Music of the Mountains Where to be and what to see

Deeprawk Dave Since he was a little kid, Dave Ashton (who performs as Deeprawk Dave) has always had a passion for hip-hop music and culture. Around the mid-80s, he started reading books that emphasized just how important DJs are to hip-hop, and that left an impression on him. Despite feeling like he could never reach the levels of those other DJs, he wanted to contribute to the culture, so he became a dancer and a rapper, writing rhymes and collecting tapes as hip-hop developed over the years. Now serving as the Denver program manager for KGNU Community Radio, he is still immensely passionate about the craft of hip-hop. Ashton says his first real instance of realizing he could be a DJ was when he was elected the student body president/head boy at Denver East High School. There, he received permission to play school-appropriate tapes over the speakers as part of the daily announcements and promote upcoming all-ages concerts in the area. At the time, he saw hip-hop as the youth movement of his generation, especially when compared to other popular styles of music around that time. He also felt that hip-hop was much more “wholesome” in the late 80s and...