Asheru
Encyclopedia
Asheru, born Gabriel Benn, is an African American hip hop
artist, educator, and youth activist. He is widely known for performing the opening and closing themes for the popular TV series, The Boondocks
, as well as his pioneering and innovative efforts to forward the Hip Hop Education movement.
, Rakim
, KRS-One
, Public Enemy, N.W.A.
, Slick Rick
, Doug E. Fresh
, Native Tongues
, Pharoahe Monch
, and more, as well as the classic Soul
, R&B, and Pop
records of the 70’s and 80’s eras that his mother used to play throughout the house. At the age of 16, he graduated from high school and attended the University of Virginia
, where he finished in 1996 with a B.A. degree in Anthropology
. In college he formed relationships with fellow colleagues, a group of like-minded individuals that shared a similar passion for Hip Hop music and the collective Black experience. After college, one of those colleagues, Wes Jackson, founded an independent Hip Hop label, Seven Heads Entertainment, and in 1996 signed its first group, Unspoken Heard
, made up primarily of Asheru and Jackson’s older brother, Robert Jackson, also known as “Blue Black". Asheru and Blue Black went on to release a series of 12” singles and EPs, and in 2001 released their first album, “Soon Come”, a critically acclaimed debut, still widely considered a classic in many Hip Hop circles. In 2003, the group released their second album “48 Months”, followed by the “No Edge Ups in South Africa” album, a compilation album of other 7 Heads artists featuring the hit, “Mood Swing” with Talib Kweli
.
Asheru, both as a solo artist as well as with the group Unspoken Heard, has gone on to travel extensively throughout Europe, Canada, the US and Japan, performing alongside artists and groups like Common
, Mos Def
, Jill Scott
, Bilal
, Ludacris
, Edo G, J-Live
, Wordsworth
, and The Roots
, while collaborating and being featured on projects with Hip Hop greats such as Pete Rock
, and Jazzy Jeff
. His lyrics are categorized by reflection upon the state of affairs of the current-day Black American. Through his music, he demonstrates a desire to improve the attitude of Black people towards liberation through education and self-empowerment. He currently travels with a live band, The ELs, made up of a three (sometimes four)-piece band of accomplished veteran musicians and producers, namely SLimkat 78, Mr. Hu, and Zo!.
to write and perform several songs for the hit TV series, The Boondocks
, including the show’s theme song. Asheru’s contribution to the controversial "Return of the King" episode of the Boondocks series helped him to earn the prestigious Peabody Award
for Journalism in 2006, making him the first rapper (emcee) to win such an award.
. He is the founder of his own community arts organization and independent music label, Guerilla Arts Ink, LLC. As an artist-educator, Asheru seeks to train and provide opportunities for artists of all media to deliver direct training and instruction in the classroom, and currently serves as Director of Vocational Arts at Rock Creek Academy in Washington, DC. He continues to advocate and mentor youth in schools and juvenile detention centers all over the country, with his unique message of promoting literacy as an intervention against youth violence, crime, unemployment, and incarceration.
In 2005, Asheru co-founded Educational Lyrics, LLC, an independent publishing company that creates culturally relevant cross-curricular teaching materials, the first of which being [H.E.L.P., or the Hip Hop Educational Literacy Program'.]http://www.edlyrics.com. In an effort to bridge the gap between Asheru’s two passions—music and education, H.E.L.P. is a series of supplemental reading workbooks designed to HELP students of all reading levels through the innovative usage of Hip Hop lyrics for critical analysis, multicultural relevance, and effective literacy instruction.
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
artist, educator, and youth activist. He is widely known for performing the opening and closing themes for the popular TV series, The Boondocks
The Boondocks (TV series)
The Boondocks is an American animated series created by Aaron McGruder on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim, based on McGruder's comic strip of the same name...
, as well as his pioneering and innovative efforts to forward the Hip Hop Education movement.
