The Big Boom is presented by Fort Knox Recordings, Capitol Hemp, and TVD, Sunday, July 3rd (9pm – 3am) at U Street Music Hall. Come celebrate your freedom with us and Asheru!
Asheru.
[ash-eh-roo] a.k.a. Gabriel Benn. a.k.a hip-hop artist. a.k.a. educator. a.k.a. real-ass dude.
No bling. No hoes. No pimped-out rides.
Yeah, he’s a hip-hop artist. And an educator. And a family man.
We had a casual conversation in the corner of a small northeast Washington, DC cafe. Calm, polite, articulate. He’s been all over the world to perform his music; it’s when he’s back in Washington that his game-face goes on.
He’s got a mission here.
The “No Child Left Behind Act” went into effect, and DC schools began cutting art programs from their budgets. As an educator and an artist, Benn had to do something. He started Guerilla Arts Ink,LLC and the Hip-Hop Educational Literacy Program (H.E.L.P). He encourages children to break song lyrics down. “If you’re repeating it… know what you’re saying,” he tells them. And, “If you don’t like it, be able to articulate why you don’t like it.”
As Asheru, he leads by example. He expresses himself eloquently. Take a moment to break down some of his lyrics. Benn has received a lot of publicity for his music that runs as the opening and closing theme songs for the animated series, The Boodocks:
I am the stone that the builder refused
I am the visual
The inspiration that makes ladies sing the blues
I am the spark that makes your idea bright
The same spark that lights the dark so that you can know your left from your right
I am the ballot in the box, the bullet in the gun
The inner glow
That let’s you know to call your brothers son
The story has just begun
The promiser was to come
And I’m a remain a soulja ’til the war is won.
Benn says it’s not DC schools that are the problem, really, “it’s all of what is outside of school that needs to step-up.” Guerilla Arts doesn’t stop with hip-hop literacy—Benn enlists other local artists to help with mural projects, dance lessons, and photography instruction, to name a few.
“I’m a hip-hop hippie” he says.
UVA should be proud that one of their graduates is making some serious waves, home in the United States, as well as abroad.
You can catch Asheru Sunday, July 3rd, at The Big Boom at U St. Music Hall. He’ll be performing with Fort Knox Five.
