They Reminisce Over You:: Bleek Week Presents: The Blower (A Hip Hop Event)

October 21.10 — Bleek Week, tribute

A roster of some of the dopest emcees in the NJ/NY area come together to celebrate the life of Deveran "Bleek" Ashe

In some instances of our lives, we catch a glimpse of the way we are perceived by the people we interact with on a personal and impersonal basis. If we are fortunate, we will accumulate a circle of individuals who have accepted the task of celebrating and allowing us to exude and live in the very essence of who we are. When someone is a creative, one of the greatest blessings is to develop an ongoing cypher amongst friends that consists of inspiration, challenge, love, and creativity. It’s even more dope if the cypher carries on after your time on earth has expired.

If your legacy is anything like Deveran “Bleek” Ashe, you will be one who has inspired your friends to pull all of their resources together to create a week of celebration in the truest essence of you.

The celebrations are already in full swing in New Jersey; Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend, but if you are in the area,  you should DEFINITELY check it out!

The Inspiration Behind Bleek Week (October 18–23, 2010)
This is Deveran ‘Bleek’ Ashe: a writer, poet, father,  jazz aficionado, and honorary Newark son. Bleek came to Newark  in 2007 to connect with college buddies from Wiberforce University. He traveled throughout the metro area reading and reciting his poetry and touching people’s lives. He was a regular at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers and The Newark Public Libraries. He taught everyone around him discipline. Every day he read and every night he wrote. He challenged the poets of  The People’s Open Mic of Newark and various venues around the city to be refined and to acknowledge their legacies. In  2009, he was struck by a sudden illness and passed away in February, but his friends, family and poetic soul mates will not let his memory die.

Bleek Week  is an outpouring of love and creativity from people he touched. His friends and family have organized 6 days of jazz, poetry, hip hop and visual  and public art events in downtown Newark. He did a lot in his short life. He came to Newark, pursued his dreams and was greatly inspirational and influential to the poets and the people of the community.

This entire week is a fundraiser for his two sons Miles and Malik.

Monday, October 18: Blue Floozie Waterfalls— A one-woman jazz and poetry show performed by Mia X.

Tuesday, Ocotber 19: Fermented Grapes— a spoken word tribute and open mic in his honor, curated by K. Desiree

Wednesday, October 20: Culture Food— an art mixer with live painting, photography and a short film about a day in his life.

Thursday, October 21: The Traveling People’s Open Mic—From six until eight pm groups of performers will be positioned at 1) Penn Station 2) 744 Broad Street between Academy and Clinton Sts. (The former Starbucks location)   3) Halsey and Raymond Blvd and 4) Branford and Halsey Streets. There will be poetry readings, dancing, singing, doing live art and connecting with the community.

Friday, October 22: The Blower (A Hip Hop Show)— Dedicated to Bleek’s sons, this event is positive and full of local talent (many of which have been featured on the blog).

Saturday, October 23rd: Hard Bop and Haiku— This is Bleek’s birthday celebration with a trumpet battle. Winner takes $250.00 and a special performance from a tap dancer.

After hearing the rundown of events and knowing the people that Bleek has inspired, I felt compelled to share not only his story, but the awesome way his friends and loved ones have decided to celebrate his legacy. I personally believe it is important to think about how you’d like to be remembered. How does that compare to what people will actually say about you when you are no longer physically present? What is your legacy?

BONUS: Check out the track underneath the flyer, by Brokn.Englsh’s own Myk Dyaleks. It’s available for download here.