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Interview with London heats winner, Layth

Beatboxer,,Layth

Name: Scott 'Layth' Latham

Age: 20

What do you do other than beatboxing?

I'm a student at Sussex University in Brighton, doing geography.

When did you first get into beat boxing?

Me and my friends used to jam and make random sounds, and I heard a few people doing beatboxing before. I typed it into Google and found a few different sounds and HumanBeatBox came up, so I looked through a few tutorials and then I tried to do my own things with the sort of music I listen to, more uptempo than the hip hop stuff, but I tried to fit it in to what I like to listen to in my spare time.

Were you nervous on the night of the London heats?

I was definitely a lot more nervous than a lot of people because mainly I'm used to doing showcases than battles, where as battles are quicker. Because they're shorter, you feel rushed, there's more pressure, but I think the championships are the best place for beatboxers to get exposure.

Were you surprised by the audience support?

I was pretty surprised that I won because I thought the audience would be on their side, especially Reeps, but the crowd just seemed to like it. It was nice that they liked it as well, obviously, because generally the crowd expect you to do covers of the songs they know.

MC Zani said you'd improved a lot since last year do you have anything to say to the former champion?

I just think he's quite a a sick beatboxer and I was just very surprised that I beat him. I'm just pretty glad that he was feeling what i was doing.

In the final round of the London heats, did you realise at that point you might just win?

I always thought that Reeps was going to win, I dunno, I think he's one of the best, if not the best in terms of his originality and stage presence. Now I think there's definitely a chance of winning, but I'm still not under the impression I was going to win. The dream of winning the car would definitely make my summer.

How are you feeling about the finals in June?

I'm looking forward to it, I read a few people's criticisms, maybe using too many of those clicks with the nasal bass, but since then I've been working on new styles, and in my opinion I've improved and definitely looking forward to it.

UK Beatbox Championships - 20th June, Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Buy tickets | Layth Interview

Words and interview: Dave Barros

Vauxhall Beatbox Championships

There's going to be drum rolls, thumping bass and tonnes of noise - and that's for the lucky winner who drives off in a shiny new Vauxhall Corsa SXi at this weekend's UK Beatboxing Championships Final!

Shepherd's Bush Empire is expecting a 2000 strong audience of beatbox followers to see who will walk away with the grand prize work £12,700.

Qualifying heats have taken place around the country at London, Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle to find the country's best.

TooMuchFlavour was at the London heats in February to which saw last year's winner, MC Zani, get knocked out in the semi finals.

Fact: When MC Zani won, he gave the car to his mum!

With the defending champ watching from the sidelines he might have had to cancel planning permission for a garage extension, but there were no hard feelings in February towards his successors, wishing them well in their endeavours.

The winners and runners up from the regional heats competing in this weekend’s final are:

Layth, Reeps One, Equ, Boris, Minamus, Krystal Gob, Bigg Taj and THePETEBOX.

Related section:

Beatboxing