Biography
Al K!NG looks, acts and sounds like he was adopted by Mr. T and Elvis Costello... from Andy Warhol's Silver Factory and babysat by Basquiat, waiting on his folks in an after-school program led by Afrika Bambaataa. A musician highly in control of his stage presence, energy and craft.
To say Al K!NG is complex is too obvious and requires too little thought. All humans are complex. The thing is, sometimes, there's some question about whether or not Al K!NG is human. He looks, acts and sounds like he was adopted by Mr. T and Elvis Costello... from Andy Warhol's Silver Factory and babysat by Basquiat, waiting on his folks in an after-school program led by Afrika Bambaataa and some nameless Shaolin Master of a 1000 Flows.
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On his 22nd birthday, a little more than a year after first appearing in public doing Turbo's broom dance from Breakin' 2, the always-silent-off-stage star posted a picture of himself, professionally shot but as a spur of the moment goof, arms folded and chest puffed out with an indian headress. He then asked, "Who wants to party with the K!NG, you worms?!"
That's par for the course with him.
But it's not just the way he dresses, walks and talks, or even a comment about his preternatural talent, It's the fact he has all that and he comes from a place as country as Twiggs County, Georgia. His meaningful lyrics over heavy bass, synth and strings had to develop somewhere deep within. It'd be easier to believe his spaceship crashed in the woods out there than to think he's been holed up in the middle of rural Georgia this whole time.
Then you get to know a little more and for a moment, though it's hard, you look past the music.
Born in Atlanta, GA, he was raised in Macon, GA by a father who, as an old school B-boy, was rhyming and throwing up graffiti in New York when he was Al's age. His mother is a self-taught fashion designer. AL K!NG is one that values creativity above anything else. So much that he's his own fashion consultant. Art played a huge role in his life growing up. While in High School, AL K!NG started producing music at home and breakdancing every chance he got while in school. Now, he does the art for his shows, breakdances during his sets. He even put together album art for his EP, as well as the one for Jersey native, Floco Torres, with whom he's made “Social Collision” (released July 25 2009) and numerous indie acts.
So there's much more to AL K!NG than just another guy who wants to get rich in the "game". While he'd certainly welcome fame and even wants it, AL K!NG is really chasing the logical ends to his creativity. He is an artist at the start of his career, just now really getting the grasp of what he can do. Like he's about to pull out of driveway now that he's got a handle on how the stick shift works. AL K!NG understands the true meaning of “limitless creation“.
He's in pursuit of art and that, more than anything else, will determine where he ends up. It won't be the love of bling...
Universal Kingdom is a musical project created in 2008 by Alexander Clay consisting of art and music from a collective of artist and musicians featuring violinist DSharp and an extensive fictional universe depicting Alexander Clay as rapper "AL K!NG"
AL K!NG's debut effort, The Phantom Of The Art Gallery(2009) was released as split EP alongside Social Collision(2009) with frequent collaborator, Floco Torres.
In July 2010, an untitled album was recorded with Atlanta-based production team The Listeners at Penthouse Studios in Atlanta. The Listeners previously collaborated with AL K!NG in 2009 on records "Freakshow", "She Came From Outerspace" and "Galaga". This also notes the first time AL K!NG collaborated with violinist DSharp.
On November 20, 2010, AL K!NG was featured on a new song, "Never Too Late" with Floco Torres and Jubee, produced by Jubee and The Morning After.
In May 2011, Alexander Clay announced he has began working on his first full length album entitled Universal Kingdom, featuring production from himself under the name Flash & Blood. Dsharp plans to release his forthcoming EP, Green Lights, Blue Skies in the Summer of 2011.
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Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.