King Yosef

King Yosef from Portland, OR

From humble beginnings in rural Oregon, King Yosef has risen from the ashes of a troubled past to make art that cuts to the bone. Running on sheer willpower, this creative force has been manifesting a body of work that expresses his own unique pain, in his own unique style, and building a career on his own terms. Operating in a zone where metal, hardcore, industrial, and hip-hop intersect, Yosef’s music is utterly personal yet aligns beautifully with the zeitgeist of 2024, a place where fans of Nine Inch Nails, Code Orange, and Ho99o9 can mosh together in unison.
As a young kid he thrashed around in metal bands, but King Yosef, born Tayves Yosef Pelletier, first earned attention as a producer, collaborating in 2016 with rappers such as XXXTentacion and Ski Mask the Slump God. These partnerships came about entirely through Pelletier’s own outreach – a theme which persists to this day.
Relocating from a small town to the city of Portland, Pelletier began releasing music as a solo artist under the King Yosef name in 2017, combining his early love for heavy music with his experiences in the hip-hop realm. A 2019 article in Revolver Magazine described the results with these words: "Though he's produced songs for Billboard Hot 100-charting rap artists like the late XXXTentacion and Ski Mask the Slump God, Yosef animates the lo-fi, blown-out brood-scuzz of SoundCloud rap with the vein-popping screams of hardcore and the mechanical noise of industrial."
In the following years, Yosef sharpened his sound over the course of two EPs (GUILTY, The Ever Growing Wound), several singles, and collabs with the likes of Youth Code, leading ultimately to the 2023 release of his greatest work to date: An Underlying Hum. Recorded and mixed by Converge's Kurt Ballou and Steve Evetts (Deadguy, Sepultura), An Underlying Hum is impactful from start to finish, combining metallic hardcore anthems, hip-hop swagger, storms of industrial noise, ominous melodies and ghostly interludes. More than a collection of great songs, An Underlying Hum is a deep dive into a broken psyche – a concept album born out of Yosef's experiences in therapy, digging deep into his childhood traumas on a quest for self-knowledge.
BrooklynVegan described An Underlying Hum as "pummeling industrial with hardcore
aggression,” while MetalSucks gave it this review: "Produced by Kurt Ballou, King Yosef combines industrial, heavy hardcore, nü metal and even bits of trap in a very natural way. Fans of Code Orange’s Underneath in particular should direct their attention to King Yosef – the producer’s new album lives in the same heavy, mechanical universe that blends organic and machine heaviness."
Yosef followed up the release of An Underlying Hum by touring the West Coast with Converge and Deaf Club. Wasting no time at all, he then returned to the studio to work once more with Ballou and Evetts on a handful of new tracks, to be released in early 2024.
Released January 12th, 2024, ”Cut the Cord" features Yosef’s wrathful vocals laid over primal grooves, bolstered by a background of eerie melody, distortion, and glitch. "In 'Cut the Cord' I am processing the death of a terrible person in my life and finding that I am left with no hate,” he stated. “All the hate I had for this person has been transformed into a tool that makes me stronger. Hate is a tool. My life is the revenge.”
While "Cut the Cord" is a caustic rager destined to incite more than a few spin kicks, its B-side, “Shame’s Mirror,” is a haunting, lumbering anthem that showcases Yosef's singing voice. These two sides of Yosef's personality both shined on An Underlying Hum and he has now delivered proof that he is continuing to push his music forward in both directions.

With "Cut the Cord" and "Shame's Mirror" unleashed upon the world, King Yosef immediately launches into a whirlwind of world touring that sees him bring his noise to three continents in three months: Australia (with Greg Puciato and Trace Amount), Japan (with Trace Amount), and the US (with HEALTH and Pixel Grip).
As a confidently open-minded creator, Yosef has carved out his own style, unrestrained by any boundaries of genre, and has used the platform to exorcise his own personal demons. With no label, manager, or booking agent, he has navigated the music industry as a truly independent artist and flourished. His journey thus far is inspiring and, still not yet 30 years old, there are no limits on this young talent’s next steps.
–Curran Reynolds