Beatboxing may drift in and out of fashion but for Killa Kela it's always been a way of life.

He grew up in a musical house as his father was a drummer and his mother was into motown and soul.

“It’s something I used to do all the time when I was really young, I’d do it all around the house. It never used to be called beatboxing back then," he says.

The skill went mainstream in the 1980s with Biz Markie and Doug E Fresh amongst those pioneering the craze.

Kela remembers how hearing Markie for the first time aged 13 influenced him.

“When I saw artists like Markie doing it I saw it as a sort of approval, that they know what you’re about”.

Recently there's been a revival, and earlier this year Justin Timberlake called on Kela's services.

Working with Timberlake and Pharrell Williams has been the highlight of his career. “He was just wicked, incredibly down to earth," he says of the pop superstar.

He's also toured with talent ranging from Busta Rhymes to the Super Furry Animals and was a member of various hip hop acts including The Scratch Perverts and Rock Steady Crew.

Kela has now masterminded “Spit Kingdom”, who tour up to four times a week.

It makes for a hectic schedule and he played more than 250 live shows in 2000.

“When touring I don’t think about the workload or how many shows I’m doing, but instead think about how to get better and better, working on new ideas all the time," he says.

Kela is now regarded as one of the two best beatboxers on the planet along with Rahzel, an American who can sing and beatbox in sync.

“I’m not asking to win the ‘crown’. Rahzel deserves respect for being a pioneer," says Kela.

"You’d be lying if you say he hasn’t influenced today’s beatboxing world. But for me it’s all about coming up with original material”.

Killa Kela will be performing live at Oxford’s Po Na Na on Thursday December 11.

“It’s going to be wicked”, he says. “Every time I do a new show it’s all about going there and doing the very best you can”.