Soul/R&B singer Akeilah “KillaBee” Baptiste wants to show people that Trinidadians don’t only produce soca and calypso music, but can excel in other genres.
She said she came into music in a haphazard way in that most people would have studied music and have a proper background and training in music.
“I loved music, I listened to a lot of music and I used to write poetry and music as a hobby, as my own little thing I enjoyed doing, and I would share it with my friend group but it wasn’t something I did on a big scale, but it wasn’t something I viewed as a career choice.
“My iPhone had Garage Band and it allowed me to mix songs, so I started to record songs, and I made full songs for fun. I would share them with my friends and they used to tell me I should do it for real.”
[caption id="attachment_1067395" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Akilah "KillaBee" Baptiste says covid19 pandemic gave her the impetus to try to live her dream. - Stefan Couri[/caption]
While doing a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at UWI St Augustine, Baptiste attempted to do a minor in something artistic/theatrical, but this fell through. She was able to join the UWI African Society as an outlet for her creativity.
“I got a lot of experience dancing and performing. It wasn’t by myself as an artiste, but it put me in a space to meet people and work with people who actually see creativity as a serious thing.”
She said she was planning to do something with music after she graduated, but as with many people, the covid19 pandemic gave her the impetus to try to live her dream.
“Covid hit and I was like, what if I die? What would I have done for myself? So I decided to put a song out there. I uploaded it to my Instagram stories for whoever would listen and people were asking when they would get another one. I was really surprised.
“Then I did a better mix of a song called Eclipse and uploaded it on YouTube and SoundCloud only, but I pushed it as Akilah KillaBee is releasing a song. A lot of people liked it and I got plays on online radio shows, so it seemed like people are enjoying it.”
She then officially released her first song, Gyal Apology, on streaming services in 2020, on her birthday, August 12.
“It was pretty popular, and to date is my most popular song. It played on our local radio stations and people reached out about it, I did interviews, and it played on international radio as well. I got a lot of positive feedback and I was like, I guess I’m a hit now.”
Baptiste said she thought she had always been preparing to be an artist subconsciously as she had been in a band with her cousins as a child while growing up in Lower Santa Cruz, before her family moved to Arima.
[caption id="attachment_1067394" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Akilah "KillaBee" Baptiste wants to begin doing live shows where she is the headliner. - Stefan Couri[/caption]
She grew up listening to Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Barry White and Aretha Franklin, as her parents listened to them constantly, and her sister also use
