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YoungKio
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
YoungKio is the artist name of Kiowa Roukema, a Dutch producer and songwriter, born in 1999 and of Surinamese descent. He began making beats in 2016 in the program FL Studio, which a friend had given him as a present. His role models were producers such as Wheezy and TM88. He put his type beats on YouTube and leased them online for thirty dollars each. With the money he bought a one-year membership on the BeatStars platform.
Music and breakthrough
In 2018 the American rapper Lil Nas X leased one of his beats for the song Old Town Road. The beat used a sample of Ghost IV, track 34, a composition by Nine Inch Nails from 2008. The song was released on 3 December 2018 and became a hit via the app TikTok. In 2019 it grew into one of the best-known records of the year, partly thanks to the remixes with, among others, Billy Ray Cyrus. For his work on it YoungKio received Grammy nominations.
Influence
He then signed with Victor Victor Worldwide, Universal Music Publishing Group and CashMoneyAP's production collective Cash Gang. He made beats for artists such as Lil Pump, Rico Nasty, Octavian and Skepta and Megan Thee Stallion. YoungKio stands for a new way of making records: a teenager behind his laptop who leases a beat online and can thereby produce a worldwide hit. In this way he belongs to the School of Rock story about music from cassette to cloud.
Listening
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 13: From Cassette to CloudNL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- FL Studio (FruityLoops) Technology
Soulja Boy made Crank That with that trial version, the Dutchman Martin Garrix worked on Animals in it, and YoungKio built the beat of Old Town Road with it, which he sold online for a few tenners.