Renowned Rapper Bavu Blakes On Tap For MLK Day Concert

EAST AUSTIN, TX -- After a hiatus from the music scene, it’s rare to see renowned freestyle rapper Bavu Blakes on stage these days. But throughout East Austin, the artist is a well-known presence--and not only for his past artistic output.

Come MLK Day, he’ll reintroduce himself to fans eager to hear him spit out his fierce rhymes once more.

The Austin American-Statesman has written a glowing profile of Blakes ahead of his concert at the the Huston-Tillotson University campus in East Austin.

It’s familiar territory for Blakes, an area to which he returned in 2012 after trying to hit the bit time in Los Angeles.

After building a solid reputation in Austin for his freestyle game (“...spinning intelligent rhymes, loaded with witty lyricism and sly jabs, off the dome,” the Statesman notes) he departed for L.A. in 2010.

While on the West Coast, his wife, Tifani Jones Blakes, worked on a doctoral degree while he pursued his dreams of stardom. But when his wife became pregnant, the couple to return to Austin to concentrate on family.

These days, Blakes spends his time teaching humanities studies to seventh-graders at Decker Middle School in far East Austin. Concurrently, he pursues his master’s degree in educational administration in the Principalship Program at UT-Austin’s Social Justice Institute.

His return to freestyle rap in earnest will come during a scheduled performance as part of the MLK Celebration at Huston-Tillotson at noon this Monday. The concert also will feature Austin funk and soul band Les and the Funk Mob and the Peterson Brothers.

At his Huston-Tillotson concert, Blakes will be backed up by a seven-piece live band, the Statesman notes. Additionally, he’ll be joined by a chorus comprising some of his current and former students from the Manor ISD’s Decker Middle School choir for part of his set.

The 2016 MLK March and Celebration kicks off at 9 a.m. Monday with a short program at the MLK Statue on the UT campus. After that, participants plan to march to the south steps of the State Capitol for a brief program before descending upon the Huston-Tillotson campus.

The celebration continues until 3 p.m., and is free and open to the public.