now!
ReplyDeleteHey.
ReplyDeleteCould you re-up this please?? All links are dead :-(
xx
It has been reupped. ;)
DeleteThank you xx
ReplyDeleteHate to have to chime in with a bit of unpleasant history, but here goes.
ReplyDeleteAt the time, Technotronic and Ya Kid K were a big deal. There was noise about them going out on the "Blonde Ambition" tour with Madonna. And then Madonna apparently said Ya Kid K was "too ugly" to take on tour and put a halt to the whole thing.
I remember Ya Kid K being quoted in a magazine responding to this and you could practically see her posture as slumped over and defeated just by reading her quotes.
IMO this -- in addition to Felly getting credit for her work -- is a major reason she walked away from the spotlight. None of these articles I remember about this subject are online, but if I find one in one of the old rock magazines I have, I'll scan it.
I wish I could remember exactly where I read this. But back then I was reading everything from Rolling Stone to Keyboard to the teenybopper mags, so who knows.
Beyond all that, thanks for this post.
thank you so much
ReplyDelete@ Days of Broken Arrow
ReplyDeleteTechnotronic was the opening act for the Blonde Ambition tour. Madonna did not put an end to that. It happened. Eye roll for drama