Ras Kwame
is a DJ with shows on Radio 1, DAB station 1Xtra and US sat station Sirius.In 2005 Ras won Best UK Radio DJ for his Radio 1 show One Music with Ras Kwame at the Urban Music Awards, and Highest Acheiver in Entertainment at the Ghana Professional Awards.
Ras was born in West London of Ghanaian parentage. He was in Ghana for a week of special shows in 2005.
Ras writes a column for UK mag NoBS
Check out Ras's shows online:
Ras Kwame on Radio 1
Sunday 5am-7am (97-99 FM)
Introducing Homegrown with Ras Kwame on 1Xtra
Sunday 7pm-10pm (DAB)
Ras prides himself in playing new and unsigned UK music. If you wanna send him your tracks, here's the addresses for his Radio 1 show and for 1Xtra.
Ras Kwame, Unsigned Cuts, BBC Radio 1, OneMusic, PO Box 111, London W1A 7WW.
More info on OneMusic
1Xtra - Homegrown Cuts, PO Box 1X, London W1A
More info on 1XMusic
Ras's history
Ras started in the music industry as a club DJ playing hip hop, RnB and reggae in the early nineties.
Ras soon progressed to promoting for Kiss FM'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 Ras take control of the turntables for artists such as Gang Starr, Public Enemy, Wu Tang Clan, the London Posse and the Fugees.
During that time, Ras also undertook remix work for Chante Moore, George McCrae and the 49ers. Ras founded West London's Sugar Shack record shop in 1993 and from 1994-2000 he had formed Baby Shack Recordings and his UK Garage production outfit M-Dubs.
As a garage producer Ras 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 joined 1Xtra at launch in 2002 bringing listeners "100% Homegrown" every Sunday evening. The highly influential show is dedicated wholly to championing the sound of UK black music and has provided a live platform for talent and given major support to acts like Kano, Skinnyman, Tor and Estelle.
Ras's show continues to cause a stir across the country with DJs, producers, A&Rs, both signed and unsigned talent all tuning in to hear the sounds of the UK underground.
In 2004/5 consecutively Ras won Best Radio DJ at the Urban Music Awards. This year he started a new music show called 'Spit TV' on Channel U. Ras remains an influential and active figure in the music industry, with an ever-increasing DJ/ hosting schedule on a national & international level, it's only a matter of time before he picks up the MOBO award he's been nominated for 4 times!