Ya Kid K

Ya Kid K (born Manuela Barbara Kamosi Moaso Djogi, 1973, Kinshasa) is a Congo-Belgian hip-hop artist. Her sister, Karoline 'Leki' Kamosi, is an R&B singer. Ya is a

Ya Kid K (born Manuela Barbara Kamosi Moaso Djogi, 1973, Kinshasa) is a Congo-Belgian hip-hop artist. Her sister, Karoline 'Leki' Kamosi, is an R&B singer. Ya is a Lingala word meaning "older sibling," so Ya Kid K simply means "the older Kamosi child." At the age of 11 she moved to Belgium, later moving to cities in the US such as Chicago--where she explored the emerging sounds of house and early hiphop--and Dallas. After moving back to Belgium from the US, she helped forming Fresh Beat Productions, which was a local Belgian label of fresh European hip hop. This led to her becoming part of the new-beat/Euro Dance group Technotronic, who debuted with a major worldwide hit in 1989, "Pump Up The Jam." Actually she wrote the lyrics and sang "Pump Up The Jam" though Technotronic had the blue-lipped fashion model Felly performing in the video clip. The second single "Get Up (before the night is over!)" was her first major public appearance with Technotronic. Besides, she lent her voice to Hi Tek 3, a dance project who managed to let "Spin That Wheel" find it´s way onto the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles motion picture soundtrack.

After the singles "Rockin´ Over The Beat" she suddenly disappeared in order to marry the rapper "MC Eric" who also performed a Technotronic hit: "This Beat Is Technotronic". While the producer hired new singers for the second album, Ya Kid K was to come back after medium success of her own album "One World Nation". This album contains many different musical and in particular vocal styles and underlines Ya Kid K´s high skills and power. However, the album was criticised for having too much political engagement.