Leave out the lewd

King Mongrel is a young Bashment Soca artiste who doesn’t mind keeping his lyrics clean. Christened Zuriel Hill, the social-media-comedian-turned-Bashment-Soca-artiste is known for his antics on stage, comical facial expressions and his deep resonating voice.

Thus far for the Crop Over season, he has released Corporal Punishment, Shake, Get Down Dibby and Looser The Goose.

Sitting down with Bajan Vibes, Mongrel shared that the lewd lyrics that bashment soca is infamously known for isn’t his cup of tea. “I don’t have a problem with people using vulgar language but you still have to respect women. The reason I don’t go that route is because of how I was raised. The house I was raised in, you couldn’t curse or nothing, so you had to make up words and still keep it clean.

“At the end of the day, when you look towards the international market, it has to be clean, so it doesn’t make sense being vulgar. Be clean one time and go straight through. Doing something vulgar is so easy to do. I feel the hardest work is to keep it clean,” he commented.

“My style is clean. I don’t do the raw thing… My character is crazy and I’m still clean with it. Why people like my character is because of my expressions and I make up words,” Mongrel continued.

The Graydon Sealy alumna caught the attention of Barbadians in 2011 when he started doing stunts and comedy skits for his social media pages. His engaging and bewildering character was intriguing and earned him a surge of followers including the likes of Deejay Indian who went on to help him with his music career.

Initially, he toyed with the idea of singing R&B but eventually, Mongrel went against his Pentecostal upbringing and decided to try the Bashment Soca genre. After being prompted by Supatronic, he debuted in 2016.

“I never saw myself doing bashment soca. I used to like singing R&B, but then I started chanting and I wanted to be a dancehall artiste and a rapper. Lil Rick’s music is really what gave me that drive to do it and Supa told me do Bashment Soca [because] we’re in Barbados, and soca [is what we do], so I tried it,” Mongrel revealed.

Cartoons, voice acting and music were his passions from childhood and he sought to make his dreams come through with music.

“I had nuff times that I would feel like giving up and then I think back about how many people follow me and look up to me. I think about them every time I want to give up and I [realize] I can’t give up,” he indicated.

Although he didn’t make it to the Yello International Bashment Soca Monarch Finals, the young entertainer is adamant that 2019 is his year to start some trouble and make his name known. “I really love music, it gives me a drive. That’s why I am so extra,” he said.