Terrell X, also known as Carnage the Executioner, is a beatboxer, mentor, and collaborator based in Minneapolis. He’s also a DEMO Board Member and the host of April’s Archive Launch Party.
His most recent album, Transformation to Terrell X, was released in 2024, around the time he decided to start using the name Terrell X. According to his website, the name “symbolizes my commitment to positive mindset development and unrestrained personal growth” and. “challenges me to present the ‘true me.’” This marked a shift in his artistry – a transformation. Today, he builds on it as he continues to evolve as an artist.
“I continue to lean into the transformation. I’ve always collaborated with people, but the biggest difference now is…the development and shift into being more personal with my music. I’m meshing that with how I approach my collaborations with people a lot more intentionally,” Terrell X shared.
His collaborative style has manifested into The Collaboratory, a project he’s leaned into in recent years that brings many kinds of artists together to create live music – improvised, with no practice required.
“I wanted to put a concept on it where it’s like a bunch of musical chemists in the laboratory, collaborating on how to invent something in the moment,” Terrell describes. “I never tell anybody to do anything specific, whatever you have as your gift, just bring it and it’ll work no matter what. We don’t practice with people. We just get on stage and all start cooking.”
His collaborators come from a range of genres to create a unique energy on stage. Many of his partnerships happen easily after making a simple connection at a show or even just talking by phone.
“[Cujo the Poet] is somebody I met for the first time at a show back in 2019 and we just hit it off. And we were like, ‘Yo, we should do something.’ About four or five months later, I was doing a show in his house, and we’ve been friends ever since then, doing at least one show a year, sometimes two since 2019.”
For Terrell, it was old-school hip-hop artists that made him love music. “My inspirations to even do music came before my collaborations. And that would be artists like Public Enemy, which is my favorite group of all time; the Fat Boys, they’re the reason I started beatboxing; KRS-One; LL Cool J; Slick Rick; Big Daddy Kane; you know, I’m a straight up old school hip hop aficionado, so those were my biggest influences that got me into rapping.”
Another influence for his past music has been his commitment to a plant-based lifestyle, which he’s been living since 2017 and says he plans to do for the rest of his life. He received an Animal Advocate Award from Compassionate Action for Animals in 2021. “There’s more for other people to have a piece of if I don’t take it all and that’s how I pretty much view everything now,” he shares about how his perspective changed since becoming plant based.
When his lifestyle changed, his music was impacted as well. “That’s how the concept of my 2019 album Ravenous came [about]. When that album came around, that was because of the clear mindset I had that came about right around the time I went plant based, I was able to come up with a with a musical art piece that sonically represented my new shift in mindset,” he reflects.
When he’s not on stage, Terrell teaches human beatboxing and percussion to kids in the Twin Cities. He recently wrapped up a residency with St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS), but he’s been involved with this type of mentoring for decades.
“I’ve been teaching beatboxing in schools with kids since 2006,” he shares. “One of the biggest things I’ve gotten from it is the knack for finding a way to connect with people where they’re at without trying to influence them to be something other than what they are.”
A key characteristic of his artistry is integrity – showing up as himself 100 percent of the time. It’s something he tries to instill in kids who participate in his class, by inspiring them to find themselves.
“I don’t even call myself a teacher. My instruction is instructing you on how to find your best self through your own personal journey and your musical journey. That’s what I feel like is my strength is inspiring people to find the true them, who they really are,” Terrell emphasizes. “I feel like that’s what separates me from anybody else who doesn’t do that same thing.”
Terrell X is hosting the Minnesota Music Archive Launch Party on April 2 at The Hennepin, which will feature live performances, DJ sets featuring Minnesota music, and a short program introducing the archive. The archive will be a home for all Minnesota music, sustaining the state’s musical legacy and uplifting a diverse range of local artists.
“I think with an archive like the one DEMO is putting together, it makes it so there can be a spotlight on other musicians who are great, who aren’t just the ones that people see in the mainstream media all the time. That’s what excites me most about it is the ability for other musicians who are talented from Minnesota to be heard,” he voices.
Aside from the launch, Terrell has several cool and unique projects coming up, including a 10-day tour in Mexico in March and a tour performing at 27 schools in Ohio later this year.
“I’m really excited about that, you know? I’m able to take my beatboxing artistry and instruction and performance to a whole different demographic of school settings on the other side of the U.S., which is pretty cool.”
Listeners can also expect more unlikely collaborations coming from Terrell soon. “I’m working with a couple of pretty eclectic jazz musicians coming up here. I want people to watch out for my home girl, Anya Menk. She’s on the up-and-coming circuit as a jazz artist, and I’m going to be doing some pretty crazy work with her.”
To learn more about Terrell X, check out his website or connect with him on Instagram or Facebook.
Be sure to catch Terrell X, joined by Agnes Uncaged, DJ Stage One, Dust of Suns Ensemble, Mary Lucia, Mark Wheat, and more at the Minnesota Music Archive Launch Party on April 2. Get your tickets now.
Terrell X in the Minnesota Music Archive
The Minnesota Music Archive will be a digital home for all Minnesota artists who have officially and publicly released music. Terrell X — also known as Carnage the Executioner — has a prolific catalog that spans two decades. The following albums and singles are preserved in the Minnesota Music Archive:
Albums
Carnage – The Carnology Vol. 0.5 EP (2004)
Carnage accompanied by Booka B – Sense of Sound (2007)
Carnage – Worth the Wait (2011)
Carnage the Executioner – Respect the Name (2012)
Carnage the Executioner – The MN Mean Movement (2016)
Carnage – Ravenous (2019)
Carnage & Johnny Pain – AntiFaux 1.0 (2021)
Carnage – Transformation to Terrell X (2024)
Singles / EPs
Carnage the Executioner – “The Ultimatum” (2015)
Carnage – “The Show Saver” (2017)