Radio Active

Originating from Boston, MA, Radio Active embodies the essence of hip hop. He is an emcee, beatboxer, writer, painter, and b boy. He plays musical instruments, incorporates electronic beats with his beatbox and commands active audience participation during his always fresh, soulful original live performances.

Originating from the East Coast of the United States, just outside of Boston, MA, Radio Active has toured extensively the past four years throughout North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan as a member of the politically charged musical group Michael Franti & Spearhead performing to audiences in theaters and festivals upwards of 100,000 people and appearing on national television programs such as David Letterman, Craig Kilborne and on MTV with the critically acclaimed single/video “Rock The Nation.”

As featured in the recent documentary films, Breath Control and Freestyle: The Art Of Rhyme, RadioActive has made a worldwide impact in this genre of “beatboxing—making music with nothing but the human voice”.

Radio Active has just produced his first full-length beatbox record entitled BMMNM Vol 1 Breakbox.

Using a DL4 Line 6, Radio Active layers and loops different beatbox rhythms. He creates the beat vocally (with the aid of a pan flute or digeredoo on a few tracks) and finishes with a rhyme. All lyrics, beats, production and artwork by Radio Active. This is the first volume of a set, future releases include Voicebox and Songbox.

Sharing the stage with artists such as String Cheese Incident, KRS-one, Blues Traveler, Karl Denson, Galactic, Soulive, Trey Anastasio, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Common, Talib Kweli, Jeru The Damaja, DJ Apollo, Jonah Sharp and Meshell N’Degeocello, Radio has crossed the genre line from hip hop audiences to jam band to DJ rave culture.

Beginning with graffiti art at the age of 13 in 1989, hip hop’s influence took a passionate hold of Radio Active and was brought to life by emceeing, b boying, and beatboxing in the streets and then the clubs, hooking up with musicians throughout the northeast of the United States such as the jam band, Lettuce, Eric Krasno (of Soulive) and The Slip which led him to form his first band The Politics of Experience where samplers, turn tables, beats & rhymes were the focus and this group was followed by the forming of Subhuman Primates, a combination of intense live jazz improvisational and freestyle battle rhymes.

Radio Active’s musical journey has brought him across the globe not only on large stages with many musical artists, but also in the backstage alleyways free-styling with the locals. His influences are simplistic on their own, “Both hip hop and the street are crucial in my musical development. The street provided a large impact on my music and all outlets of my creative expression. The raw emotion and honesty of the street reveals itself without regret. Seeing other kids rapping, seeing what they feel, that’s what inspires me.”

Radio Active continues to expand his global musical journey and states, “I am looking forward to a continued pursuit of music experience, now grounded with an international perspective. I will stay active, learn and teach Hip Hop.”