Katastrophe (rapper)

Katastrophe
Katastrophe at Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, 2011
Katastrophe at Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, 2011
Background information
Born (1979-10-02) October 2, 1979 (age 45)
GenresHip hop
Occupation(s)Rapper, record producer
Years active1997–2014
LabelsKnox
Cherchez La Femme
Sugartruck
Websiteroccokayiatos.com

Rocco Kayiatos, known professionally as Katastrophe and in some later releases as Rocco Katastrophe, is an American rapper.[1][2][3][4]

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he began competing in poetry slams in 1997. After winning the 1998 Youth Speaks poetry slam, he went on tour with Sister Spit's Rambling Road Show tour.[5] As a teenager, Kayiatos had poems on four compilation CDs.

He is widely credited as the first openly transgender singer in the hip-hop genre and he often incorporates his identity as a trans man into his work.

  1. ^ Marech, Rona, "Heavy-handed but tender-hearted, transgender hip-hopper Katastrophe is a rebel with a cause", San Francisco Chronicle, February 25, 2005, accessed November 6, 2009
  2. ^ Ganahi, Jane, "Michelle Tea mines her colorful past for a graphic memoir. And we mean graphic", San Francisco Chronicle, August 25, 2004, accessed November 6, 2009
  3. ^ Marech, Rona, "Throw out your pronouns -- 'he' and 'she' are meaningless terms in the Bay Area's flourishing transgender performance scene", San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 2003, accessed November 7, 2009
  4. ^ Schwartz, Abby, "Queer on the mic Is rap music the final frontier for GLBT artists?", Gay and Lesbian Times, Issue 881, November 11, 2004, accessed November 9, 2009
  5. ^ Anderson-Minshall, Jacob (December 22, 2005), "Man Enough to Take on Rap", San Francisco Bay Times, retrieved November 11, 2009