Above: Kev Choice Ensemble reinterprets Saafir’s “Light Sleeper” at YBCA’s Clas/Sick Hip Hop: 1993 Edition.
Oakland-based artist Kev Choice is a pianist, MC, producer, bandleader, sideman, music historian and urban griot dedicated to cultural expression. Through his band Kev Choice Ensemble, he produces and performs his own material, including original jazz and classical compositions as well as classical, jazz, and funk-inspired hip-hop.
As a teenager, Choice played in classical and jazz ensembles as part of the UC Berkeley Young Musicians Program, and continued his musical studies at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and Southern Illinois University. Choice has toured with Michael Franti and Spearhead, Lyrics Born, Too $hort, Ledisi, Goapele, Mos Def, Digable Planets and Lauryn Hill.
From the same performance, you can also watch Ensemble Mik Nawooj perform Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.”:
