Xcorpiiio
| Born | Kumasi Raheem Hopkins, II October 31, 1997 (age 21) New York City, New York, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Occupation | * Singer * Songwriter * Producer * Engineer * Multi-Instrumentalist * Model * Actor * Dancer |
| Years active | 2019 – present |
| Also known as | * XIII * KUMASI * Jxker * Scorpio * Lil Killua * RED * The Pumpkin King |
| Genres | * Alternative * Indie Pop * Dream Pop * Pop * Hip-Hop * Trip-Hop * Electronic * Rock |
| Instruments | * Vocals * Guitar * Keyboard |
| Lineage | * Father: Kumasi * Mother: Lisa Hopkins-Hilliard * R Nathaniel Dett |
| Associated acts | * Alicia Keys * Kerry Brothers Jr. * Lil Deku |
| Website | xcorpiiio.bandzoogle.com/home |
Kumasi Raheem Hopkins (born October 31, 1997), known professionally as Scorpio (stylized as XCORPIIIO) (IPA: /ˈskor.pi.oː/, [ˈskɔr.pi.oː].), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, mix engineer, master engineer, dancer, actor, and model. His music has been noted by critics for its unique, mainstream, yet indie/alternative sound; its preoccupation with stories taken from his own life, which convey themes of young love, death, and suicide; and its references to pop culture and contemporary teen Americana.
Born in New York City and raised in Jamaica, Queens, Xcorpiiio began his professional independent music career in late 2018. He released his first musical project, a single called "Baby Blues" (stylized as BæbÿBlvës) under the mononym, Kumasi (stylized as KUMVSI). He would later switch from working with Amuse.io to Spinnup (a distribution company started by Universal Music Group).[1] With the switch of distributor, he adopted the moniker Xcorpiiio, and released his first EP, Summerset, on June 5, 2019. Summerset saw massive success within its first month of release, garnering the singer 30,000 streams[2] within the first month of its release. Xcorpiiio followed Summerset with the two singles, "Flower Girl" and "Passion FM.", the latter of which featuring rapper, Lil Deku.
His two greatest influences in music are noted to be Amy Winehouse and Lana Del Rey.
Early life
Xcorpiiio was born Kumasi Raheem Hopkins on October 31, 1997 in New York City, to Kumasi Rahiem Hilliard, a grammy award nominated record producer,[3] known for his work on the second studio album of American singer, Alicia Keys, The Diary of Alicia Keys,[4] and Lisa LaShawn Hopkins-Hilliard, a dancer who has toured with industry names, such as LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige, and SWV. Through his mother's lineage, Hopkins is the 2nd great grandson of famous Canadian-American Black composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor, Robert Nathanial Dett. He has one younger brother, Josiah, and one younger sister, Leah. He is of African and Caribbean descent. Hopkins spent much of his early life in the studio with his father, Alicia Keys, Kerry "Krucial Keys" Brothers, Ann Mincieli, and Stuart White. This would impact his love for music as he grew into a teenager.
Hopkins grew up in the southern side of Jamaica, Queens, by Jamaica avenue. He began his educational career at a preschool called Kids for the Future, where he performed on stage for the first time, at an event called Gospel Fest. He attended the public school, PS/IS 266Q from first grade until the middle of eighth grade. The city of New York passed a law stating that, unless the family has filed for religious exemption, preventing him from attending school until he family was able to win the case. Hopkins spent the rest of his eighth grade, and the first month of his freshman year, being home schooled by his mother. In October 2011, he began attending the public school, Bayside High School. He took classes in guitar, violin, and beginner classes in music editing. According to Hopkins, although he never had trouble making friends, he never felt like he truly belonged anywhere. He elaborates on how his unique skin complexion served as an obstacle in his social life, during his high school career. In 2014, he graduated high school at 16 years of age, with an advanced regents diploma.
Acting career
Theater
Hopkins began his journey in acting in Bayside High School's Drama Club. Here, his biggest accomplishment was the writing of a feature length screenplay. Upon graduation from high school, he was accepted into CUNY Queensborough Community College, where he studied Theater and performed on stage for the first time since preschool. Hopkins would portray the character, "Marcus Lycus", in the QPAC presented musical, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. The entire ensemble won an award for Best Ensemble from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Film and Television
In his second year of attending, Hopkins had been cast to play "Hamlet" in the Shakespeare play of the same name. He chose instead to drop out of school and pursue an opportunity at a career in film and television. For the later half of 2016, Hopkins worked with Obediah Wright and Aduke Aremu on the sizzle reel of their latter two's joint project.
In the following year, he would pursue a career in background work on network television series, where he made his most notable appearances in the trailer for the ABC series, Manifest, and public service announcement video, Hey, Charlie. He would also make his first supporting role appearance as David Alacaraz-Ubiles in the second episode of the true crime investigation series, Evil Talks: Chilling Confessions. Hopkins spent the year of 2017 working on indie films and short films such as Shadow[5], Off Season, Ex Disposer with Jack DiFalco, and The Talk with Edward Manly. In early 2019, Hopkins signed with Prestige Management.[6]
Music career
AndroidUchiha1
Hopkins was given his first laptop by his grandmother, at age 12. With this, he began uploading videos to YouTube as AndroidUchiha1. Over the years, he would upload more videos under other names as well. The content he posted generally consisted of Hopkins rapping his own lyrics over Nicki Minaj[7] and Lil Wayne instrumentals. At the time, his goal was to become the youngest member of Young Money.
