Ras Kwame
is a British musician,
record producer
, radio
DJ
and presenter of
Ghanaian
heritage.
[1]
Biography
[
edit
]
Ras Kwame was born in
Hammersmith, London
, and at the age of 11 moved to Ghana.
[2]
He returned to London after doing his A-levels, and studied economics at
City of London Polytechnic
.
[2]
He started in the music industry as a club DJ playing
hip hop
,
R&B
and
reggae
in the early 1990s. He then moved on to promoting for
Kiss100
's groundbreaking Starlight Club night and the Mean Fiddler’s Subterranea Club, bringing over talent from the US and promoting local talent. The Subterranea gigs saw Kwame take control of the turntables for artists such as
Gang Starr
,
Public Enemy
,
Wu Tang Clan
,
London Posse
and the
Fugees
. During that time, Ras also undertook remix work for
Chante Moore
,
George McCrae
and
The 49ers
.
Kwame founded
West London
's Sugar Shack record shop in 1993 and from 1994 to 2000 he had formed Baby Shack Recordings and his
UK garage
production outfit
M-Dubs
. As a garage producer, Kwame made several innovative underground club anthems for the flourishing UKG scene, such as "Over Here" featuring Ritchie Dan, "Bump and Grind" featuring
Lady Saw
and the underground smash "Body Killin" by The Vincent Alvis Project. In 2001, Kwame launched the International Rude Bwoy Recordings operation; the label maintains a UK black music output with a variety of styles ranging from hip hop to garage.
Ras Kwame joined
BBC Radio 1Xtra
at launch in 2002 with the
100% Homegrown
show every Sunday evening. The show was dedicated to the sound of UK black music and provided a live platform for talent and gave major support to new acts like
Lethal B
,
Skinnyman
and
Estelle
.
In 2004, Kwame won Best Radio DJ at the
Urban Music Awards
and started a new music show called
Showtime with Ras Kwame
on
Channel U
.
In February 2005, Kwame was brought into
BBC Radio 1
to host one of the three OneMusic shows every Sunday morning from 5
am to 7
am that succeeded the
John Peel
slot. The other OneMusic hosts were
Rob da Bank
and
Huw Stephens
. It was later announced that Kwame was leaving Radio 1 and 1Xtra as part of schedule changes in January 2011.
[3]
In January 2013, he joined
Capital Xtra
and presented
The Midnight Mix
Tuesdays to Fridays from midnight to 3
am.
However, in October 2016, as part of the station's schedule change, he now only appears on Mondays, with
Reggae Recipe
from midnight to 2
am.
He regularly judges both
Open Mic UK
and
Live and Unsigned
.
References
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External links
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]