Mrisi Makondo Wills (AKA Shrapnel) was born in Brighton, U.K. Being the child of a musician and a poet he was always around the arts. Being taken to workshops as an assistant by both his mother and father he was exposed to some of the best techniques in percussion and poetry at a very young age which helped to shape him as an artist.

Mrisi began learning the piano at the age of 8 and immediately was drawn to artists such as Alicia Keys and John Legend for their take on playing piano and mixing it with modern hip hop and rnb music. At that age he was listening to artists such as Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Xzibit. While wanting to be a rapper he also wanted to play his piano but didn’t know how he would integrate the two musical avenues until he got much older.

Mrisi’s first performance was at a summer camp called the tribe of Doris. During his time there he also recorded his first song ‘We All Come Together’ which started his love for performing and recording his raps.

Back in Brighton, Mrisi joined youth music group Audio Active where he met other youths like him that were into rapping, djing and production. Along with 8 other members of the group they formed their own group called ‘Tiger Troops’ which included Mad Hatter (BarCode) and Harley (Rizzle Kicks). Tiger Troops performed in a number of venues around Brighton & Hove making a name for themselves as some of Brighton’s youngest talent. They also made songs that featured Buhdda Monk (Brooklyn Zoo, Wu Afilliate).

After Tiger Troops split up Mrisi carried on with his music and formed the duo rap group ‘BarCode’ with school friend Mad Hatter. He also formed the group ‘Amandla’ with bassist Tom Peterson (Bakk Lamp Fall, Early Bird). Both BarCode and Amandla played in venues around Brighton & Hove and also London and got good responses whereever they went. Mrisi Later joined another band with Tom Peterson called ‘The Bush Technologists’ featuring Risenga Makondo (Amampondo) and Saidi Kanda (Super Matimila) that played shows all over the west country and in Johannesburg Theatre (South Africa).

Mrisi was on ITV news for a project he did with rappers J Ali and Biggz (Big Lew) called ‘What Is Race?’ which was an anti racism campaign that he produced the backing track for and rapped on. During the project they met rapper Kano who showed support for the campaign by appearing on the news broadcast and giving them advice on how to promote it.

Mrisi still plays with Mad Hatter under the group name BarCode and also plays solo with his keyboard. Over the years Mrisi has shared the stage with the likes of Rodney P (London Posse), Emmanual Jal, Omar, Prince Fatty, Hollie Cook, Dr Syntax, Lowkey, Rizzle Kicks and many other established artists. He is also an actor, has appeared in performances with Glyndebourne Opera, is a member of the National Youth Theatre and has been running rap workshops since the age of 14.

Shrapnel/Mrisi