UTFO’s Kangol Kid Passes Away

“She was walking down the street so I said, ‘Hello, I’m Kangol from UTFO’ and she said, ‘So?’ And I said, ‘So, baby don’t you know? I can sing, rap, dance in just one show…’”

Kangol Kid was an emcee, producer, songwriter, and fly B-Boy from Brooklyn, New York. He is most known as a member of the Hip Hop group UTFO [Untouchable Force Organization].

In 1984, UTFO released the single “Roxanne Roxanne,” and became one of the most popular rap and breakdance acts in the country. In 1988, UTFO was voted best rap group at the Urban Music Awards, with performances on Soul Train and The Phil Donahue Show. They were the first rap group to perform at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, opening for Hall & Oates.

With Kangol Headwear, Kangol Kid became the first Hip Hop artist to receive a corporate endorsement.

In 1987, UTFO released the album Lethal, with the rock group Anthrax featuring on the title song. In 1985, Kangol composed the song “Private Property” on the album Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force. Also that year, Kangol managed and produced the rap group, Whistle, as their single “(Nothin’ Serious) Just Buggin’” became an international hit.

After 1989, Kangol landed more production projects with LAM ‘n R.E.C., Gerardo, 7669 and Cheryl “Pepsii” Riley. Kangol has additionally recorded voiceovers for MTV commercials, animations, HOT97 jingles and wrote a column “Yo Kangol” in Black Beat Magazine to answer music-related questions for aspiring artists.

Most recently, Kangol has co-founded Mama Luke, an organization in memory of Gay Frances Lucas that fights against breast cancer. Mama Luke utilizes the Hip Hop culture to bring awareness to urban America and uplift spirits of breast cancer fighters.

Shaun Shiller Fequiere, known by his stage name, Kangol Kid, or, alternatively, The Kangol Kid, acquired his nickname from neighborhood friends during the early ‘80’s, because of the many Kangol hats he owns and wears.

Kangol was originally a breakdancer, along with his dance partner, Doctor Ice.

In 1989, Fequiere left UTFO and began production of a re-make of Heatwave’s “Always & Forever” for Whistle which also became a Top 10 seller. Fequiere also produced baseball player Darryl Strawberry’s (then, of the New York Mets) rap record “Chocolate Strawberry,” and later wrote the theme song for professional basketball player Scottie Pippen’s (of then Chicago Bulls) Sega CD-ROM ‘Slam City.’

In 2004, Fequiere scored the music for an independent film entitled ‘Nightmare,’ which later won an award for Best Movie Score.

As of late, Fequiere had been balancing his time between Producer, Composer, Performer, Artist Manager, Songwriter, President of his music production company, Kangol’s Kreations, Inc., and CEO of his Public Relations firm, Kreative Media Group.

Fequiere’s lecturing at High Schools and Colleges nationwide on today’s business of music had led this Brooklynite to receiving a proclamation from the City of New York for being among the first Haitians in Hip Hop Music.

The Kangol sound can be heard on female R&B groups such as 3LW, Tres Jolie and Blaque, as well as Latin pop group C-Note, who recorded a remake of Whistle’s “Right Next To Me.”

Fequiere’s “Yo Kangol” column can be found monthly on the Allhiphop.com site, while up and coming projects were said to include his first solo R&B recordings, scoring the independent film ‘The Other Side of Hip-Hop,’ which will include new songs written and produced by Kangol, and will also feature his son’s R&B group, Project: Plan B.

After a valiant battle with colon cancer, Shaun “Kangol Kid” Fequiere finally succumbed to his illness on Saturday December 18th 2021 at the age of 55.

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