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Photography © Koria

A Rap & A Cup Of Tea had the pleasure of meeting Wawad, one of the members of the famous Beatbox group called BERYWAM. Created in 2015 and composed by Beatness, Rythmind, Wawad and Beasty hence the name Be-Ry-Wa-M, Wawad agreed to tell us everything about his career and current projects.

Indeed, the faithful sidekick of the most famous French brothers BigFlo & Oli is above all a full-fledged artist, and it's thanks to Hip-Hop, he met the two rappers from Toulouse almost 10  years ago.

Wawad opened up about his debut in music and this new dream life without forgetting the things that are dear to him, such as his people. The young 28-year-old artist has agreed to answer our questions with honesty and humour. 

Many of your fans have met you through BigFlo & Oli. Can you tell me how you met them?

It was about ten years ago in a small village near Toulouse, where we all come from. A Rap contest was organised. I was there to do beatboxing and simply met them on this occasion. 

I saw that you are self-taught in beatboxing. It must be super tricky! 

Since I was a kid, I have always enjoyed trying to reproduce sounds I heard around me, whether a ringtone or an instrument. And it quickly became a passion. At first, I didn't know that this practice had a name, but it was called beatboxing. I thought I was the only one who did that (laughs). Then, one day, I saw people doing it on TV. I was 13 years old... Biggest slap I've taken in my life! Since then, I haven’t stopped doing it. 

I guess you haven't watched YouTube tutorials on "How do to Beatbox?" now.

I wished! (laughs) I learned alone, to be honest... I don't really know how to explain it, but when I started Beatbox, I was trying to learn techniques to make it easier to reproduce sounds. Over time, I have gotten to know my mouth, nose, and throat perfectly so that I can reproduce the sounds I want to make, just the same way I hear them. 

When you started in Hip-Hop, I know you gave yourself a year to succeed... 

Initially, I was only doing concerts in my town or locally. By word of mouth, my name finally started to circulate. I thought I should try the adventure and try to do something with that skill that I had: Beatboxing.

"I feel like I'm living a dream. 
I still can't believe it's happening."

What did you do during this Gap Year? 

I tried to develop my skills and went to an art school in Toulouse called DSH. It's a six-month training program that helps young people to develop a Hip-Hop project. It has helped me to find solutions to be able to live out my passion for beatboxing.

Tell me more about your band BERYWAM! How would you describe what you're doing? 

We're a group of Beatbox A Capella, which differentiates us from the other groups. We have integrated songs into our compositions. We do everything with our mouths without ever using any instruments. We are also very eclectic - we can play with every music genre, from reggae to electro. But the Hip-Hop vibe is always present. 

Can you tell me about the Beatbox championships? 

We pass with a free creation. It means that we have the choice to show them what we want. Then, we are evaluated on different criteria such as the originality of the reproduced sounds, the cleanliness of the sounds, the rhythm, the gestures and, of course, the performance on stage. 

From one thing to another, you went to the Italian TV for the show 'Tu Si Che Vales'? 

Just over a year ago [September 2017], we received an email from the show that said they wanted us to join the casting. At that time, we didn't really believe it, so we decided to research it on the Internet. We found out that this program was a real banger! It highlighted artists from all over the world. We thought that it was a good experience to have and that it would also promote BERYWAM in Italy, so we embarked on this journey quite naturally.

You're also on M6 [one of the leading channels of French television] in the show 'France's Got Talent'. Tell me more!

Once again, it was the show that contacted us. It has been three years since they asked us to get involved with them, and initially, we didn't feel ready for it. This year was the perfect timing because MB14 left the band and Beasty joined us. We saw the perfect opportunity to present our 'new' group to the public and thus be able to talk about our upcoming tour in support of our album, which is coming soon.

Tell me more about this album planned for 2019!

It's an album made up only of our compositions, no more covers and remixes as we used to do, but only new tracks! We've been working on this project for a long time...We're gonna launch it in 2019.

Wow! It looks like a massive project...

It's unprecedented to release a Beatbox album with only personal compositions. We aim to democratise our art and make our discipline known to a larger audience while maintaining authenticity. We'd like people to listen to our music without suspecting it's Beatbox. It would be a victory for us.

You still seem to be always on the move... Often with  BigFlo & Oli, whether on stage or in their video, you also have your own band to manage... Is there a time when you want to slow down and say, "I need a break"?

Honestly? No, never. (laughs) My whole life has revolved around beatboxing. I'm really passionate, and since I started, I have felt like I have lived a dream. It's, above all, a human adventure that we live with friends, too. With BERYWAM, our biggest strength is definitely the fact that we're good support for each other whenever one of us is feeling low.  That makes all the difference.

"When we started with BigFlo & Oli,

 we did it out of passion but also to have fun.

It hasn't really changed."