Gabriel Benn (born December 29, 1974), better known as Asheru, is an American rapper, educator, and youth activist. He performed the opening and closing themes for the popular TV series, The Boondocks.
As a youth, Asheru's musical influences were a wide range of hip hop artists as well as Soul, R&B, and Pop from the 1970s and 1980s that his mother used to play. He graduated from high school at 16 and attended the University of Virginia, where he graduated in 1996 with a B.A. in Anthropology. His classmate Wesley Jackson founded an independent Hip Hop label, Seven Heads Entertainment, which in 1996 signed the group Unspoken Heard, made up of Asheru and Jackson's older brother, Robert Jackson, known as Blue Black. Asheru and Blue Black released a series of 12" singles and EPs, and in 2001 released their first album, Soon Come. 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 Seven Heads artists featuring the single "Mood Swing", with Talib Kweli.
Asheru has performed throughout Europe, Canada, the US and Japan, both solo and with Unspoken Heard, as well as collaborating on projects with artists such as Pete Rock and DJ Jazzy Jeff. He currently travels with a live band, The ELs.
The Boondocks
Asheru collaborated with Aaron McGruder to write and perform several songs for the TV series, The Boondocks, including the show's theme song. Asheru's contribution to the controversial episode "Return of the King" won the Peabody Award for Journalism in 2006, the first rapper to win such an award.
Education
Asheru has also taught in the Washington, D.C. school system since 1997, in curriculum development and arts-based instruction. In 2004, he completed a master's degree in education from National-Louis University. He founded a community arts organization and independent music label, Guerilla Arts Ink,[1] and currently serves as Director of Arts Integration at Ballou Senior High School in Washington, D.C. He also works with schools and juvenile detention centers to promote literacy as an intervention against youth violence, crime, unemployment, and incarceration.[2]
In 2005, Asheru co-founded Educational Lyrics, a publishing company that produces cross-curricular teaching materials, such as the Hip-Hop Educational Literacy Program (HELP), a series of supplemental reading workbooks that use hip-hop lyrics to teach critical analysis and multicultural relevance to students of all reading levels.[3]
asheru, sacred, lake, known, isheru, precinct, this, biography, living, person, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, adding, reliable, sources, contentious, material, about, living, persons, that, unsourced, poorly, sourced, must, removed,. For the sacred lake known as Asheru or Isheru see Precinct of Mut This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately especially if potentially libelous or harmful Find sources Asheru news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2008 Learn how and when to remove this template message Gabriel Benn born December 29 1974 better known as Asheru is an American rapper educator and youth activist He performed the opening and closing themes for the popular TV series The Boondocks AsheruPortrait of Gabriel Asheru BennBackground informationBirth nameGabriel BennBorn 1974 12 29 December 29 1974 age 48 Columbia Maryland U S GenresHip hop alternative hip hop underground hip hop East coast rapOccupation s Rapper producer teacherYears active1996 presentLabelsSeven Heads Entertainment 1996 2001 Guerilla Arts Ink LLC The Un label 2001 present Websitewww asheruworldwide com Contents 1 Early life and music 2 The Boondocks 3 Education 4 Discography 5 References 6 External linksEarly life and music EditAs a youth Asheru s musical influences were a wide range of hip hop artists as well as Soul R amp B and Pop from the 1970s and 1980s that his mother used to play He graduated from high school at 16 and attended the University of Virginia where he graduated in 1996 with a B A in Anthropology His classmate Wesley Jackson founded an independent Hip Hop label Seven Heads Entertainment which in 1996 signed the group Unspoken Heard made up of Asheru and Jackson s older brother Robert Jackson known as Blue Black Asheru and Blue Black released a series of 12 singles and EPs and in 2001 released their first album Soon Come 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 Seven Heads artists featuring the single Mood Swing with Talib Kweli Asheru has performed throughout Europe Canada the US and Japan both solo and with Unspoken Heard as well as collaborating on projects with artists such as Pete Rock and DJ Jazzy Jeff He currently travels with a live band The ELs The Boondocks EditAsheru collaborated with Aaron McGruder to write and perform several songs for the TV series The Boondocks including the show s theme song Asheru s contribution to the controversial episode Return of the King won the Peabody Award for Journalism in 2006 the first rapper to win such an award Education EditAsheru has also taught in the Washington D C school system since 1997 in curriculum development and arts based instruction In 2004 he completed a master s degree in education from National Louis University He founded a community arts organization and independent music label Guerilla Arts Ink 1 and currently serves as Director of Arts Integration at Ballou Senior High School in Washington D C He also works with schools and juvenile detention centers to promote literacy as an intervention against youth violence crime unemployment and incarceration 2 In 2005 Asheru co founded Educational Lyrics a publishing company that produces cross curricular teaching materials such as the Hip Hop Educational Literacy Program HELP a series of supplemental reading workbooks that use hip hop lyrics to teach critical analysis and multicultural relevance to students of all reading levels 3 Discography EditCosmology 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 amp 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 Mixtape Asheru various artists 2006 3 Stars 2 Bars EP Asheru 2007 Hip Hop Docktrine 2 The Saga Continues Asheru various artists 2007 Insight on Fort Knox Five Album Radio Free DC 2008 I am Hip Hop on Clin d oeil Album with Jazz Liberatorz 2008 Hip Hop Docktrine 3 The Final Chapter Asheru various artists 2010 Sleepless in Soweto LP Asheru 2013 References Edit Gabriel Asheru Benn Curry School of Education Archived from the original on June 23 2015 Retrieved June 22 2015 By night Asheru By day Mr Benn A hip hop artist transforms education The Washington Post Retrieved June 22 2015 Gabriel Asheru Benn Curry School of Education Archived from the original on June 23 2015 Retrieved June 22 2015 External links EditBurton Orisanmi Asheru Education MCing amp The Bonototiousondocks Allhiphop com August 14 2008 May 26 2010 http www edlyrics com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Asheru amp oldid 1125870836, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
