Killa

Laudat, year 2000: three friends, three K

Kendel "Killa" Laurent is a keyboardist and producer from Dominica. The story does not start in Roseau but in Laudat, an inland village, where three friends hold the first Triple Kay International rehearsals in 2000: Kenan Cadette, Kurt Rolle and himself. The band's name comes from their three initials, three K.

Killa brings the keys and the production. He is the one who programs, arranges, and picks the palette of the young band. That function will not move for twenty-six years.

Nine albums in thirteen years, and the shift into full Bouyon

The first album, "Big Ting", comes out that same year 2000. Then follow "Fanatik" in 2003, "Sewo" in 2004, "All Out" in 2006, "Pressure" in 2007, "Colours" in 2008, "Allo" in 2009, "Hush Your Mouth" in 2011 and "Bubblin" in 2012. Nine studio albums in thirteen years, before the band moves to a yearly singles cycle.

In 2005, Wayne "Benji" Benjamin settles in as frontline vocalist, and the repertoire shifts: the band leaves behind the cadence-lypso, compas and zouk of its early days for full Bouyon. It is Killa's keyboard signature that shapes what fans now call modern Bouyon. The single "Sewo" takes Song of the Year 2005.

Road March, Golden Drum, and a co-founder still on the keys

The podiums follow: Dominica Road March with "Lock De Gate" in 2015, then "Roll Dat Boom Boom" in 2017. In 2019, "Heat" wins the world's very first People's Bouyon Road March. In 2022 he receives the Commonwealth of Dominica Meritorious Service Award and the Golden Drum Award.

On 22 January 2025, Cranberry TV launches "The Rhythms of Triple Kay. 25 Years of Bouyon Beats", a six-episode docuseries on the journey of the band and its founders.

On the official 2026 line-up, Killa is still lead keys and producer, the band's site states he produces all their music, alongside Jeoffrey "JJ Yout" Joseph on back keys, Jason "Froggy" Joseph on drums, Ordel "Zoubs" Hamilton on guitars, James "J-West" Rodney on road management and Daniel "Brush Head" Phillip on bass and engineering. For the 2026 season he co-writes and produces the single "Caution" and stays on production for the "Bandmas" carnival medley. In an interview (Love Bouyon Talks), Killa nuances that credit, though: a large share of Triple Kay's rhythms comes from a rhythm-maker whose parts he buys, reworks and signs with his own "sauce" before approving them.

He also reveres Cornell "Fingers" Phillip, WCK's sonic architect, whose playing he says he studied for years. "one of the best ever to do it". And it is he who, in an interview, throws a public call-out: "Family", the track by Bunji Garlin, Machel Montano and Skinny Fabulous, is 100% a bouyon, produced by Dominican Dad Lawrence, whose lack of credit he deplores. "Only after I said that did people start watching Dominica."

Twenty-six years after Laudat, he is one of the very few co-founders still active on stage and in the studio across the whole modern history of Bouyon.