Check out our Madame Talk podcast with French producer/musician and DJ Kelyboy !
Kelyboy, Eléna in real life, grew up in Rennes, Brittany, with a mother who worked as dance teacher, and was immersed in music at an early age.
As a kid, her bedroom’s walls were covered with images of graffiti and extreme sport magazines. She became infatuated with flashy visuals, neon colors and “tuning” aesthetics. She also listened to the radio a lot, especially Radio FG and Fun Radio, which shaped her interest for electronic melodic and danceable sonorities.
At the age of 10, she discovered breakdancing and threw herself into it to the point where she could imagine making a living from it. During battles, she mixed with different actors of the hip hop culture, rappers, DJs, graffiti artists, and made her way on the Breton scene.
One day, she was offered the album “The Eminem Show” album and a Robert & Collins dictionary. She began to spend her days translating the American rapper’s lyrics and write texts she posted on skyblogs.
At the same time, and after playing in several music bands, she decided to launch her own solo project. She bought turntables with her first pay and started mixing in bars.
Now Paris-based, Kelyboy is still a multi-talented artist: she produces, mixes, writes, sings, raps, plays several instruments and performs at concerts and DJ sets. She told us about her numerous projects, including an album as a producer, her queer and “soft power” feminism and the difficulties women face to exist in rap and beatmaking.
