A talented Buckskin hip-hop artist got an early Christmas present after scooping first place in a music competition.
Andre Schuster won over the judges to be crowned King of The Mic on Thursday, November 9 at South Hill Park in Bracknell.
Hosted by production and promotion company Raw Linx, the competition aimed to find the best rapper from across Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey.
An IT salesman by day, Andre performs under the stage name McX.
To get to the final he had to beat hundreds of would-be-stars who submitted their entries online, which organisers whittled down to a final 12.
He said: “I don't usually get nervous but I was performing music I am not used to so it was difficult. But I felt more confident going on stage and I felt I did well so I was pretty happy.”
The finalists had to complete three rounds, iincluding performing freestyle backed by a live band.
The artists were not told what track to expect. Andre said: “I had to go up and sing along to whatever the band played. I only knew what tune it was when they started playing.
“After the first couple of bars I knew it was Umbrella by Rhianna, so from then on I just sang as I went along.”
In round two, he performed his own original composition, a track called Dreams.
For the final round the judges whittled the finalists down to six. Two contestants took to the stage for a freestyle rap battle, where lyrics were made up off-the-cuff.
He said: “When going head-to-head using freestyle lyrics you have to really think on your feet. When put on the spot your aim is to just rip the other person to get a laugh out of the crowd at their expense.”
The overall winner was decided by an audience vote.
Andre was awarded £100, a chance to shoot a music video and produce a song with Raw Linx for release on iTunes.
He said: “I am very excited for the future, it is a massive step in the right direction. I need to get a video out.
“Winning these competitions really does help and hopefully it should help keep things going. It's a great end to the year.”
The youngster did admit that despite his success he is unsure about trying his luck on the X-Factor.
He said: “I am not really a singer, and it is not really the competition for me, but then again those gimmicky acts can do quite well.”
