Rocco Kayiatos, known professionally as Katastrophe and in some later releases as Rocco Katastrophe, is an American rapper. Based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, he began competing in

poetry slams A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery. ...

in 1997. After winning the 1998 Youth Speaks poetry slam, he went on tour with

Sister Spit Sister Spit was a lesbian-feminist spoken-word and performance art collective based in San Francisco, signed to Mr. Lady Records. They formed in 1994 and disbanded in 2006. Founding members included Michelle Tea and Sini Anderson, Other members i ...

's Rambling Road Show tour. As a teenager, Kayiatos had poems on four compilation CDs. He is widely credited as the first openly

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

singer in the hip-hop genre and he often incorporates his identity as a

trans man A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that incl ...

into his work.

Music career

In 2001, he recorded with Mark Schaffer the title song, Candyass, to the feature film ''Sugar High Glitter City'', directed by Shar Rednour (who broached the project to Katastrophe on a Sister Spit tour) and Jackie Strano; the soundtrack was nominated for an

AVN Award The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and m ...

but lost to

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

. Katastrophe and Schaffer then formed hip-hop group The End of the World along with Ricky Lee; Schaffer subsequently began performing solo as Schaffer the Darklord. Katastrophe started making beats in 2002. He raps about lives lived outside the mainstreams of education, gender, and culture. He uses his struggle as a trans man and his contested place in contemporary

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

and

hip hop culture Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans, Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans in the Bronx, New York City. Hip hop culture is characterized by four key elements: rapping, DJing and turntablis ...

to discuss larger issues of community, space, privilege, sex, and

self-worth Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth or abilities. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) d ...

. He was named Producer of the Year by Outmusic Awards for his debut album ''Let's Fuck, Then Talk About My Problems'' on the Sugartruck Recordings label, released in 2004. In 2005, Kayiatos toured nationally with the Tranny Roadshow, a first of its kind, all transgender, touring variety show. Kayiatos released a second album entitled ''Fault, Lies and Faultlines'' on the Cherchez La Femme label in 2005, and a third full-length release, ''The Worst Amazing'', was released in October 2009 on 307 Knox Records. In 2008 he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in a

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

show, ''HomeMade SuperHero''. He also performs with Jenna Riot as the music act Ice Cream Socialites. He is featured in the documentary films ''Poetic License'', ''

Pick Up the Mic ''Pick Up the Mic'' is a documentary film, released in 2006, which profiles the underground homo hop scene, which is a subgenre of hip hop that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender artists. The film was directed by Alex Hinton. The do ...

'', ''Enough Man'', and ''Riot Acts''. He was described as one of the most accomplished rappers in the

homo hop LGBT representations in hip hop music have existed since the birth of the genre despite blatant discrimination. Hip hop has long been portrayed as one of the least LGBT-friendly genres of music, with a significant body of the genre containing ...

documentary ''Pick Up the Mic''. His video for the song "The Life" was on

MTV networks Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...

LOGO A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

top ten Click List for 12 weeks. His music has been featured on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

's soundtracks for the contemporary series ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene Ch ...

'', as well as several

short films A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

. Kayiatos is the subject of a forthcoming

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

entitled ''The State of Katastrophe''. He has toured in the U.S. and Europe.

Publishing career

In October 2009, he and

Amos Mac Amos Mac (born 1981) is an American writer, photographer and a publisher from Augusta, Georgia. Mac is based in Los Angeles as a writer for television and film . Early life He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ''Original Plumbing'' As a ...

founded '' Original Plumbing'', the first magazine by and for trans men.

Post-musical Career

Kayiatos has held leadership positions at

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

and

Grindr Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application targeted towards members of the gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community. It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009 an ...

, is currently

Chief Content Officer A chief content officer (CCO) is a corporate executive responsible for the digital media creation and multi-channel publication of the organization's content (text, video, audio, animation, etc.). The CCO is usually an executive role or senior v ...

at FOLX Health, and co-creator and director of Camp Lost Boys, a sleep away

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

"exclusively for adult men of trans experience."

Discography

Albums

*2004: ''Let's Fuck, Then Talk About My Problems'' (Sugartruck Recordings) *2005: ''Fault, Lies and Faultlines'' (Cherchez La Femme label) *2009: ''The Worst Amazing'' (307 Knox Records) *2012: ''Second Hand Emotion'' (307 Knox Records)

Videography

*2007: "The Life" (Katastrophe feat. Shaggy Manatee & Ruby Valentine) *2012: "Sour Milk" (Tommy B, Brookside & Katastrophe) *2012: "Eat Everything" (Rocco Katastrophe feat.

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

, De=MC² and Athens Boys Choir) *2012: ''Second Hand Emotion'' including "Wake Me If I'm Dreaming" / "Let Me Go" (Rocco Katastrophe)

References

External links

Logo Online: Music Artist: KatastropheDiamond, Morty, ''From the inside out: radical gender transformation, FTM and beyond'', "For Guys Like Me ... Rocco Rinaldi Kayiatos", p. 72, Manic D Press (2004)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katastrophe Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area LGBT rappers American LGBT musicians American spoken word artists Transgender men Transgender artists Transgender male musicians Transgender singers Living people LGBT people from California 21st-century American rappers 1979 births