CCK

The Candy Coated Killahz will be performing on Friday April 11th (closing night!) of [FAT]!

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself…

The short and sweet answer to the question “What do you do” is “I’m a music producer”. Give me any music-related job to do, and I’ll get it done. Writing songs, tracking instruments, singing, recording, mixing, producing beats… you get the point. Morning to night, that’s my life in a nutshell. Mainly, I’m the producer and Frontgirl for the Urban Electro-pop duo Candy Coated Killahz, but I also teach beat production to teens and run a studio up in North York at a centre called Urban Arts Toronto....

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW AT:
http://www.shedoesthecity.com/special/fat/music1.html - Shedoesthecity.com

Posted on France's top blog!
Read here: http://kidzbycolette.free.fr/?p=644 - Kidz By Collette (France's Top Electro Blog)

We got all kinds of hyped about the Toronto-based dance-hop duo Candy Coated Killahz when we stumbled upon them earlier this year. Lead "ladygirl", Tosha Dash, got in touch and promised to keep us up-to-date on their upcoming album. She sent over the first cut from it today. There might have been a time when I thought bringing back the 80s was a bad thing, but I was wrong. I'm digging the Tainted Love vibe going on in the background.

The album is to be called It Factor, and the official release will be some time in mid-May.

Read the full post here: http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-song-candy-coated-killahz-playboy.html - MOKB - Sirius Sattelite Radio USA Blog

http://blog.trace212.com/archives/709

I was ready to disregard the sounds of Toronto’s young hip-hop duo Candy Coated Killahz, with song titles like “Booty Bounce” and “It Factor,” but their blended electro-pop dance beats, fresh attitude, and hip-hop bounce made me change my mind. Female producer/MC Tosha Dash, and her rhyming partner-in-crime Icon the Anomali, make up the duo’s flavorful sound and dance club energy. Both youngsters seem to ooze an uncanny combination of stylized innocence, and maturity beyond their years. I recommend listening to their “Rich Kids” song, chock full of catchy lyrics, and layered textures that make you want to bust a move.

The two released a 6-song sampler called Bloodsugar: The Mixtape this past August, and will release their debut full-length, It Factor this coming March. My booty is a bouncin’, and I predict many more will join in the beat come this Spring. Check out these youthful urban mavens, and all their neon on their MySpace page.
- By Kyra Shapurji

..."The male/fem team rapped on such universal topics as sex, drugs and money. In the process, they worked the audience into a sweaty, pulsating and possibly drug-fuelled throng. This was no mean feat — NXNE audiences are notoriously stiff. Getting real dancing on a large scale is an impressive accomplishment. The band's secret was charismatic audience interaction and a crowd-pleasing sample of "I Like To Move It."
- Evan Dickson - ChartAttack

View article at:
http://eyesforindie.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/candy-coated-killahz/

I’ve got a soft spot for pop hits with nonsense lyrics… pretty much the entire body of work by the Black Eyed Peas for example. Sometimes I feel like I’ve got no place listening to that type of music since I’m not a teenage girl or anything but deep down… aren’t we all just a couple of teenage girls? I mean metaphorically… umm… anyway.

That’s how I feel about the Candy Coated Killahz… infectous hip-hop / electro pop with some serious club dance tracks.

The band is comprised of Tosha and Icon, two canadians with four feet deep in the underground party scene. Their tracks are intense and original, bringing a new flavor to every dj’s already crowded vinyl crate. I dare you to play them at your next party and see if you don’t wind up covered in pink and red lipstick…

The Candy Coated Killahz released their first 6-song mixtape entitled, ‘Blood Sugar: The Mixtape” last year and will be releasing the full length album “IT FACTOR” in the spring.

It’s pretty much impossible for me to believe this group isn’t signed yet… Does your label hate making cash or something? Seriously, just look at her… She’s like the physical embodiment of euros, hit singles, and magazine covers rolled into one!

I see nothing but good things for this project… go take a listen! - Eyes For Indie

http://www.happygrrls.com/features/toshadash.html - Happygrrls.com

It's hard to pinpoint what exactly makes an artist unique. It could be their style, their attitude or a combination of both. What's certain is that they have some kind of "it factor" that translates to people that their artistry is unlike any other.

Tasha Schumann and Michael Ayodeji Akinlabi, the duo behind electro group Candy Coated Killahz, debate over what the "it factor" really represents.

"Artistry is not a hobby, you live it," Akinlabi says. "It's a part of who you are and having the 'it factor' is being able to express yourself freely."

"I think it's really [about] having something that is intangible, [where] not only were the tracks cool, but the people were charismatic enough to have made an impression," Schumann adds. "You're left with something that you can't quite explain. It's that wanting more."

Toronto-based CCK will release their It Factor debut album on May 8 during a hometown performance at Wrongbar. Although the city is brimming with more than enough supposed beat-makers, CCK can confidently stand their ground in a sea of synth-dance music artists. Schumann is a classically trained pianist who produces the group's tracks under the stage name Tosha Dash. Artist-of-sorts Akinlabi writes the lyrics under the pseudonym Icon The Anomali. Together, they're a colourful duo who make colourful music.