Early Life and Beginnings As a Rapper
As a youth, many of Asheru’s musical influences came from a wide range of Hip Hop artists such as Big Daddy KaneBig Daddy Kane
Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...
, Rakim
Rakim
William Michael Griffin Jr. , known by his stage names Rakim , Rakim Allah, R.A.K.I.M., and The Master, is an American rapper. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and most skilled emcees of all time. Eric B...
, KRS-One
KRS-One
Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...
, Public Enemy, N.W.A.
N.W.A.
N.W.A was an American hip hop group from Compton, California, widely considered one of the seminal acts of the gangsta rap sub-genre....
, Slick Rick
Slick Rick
Richard Walters , better known by his stage name Slick Rick is a Grammy-nominated English-American rapper...
, Doug E. Fresh
Doug E. Fresh
Douglas E. Davis , better known by the stage name Doug E. Fresh, is an American rapper, record producer, and beat boxer, also known as the Human Beat Box...
, Native Tongues
Native tongues
Native Tongues is a book by the linguist Charles Berlitz.It is a list of words in different languages, etymology and questions with speculations far and wide about words....
, Pharoahe Monch
Pharoahe Monch
Pharoahe Monch is an American hip hop artist. He is known for his complex lyrics, complex delivery, and internal and multisyllabic rhyme schemes.-Biography:...
, and more, as well as the classic Soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, R&B, and Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
records of the 70’s and 80’s eras that his mother used to play throughout the house. At the age of 16, he graduated from high school and attended the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, where he finished in 1996 with a B.A. degree in Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. In college he formed relationships with fellow colleagues, a group of like-minded individuals that shared a similar passion for Hip Hop music and the collective Black experience. After college, one of those colleagues, Wes Jackson, founded an independent Hip Hop label, Seven Heads Entertainment, and in 1996 signed its first group, Unspoken Heard
Unspoken Heard
The Unspoken Heard is the hip-hop collaborative of rapper Asheru and producer Blue Black. The group is often referred to as Asheru & Blue Black of the Unspoken Heard. They began getting significant recognition in underground hip-hop around the turn of the millennium...
, made up primarily of Asheru and Jackson’s older brother, Robert Jackson, also known as “Blue Black". Asheru and Blue Black went on to release a series of 12” singles and EPs, and in 2001 released their first album, “Soon Come”, a critically acclaimed debut, still widely considered a classic in many Hip Hop circles. In 2003, the group released their second album “48 Months”, followed by the “No Edge Ups in South Africa” album, a compilation album of other 7 Heads artists featuring the hit, “Mood Swing” with Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
.
Asheru, both as a solo artist as well as with the group Unspoken Heard, has gone on to travel extensively throughout Europe, Canada, the US and Japan, performing alongside artists and groups like Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
, Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
, Jill Scott
Jill Scott
Jill Scott is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on...
, Bilal
Bilal (musician)
Bilal Sayeed Oliver , better known by his stage name Bilal, is an American neo soul/jazz singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He is also a core member of the loose collective, the Soulquarians. Bilal started out by singing in small clubs until he began classical training in jazz and big-band...
, Ludacris
Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...
, Edo G, J-Live
J-Live
J-Live is an MC, DJ, and producer from New York.-Early career and The Best Part:...
, Wordsworth
Wordsworth (rapper)
Wordsworth is an underground hip hop MC from Brooklyn, best known for his freestyle rap.Wordsworth grew up in Brooklyn. A graduate of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, Wordsworth recorded with his partner Punchline on A Tribe Called Quest's The Love Movement and on Mos Def...
, and The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
, while collaborating and being featured on projects with Hip Hop greats such as Pete Rock
Pete Rock
Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...
, and Jazzy Jeff
Jazzy Jeff
Jazzy Jeff may refer to:* DJ Jazzy Jeff , American hip-hop and R&B record producer, turntablist; former instrumentalist in DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince...
