LAKE COUNTY — K-Town, a hip-hop group comprised of three recent Kelseyville High School graduates, has accepted an offer to audition for “America”s Got Talent” in December.
“We”re looking forward to it a lot. It”s going to be a real life experience,” member Cody Morlan said.
Brothers Taj and Jay Dedrick formed the group with their friend Morlan nearly four years ago.
After spending the first year practicing, K-Town got the chance to perform at a birthday party “and have been performing ever since then,” Taj said.
The group”s recent accomplishments include entertaining audiences at several local venues, releasing an album, “Relentless,” in July 2010 and winning awards at the Rising Stars competition in Ukiah in 2010 and 2011.
The biggest show to date for Taj, 20, Jay, 18, and Morlan, 20, was opening for The Lost Boys at Lakeport”s Soper-Reese Community Theatre in April.
K-Town was heading in the right direction, but an email Taj received from “America”s Got Talent” two weeks ago could put the three men on a whole new course.
“I really feel confident that it might change our career a lot in a positive way,” Taj said.
The oldest Dedrick sent in a video to the show more than four months ago but hadn”t heard a word back. “It”s good that I tried,” Taj remembered thinking.
Then while scrolling down his email list a couple weeks ago, one message subject caught his eye: “America”s Got Talent wants you.”
“Just us being accepted was a big deal for us because we know we get a chance to at least show someone in L.A. that we have a chance to do good,” Taj said.
K-Town will be auditioning with the show”s producers in Anaheim on Dec. 10. Though they”re still working on finding a hotel and planning things to do in Southern California, the members already have a rental van lined up for the trip.
Driving is just the easiest way for the group and their supporters to travel down the state considering that Taj uses a wheelchair because of a lifelong neurological condition, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
“The shortest way to put it is my muscles are just weaker than everybody else”s,” he said.
SMA affects the muscles, resulting in progressive deterioration and weakness.
“I am getting weaker, but it”s very slow,” Taj said, adding, “I”m pretty healthy compared to some of the kids I”ve seen.”
Taj said he knows some SMA sufferers his age that can”t breathe on their own, eat for themselves or hold things.
“A lot of them are really, really sick, and the main reason I”m doing this music is because I want to make them see me and make them feel like they can still do it, still keep going and be what they want to be,” he said.
Taj thinks the whole group could be role models, with Jay and Morlan serving as symbols for friends and family members of people in wheelchairs.
“I know the wheelchair is a big factor in this group because we are talented and I am in a wheelchair, but the thing is these two have been with me my whole entire life. So a lot of attention is on me but it should be on them also, because they”ve fought with me through this lifestyle and helped me out so much,” Taj said.
“They don”t treat me any different, nobody in Kelseyville does, and it”s just great,” he said.
Making music has been therapeutic for Taj, who said he”s noticed his breathing actually improving since he”s been rapping.
And there”s little doubt that music will play an even bigger part in the lives of all three men during the next six weeks as they prepare for a short audition.
“Somehow we have to fit all of us into a minute and 30 seconds,” Morlan said, alluding to the task of incorporating the group”s multifaceted act into a brief tryout.
K-Town performances feature rapping, dancing, comedy, singing and making beats, but the group will have only 90 seconds to impress the show”s producers enough to move on to the celebrity judges.
“We just want to show people something they”ve never seen before. They”ve never seen a group like this coming from a small town,” Morlan said.
In addition to practicing for its big performance, K-Town will host a celebration event at Serenity Massage and Day Spa in Kelseyville on Nov. 18 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Members will sign autographs and supporters will offer baked goods and appetizers. A silent auction will also occur to help raise money for the group”s trip in December.
Donations can also be dropped off at the spa as well as several other area businesses, including Kelseyville Pizza. A bank account has been opened in K-Town”s name at Westamerica Bank for donations at either the Kelseyville or Lakeport branches.
