Kid Confucius

Kid Confucius is a nine-piece soul and hip-hop band based in Sydney, Australia. Carved out of the inner city landscape and representing the diverse ethnicities of the city (from Italian to Anglo to Jewish Israeli and Coptic Egyptian), the band emerged in 2001 and has since clocked over 200 live performances around Australia. From the beginning, the Kid Confucius message has been a positive musical statement about individuality and togetherness: about finding beauty in the everyday struggle of urban life.

From the street hymns of past and present heroes of soul and funk (Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye James Brown and Stevie Wonder), to the new school soul and hip-hop kings of New York and Philadelphia (The Roots, Common, Mos Def and De La Soul) the band stitches together these musical roots to form a whole new wall of sound.

The band’s self-titled debut album produced by Buchman (a.k.a. Tony Buchen) marks the band’s transition from stage to studio artists and fully explores these musical roots and ambitions. Fusing hip-hop production techniques with live playing, the record is full of loud rim shots, deep bass, big horns and vintage keyboards. Andrew Guirguis’ MCing and Rob Hezkial’s powerful sung vocals provide the perfect counterpoint to one another, representing the meeting of old and new school traditions on the record. The unique fusing of soul, funk, hip-hop and R&B sounds on the album has attracted great critical acclaim in and outside of Australia.

Over the last three years, Kid Confucius has built a loyal and ever-expanding grass roots fan base in Australia, which started in hometown Sydney and, thanks to the band’s national album tour as well as the success of their first single "Words" on radio and TV, is now spreading in other cities around the country. Amidst sell-out shows and flawless live reviews, the band has also shared bills with some of Australia’s top hip-hop acts and are now themselves considered the only soul and hip-hop band of its kind in the country.

The key to Kid Confucius’ success on the live front is the energy and inclusiveness of their performances. The imposing spectacle of 9 Sydney kids from such a wide background making soulful and irresistible booty shaking music together is a positive statement in itself and is one that has become more broadly appreciated now that Kid Confucius has released its critically acclaimed debut album on brand new label Brighton Boulevard Records (through Inertia).