It Factor is an 11-track fusion of hip-hop elements, electro beats and dance music influences. Lead single "Playboy" is akin to Nelly Furtado's "Maneater," but somehow avoids sounding like a blatant rip-off.

"I think we've done a pretty good job at developing our own unique sound," Schumann says. "Our influences are diverse enough so that when they come together, it's not really what anyone's doing right now.

"Both of us really love and enjoy pop music and our goal's always been to make pop music so that people who like the big names like Black Eyed Peas, Fergie, Gwen Stefani and M.I.A. can like our music while being given something just a little bit different."

What's different about CCK's music is that they don't try too hard. They're essentially making music without sounding pretentious or pushing the uber-hipster lifestyle. Songs such as "Kiss 'N' Tell," "Chocolat" and "Technicolor Discotheque" are just simple, grimy tracks meant for fun-loving nights out at the club. There's none of the macho bravado or ridiculous bragging often found in mainstream rap. CCK quip about everyday events and make random pop culture references about films and boy bands in their songs.

"Our lives aren't interesting enough," Schumann jokes. "We're both imaginative people, so things don't actually have to happen to us. Our songs are about exploring ideas in your head."

"We don't have to experience things to write about them," Akinlabi adds. "We just write stuff that people can relate to — very general, universal themes."

When Akinlabi isn't seductively rapping to Schumann's gritty mixes, he bides his time as a screenwriter and visual artist. Conversely, Schumann directs Beats. Mind. Movement, a government-and-donor funded program at the UrbanArts Toronto community centre, teaching music production to at-risk youth. Stretching themselves beyond the studio adds to their vibrant musical flavour.

"We're artists in the most general sense of the term," Akinlabi says. "We dabble in so many things that we can express ourselves in so many ways."

Whether it's mixing beats, writing lyrics or dabbling in community art, CCK are working it. They're versatile, creative and are pushing themselves to be just outside the mainstream pop box and to slowly define the ever-elusive it factor.

"We're students in a lot of ways, in that we're always comparing our stuff and always listening to other music that's out there," Schumann says. "It's important for independent artists to have a clear sense of who they are and to develop their own sound and image."

—Antoinette Mercurio - ChartAttack

Candy Coated Killahz have the It Factor
By Emer Schlosser
View article at: http://www.insideeonline.com/index.cfm?ci_id=3792&laId=1

Once upon a time, two solo artists found themselves working at a restaurant in Toronto together. After listening to each other’s tracks, they got together to see what would transpire and, voila, the Candy Coated Killahz were born.

Tosha Dash and Icon the Anomali create what they describe as “core, electro-pop with a strong hip hop slant. It's music made for the dance floor, for car stereos, for house parties. But beyond that, it's really music for fun-loving people that don't take themselves or pop culture too seriously – and there are some songs where the theme is exactly that. But a lot of our other lyrics, even a big part of our image, is tongue-in-cheek, but very subtle.”

This sense of humour is something the CCKs share with their production and instrumentation influences, which include both 90's dance anthems (like 2Unlimited, Outhere Brothers, Captain Hollywood) and hip hop groups like Outkast, “who push stylistic boundaries unapologetically.” However, when it comes to their vocals, they say the comparisons end: “We strive for a fresh, quirky and personal sound. For the most part, we just let our own personalities do the talking without drawing too much on any concrete influences.”

The Candy Coated Killahz released their debut album, It Factor, earlier this month. “[It’s] a non-stop, all-night electro party. If you leave the dance floor for a bathroom break, you're missing the fun,” CCK told Inside E about their album. It includes such groovy tracks as “Booty Bounce” and, my favourite, the title track, “It Factor.”

CCK are playing TONIGHT (May 13) at Mod Club in Toronto with Zaki Ibrahim. And, if you’re in the Toronto area for NXNE, you can catch CCK at Supermarket on June 13. It’ll be worth it, because, as CCK say, “At the end of the day, we make urban dance music without the pretentious prescriptions for cool. If you've got $5 for cover, and you're ready to sweat, let's party!"

FUN FACT: Icon’s favourite candy-coated treat is Skittles, while Tosha’s is caramel corn.

Find out more at candycoatedkillahz.com

- Inside Entertainment

By Dominic McDonald

If music could kill . . . then this electro hop duo is Def. The northern neighbors to the U.S, by way of Toronto bust out with an odd yet catchy formula of rhymes and party chorus. Producer and lyricist Tosha Dash spits flirtatious flows co-signed by the debonaire bravado of Icon (the Anomail). Their recent LP It Factor is set to put them in club rotations for an annual quarter or two. The mouth watering Tosha Dash and sir Icon have enough disco-esque hip hop reminiscent of Le Tigre and Salt-n-Peppa, but with a dude. Check out a hot song from It Factor titled "Another Way". Just don't consume too much - you might catch diabetes.
- Urb Magazine