Jayden and Jake
Throughout his elementary and middle school years, Hopkins began a duo with his cousin. They spent the summers of their youth singing along to Disney Channel songs from acts such as the Cheetah Girls, and the Jonas Brothers. At 14 years old, Hopkins began writing lyrics for them to sing over the instrumental of established songs. They took to calling themselves Jayden and Jake. Hopkins went by Jayden, and his cousin went by Jake. Throughout his high school career, he didn't sing in public, or make it known that he wanted to be a singer, due to his struggle with stage fright and low confidence in his voice.
Kumvsi and Amuse.io
In early 2016, Hopkins bought himself an iPhone 5S, and immediately began working on his production skills in the mobile version of the Apple owned DAW, GarageBand. One year and a half later, he would upgrade to an iPhone 7 Plus, and continue his work on a bigger, better device. Using his iPhone and a pair of apple headphones, Hopkins recorded the vocals for his songs. In late 2018, Hopkins began working under the mononym, Kumvsi, as he prepared to release his first digital release, "Baby Blues". Without money for distribution, marketing, or PR, Kumvsi turned to Amuse.io to release his music. The release saw minor success, with most of the audience being a few of his close friends and family.
Xcorpiiio and Full Sail University
In the fall of 2018, Kumvsi began attending Full Sail University. He enrolled in their online Bachelor's Degree Program for Audio Production. Kumvsi then took on a new moniker, Xcorpiiio, as he prepared to completely rebrand himself. With the equipment sent to him by Full Sail University (which included a Macbook, microphones, Logic Pro X, monitors, etc), he began work on his first true independent release. This first release would serve as a showcase of his skills as a singer, rapper, songwriter, producer, and engineer.
"Like That" and Summerset - EP
In early spring 2019, Xcorpiiio reconnected with Alicia Keys, Ann Mincieli, Stuart White, and Kerry Brothers via Instagram and Facebook. He met, in person, with Alicia and Ann, concerning his path in music, and potential plans for a working opportunity at Ann Mincieli's Jungle City Studios. Later, on June 5, 2019, Xcorpiiio released his first EP, Summerset. With a small budget for distribution this time, he worked with the Universal Music Group owned distribution company, Spinnup.[1] The tracklist included his summer tropical house hit, "Like That",[2] as the first song. He still did not have money for marketing, or PR. Regardless of this fact, within the first month of release, the EP had garnered over 30,000 streams.[2]
"Flower Girl" and The Singularity
On September 11 and 12 of 2019, Xcorpiiio released two singles, "Flower Girl", and "Passion FM.", respectively (the latter of which featuring rapper, Lil Deku). Beginning work on new music, Xcorpiiio has recently announced his next release, called The Singularity. The tentative release date for this project is winter 2019. As part of his promotional efforts, he will also be beginning a YouTube channel as Xcorpiiio, and is in the pre-production stage of filming for his music video for "Flower Girl".
Artistry
Musical Style
Inspirations and Influences
Growing up, Xcorpiiio listened to a lot of different genres of music. Most specifically of the late 90s and early 2000s. However, he never felt inspired or especially touched by any of the mainstream pop music from that time. He mainly listened to a lot of Evanescence, Aaliyah and Disney songs. Into his teen years, Xcorpiiio found a love for indie and alternative music. His introduction to alternative music was the song, "Heads Will Roll", by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. In 2013, Xcorpiiio heard the Cedric Gervais remix of "Summertime Sadness" by Lana Del Rey. This further deepened his love for indie and alternative music, as he further explored Del Rey's discography. In early adulthood, Xcorpiiio found a love for the authenticity, and emotional risk in both Del Rey, and Amy Winehouse's music. His musical style reflects this. Additional influences include Low (band), Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, Amy Lee, CL, Ayumi Hamasaki, and Utada Hikaru.
Genre and Vocal Range
Xcorpiiio's music can best be described as Alternative Indie Hip-Pop. His voice and image are very distinct, unique, and easy to recognize. Xcorpiiio is also adaptable, and is able to work with different genres of music. Even as an untrained singer, he has a 3.7 octave range that begins as low as D2 and goes as high as A5. His voice is able to project to the back of a theater without much effort, while retaining a rich sound and powerful vibrato throughout the entirety of his chest and mixed voice range.
Discography
Singles
- BæbÿBlvës (2018)
- Flower Girl (2019)
- Passion FM. (2019)
EPs and Albums
- Summerset - EP (2019)
- The Singularity (2019)
Filmography
- Hey, Charlie as Crossfade (2017)
- Shadow as Allen (2017)
- Love, Dante as Russo (2017)
- Ex Disposer as CJ (2018)
- The Talk as Justin (2018)
- Off Season as Teddy (2018)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Spinnup". UMG. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "PROOF OF STREAMS.png". Dropbox. Retrieved 2019-10-01. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Kumasi". GRAMMY.com. 2019-06-04. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
- ↑ "The Diary of Alicia Keys", Wikipedia, 2019-09-26, retrieved 2019-10-01
- ↑ "Post". UK Film Review. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- ↑ "KUMASI HOPKINS by PMG Models". https://www.pmgmodelsnyc.com/. Retrieved 2019-10-01. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ Nicki Minaj ft Jayden Hill Play Time Is Over, retrieved 2019-10-01
External links
Kumasi Hopkins on Actors Access
This article "Xcorpiiio" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Xcorpiiio. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
