E. OKS

Members: Evan Okun ('13) Bio: Evan Okun began rapping in Bennett Park, across the street from his apartment in Washington Heights, Manhattan.  While at Wesleyan his interest in rap merged with a growing passion for spoken word poetry.  He teaches a class on hip-hop at a juvenile detention center near Wesleyan.  He is interested in how music can cultivate critical thinking and be used to reengage students who have a dysfunctional relationship with school.  Evan is a founder of The Freestyle Collective, a freestyle rap group backed by six-piece band.   Freestyle ciphers are one of several expressive genres explored in the class.  Evan uses written work to examine societal injustice and Buddhist philosophy.  Evan has completed one mixtape entitled “Sleep On It.”  His next album, to be released in the Spring of 2013, will be the product of an independent study with professors in the Music and Religion departments.

"Sleep On It," along with the first single off his upcoming album (featuring four other Wesleyan students), can be heard here:

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