PRITT KALSI
TUTOR – KING OF THE BEATS (KOTB)
Recognised as being the founder of the Hip-Hop Producer Beat Battles movement, Pritt Kalsi originally started out in aerosol art in the mid 1980s, developing his creative skills painting characters and portraits. Years later, he got involved in the music aspect of Hip-Hop culture, building a small reputation in his home city of Birmingham amongst locals as, ‘that guy that searches for those old records to sample’.
After meeting The Artful Dodger at an international Hip-Hop event in Kent in 1997, and seeing his film on Aerosol Culture, ‘Get The Message’, he was inspired to make a documentary Hip-Hop film of his own, The Men & Their Music; a totally self-funded venture driven by Pritt’s passion for Hip-Hop music. With his unique and unorthodox style of Guerrilla filmmaking, coupled with a direct and honest approach to story telling, it earned him the respect of reputable Hip-Hop artists across the globe.
It was in 1999 whilst working on The Men & Their Music that Pritt came up with the concept for his highly respected and widely imitated beat battle format The King Of The Beats. A cult film that is one of the most talked about endeavours in Hip-Hop culture. His aim was to create something to keep ‘music sample culture alive’, putting artist and producer legends, both new and established all on the same platform, with one thing bonding all of them together; their love for old records and the passion for searching for those dusty grooves, just as the DJs did back in the 1970s with the early Hip-Hop block parties and jams of the South Bronx.
His return to the film The Men & Their Music in 2005 was interrupted by DJ Supreme – founder of the seminal UK Hip-Hop group, Hijack – who commissioned him to embark on a project that told the story of the group’s rise and demise. With no official budget, Pritt went on to film, produce and direct The Turntable Trixters for which 2006 saw him pick up a BFI award for the film.
In 2007 – after much demand, he decided to return to his cult film The King Of The Beats to produce a sequel. The time had now come to begin producing the project as a series of films. The new King Of The Beats film now has a more global theme, with competitors from the USA, UK and Australia (and soon Japan), all taking on the challenge. The King Of The Beats concept has even attracted the interest of other schools, colleges and universities.
In 2009 Damion Wilkes of Kidderminster Collage, invited Pritt to speak to students there about how he got into Hip-Hop and the whole break-beat phenomenon. It was a huge success, and feedback from both students and lecturers has been more than positive.
For an example of a previous King Of The Beats class, go to kingofthebeats.com/education.html
C@NTACT: nuskratch AT hotmail.co.uk