1Track@aTime 4.4.2014
((Sleepless in Soweto))
The 4th of April was a special time and a return for myself and fellow OGSV family to the KRUX 91.5 fm booth. It was a reunion of sorts and nostalgic to watch Dune que the tracks, prep for mic time, and to see all our brothers laughing, cracking jokes, and taking in the sounds from the Fresh Produce playlists. Dune didn't have access to the tracks I had sent through email for the segment so we got set to que up directly from the cell phone for April 4th's 1Track@aTime which was focused on the latest from Asheru, Sleepless in Soweto. First of all, this is one of the dopest albums I've heard in a long while... in the category with how I felt about Akbar's Planet X which I had up on the top of my charts for well over a year. On the night of the 4th, we connected directly from the KRUX dashboard to my HTC and rotated not one but several tracks from Sleepless in Soweto. Those tracks included the intro, ((Simphiwe's Theme)), ((Funky DC)) feat. Ark & Sitali, and one of my favorite ((Clay Davis)) which afterward I realized was in reference of Senator Clayton of The Wire played by the actor Isiah Whitlock, Jr, also featured in one of my favorite Spike Lee Joints the 25th Hour. I also put on a set of headphones and got the chance to speak on it shouting out the Co-sign Collective & Jess who during my tenure on KRUX from 2000 to 2008 was known as Spectre. They service some of the best music a college radio station can ask for, which is where I got the Asheru record from. Check them out at co-sign.com.
Sleepless in Soweto right now is at the top of my list. And this is with a deep selection of dope albums I've had the chance to check out throughout '14 so far (scroll down and peep the list to the right side of the page). For this post I also included a couple of photos from the KRUX session. You can peep more photographs over at our Hip Hop Alumni blogspot: click here. Of the evening highlights on April 4th was a poem our brother Ronin put down on the air after blocking everybody out to pen a piece on the spot. Also what was crazy is that after all these years, my brother Jus aka Gravity who was visiting all the way down from Buffalo, NY peeked in the Archives room and found my old 'Archives Manager' nameplate which is more than a decade old. Still after all these years it was there! Check the photograph below.
For more information on Asheru, who afterwards I also remembered is the MC behind one of my favorite shows, the intro to Boondocks, you need to visit his sites at Asheru Worldwide / sleeplessinsoweto.org (Asheru is currently touring in South Africa). Also, I just learned about this navigating the site, but he's also leading a Hip Hop Educational Leadership Program which you can visit at www.edlyrics.com. I first heard of Asheru years ago on the Unspoken Heard projects having rotated his material back then on the very same dial, 91.5 fm. So in a lot of ways we returned to a lot of memories through this program, both as a crew and through the music.
Shout out to the OGSV family and Dune for holding us down on our area's only platform for unscripted and uncontrolled rotation, KRUX 91.5 fm.
B.Dune (left) + Lee (straight ahead in the background, that's me)*
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