. His lyrics are categorized by reflection upon the state of affairs of the current-day Black American. Through his music, he demonstrates a desire to improve the attitude of Black people towards liberation through education and self-empowerment. He currently travels with a live band, The ELs, made up of a three (sometimes four)-piece band of accomplished veteran musicians and producers, namely SLimkat 78, Mr. Hu, and Zo!.
The Boondocks
Most recently, Asheru collaborated with Aaron McGruderAaron McGruder
Aaron McGruder is an American cartoonist best known for writing and drawing The Boondocks, a Universal Press Syndicate comic strip about two young African American brothers from inner-city Chicago now living with their grandfather in a sedate suburb, as well as being the creator and executive...
to write and perform several songs for the hit TV series, The Boondocks
The Boondocks (TV series)
The Boondocks is an American animated series created by Aaron McGruder on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim, based on McGruder's comic strip of the same name...
, including the show’s theme song. Asheru’s contribution to the controversial "Return of the King" episode of the Boondocks series helped him to earn the prestigious Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
for Journalism in 2006, making him the first rapper (emcee) to win such an award.
Education
Alongside his career as a Hip Hop artist, Asheru has also served as a teacher within Washington, DC Schools since 1997, specializing in curriculum development and arts-based instruction. In 2004, he went on to earn a Masters degree in Education from National-Louis UniversityNational-Louis University
National–Louis University is a private non-profit American university. NLU has campuses in and near Chicago, Illinois, as well as in Wisconsin, Florida, and Nowy Sącz, Poland. Many NLU courses and programs are also offered at-a-distance. The university practices multi-campus, at-a-distance, and...
. He is the founder of his own community arts organization and independent music label, Guerilla Arts Ink, LLC. As an artist-educator, Asheru seeks to train and provide opportunities for artists of all media to deliver direct training and instruction in the classroom, and currently serves as Director of Vocational Arts at Rock Creek Academy in Washington, DC. He continues to advocate and mentor youth in schools and juvenile detention centers all over the country, with his unique message of promoting literacy as an intervention against youth violence, crime, unemployment, and incarceration.
In 2005, Asheru co-founded Educational Lyrics, LLC, an independent publishing company that creates culturally relevant cross-curricular teaching materials, the first of which being [H.E.L.P., or the Hip Hop Educational Literacy Program'.]http://www.edlyrics.com. In an effort to bridge the gap between Asheru’s two passions—music and education, H.E.L.P. is a series of supplemental reading workbooks designed to HELP students of all reading levels through the innovative usage of Hip Hop lyrics for critical analysis, multicultural relevance, and effective literacy instruction.
Discography
- Cosmology EP...Unspoken Heard (1997)
- Better/Smiley 12”... Unspoken Heard (1998)
- Jamboree EP ... Asheru (1999)
- Soon Come LP ... Unspoken Heard (2001)
- 48 Months LP… Unspoken Heard (2003)
- Mood Swing 12”... Asheru feat. Talib Kweli & Raheem DeVaughn (2003)
- No Edge Ups in South Africa …Seven Heads Entertainment (2003)
- Black Moses 12”.... Asheru (2005)
- Insomnia Vol.1 LP... Asheru (2006)
- Insomnia Vol.1: Sleepless in Japan…(IMPORT ONLY) (2006)
- Hip-Hop Docktrine: The Official Boondocks MixtapeHip-Hop Docktrine: The Official Boondocks MixtapeHip-Hop Docktrine: The Official Boondocks Mixtape is a mixtape compilation released by Asheru and DJ Dub Floyd in 2006 for the television series The Boondocks. The mixtape features various popular and underground hip hop artists and is critically acclaimed by The Boondocks fanbase and Aaron...
… Asheru & Dub Floyd(2006) - 3 Stars, 2 Bars EP… Asheru (2007)
- Insight on Fort Knox FiveFort Knox FiveFort Knox Five is a Washington, D.C.-based recording artist consisting of Steve Raskin, Jon Horvath, Rob Myers, and Sid Barcelona. They have released their music on their own independent label Fort Knox Recordings...
Album Radio Free DC (2008)