To really get a sense of who and what Akalepse is you have to check the track record. Steady at work with the records since 1993 when he first put the needle on one, Lepse is the definition of dedicated. This dedication, passion, and integrity are the difference you hear when you hear him play or hear something he produced. Coming up in hip-hop’s Golden Era where it truly was your skill set that your reputation was based on, he honed his craft the only way that can really create an individual of his caliber – hard work. Couple this with humility and an endless respect for music and you start to understand how and why he’s become so respected in soul, funk, and hip hop circles the world over. Maybe more impressive, this success has been achieved solely on his own terms and strictly based on his talents.

Coming up as a Battle DJ, Lepse learned early the importance of moving the crowd. Back then, if you didn’t impress the crowd, you got yanked off the stage, and this sets a certain standard. With this show-and-prove attitude and through battling and doing basement / backyard parties in Long Island–where Lepse is from–he got his first gig as a tour DJ, DJing for Parrish Smith when PMD’s manager saw him rock a party. It’s been a lot of the same introductions to opportunity ever since: someone hears Lepse play and off the strength of his DJing, he’s invited to play somewhere else. Never being one for the hype, Lepse has moved through almost two decades of DJing depending only on his impeccable ear and his skills.

When Lepse moved to Brooklyn and started really pushing his mixtapes, it opened up the doors to what is today his worldwide fan base. Selling more mixtapes than most indie labels sell albums, Lepse began landing steady work and getting booked for shows off of the pure quality of his mixes. His tape “Eviva” landed him a ton of gigs, perhaps the most notable being a Monday night residency at NYC’s most esteemed venue for DJs to play at, APT. In a matter of weeks he was asked to take on a residency Wednesday nights there as well, this lasted 8 years until the club closed it’s doors forever. Successes like these, plus keeping things thorough at every show propelled Akalepse on stage with the likes of KRS-One, Cypress Hill, Kenny Dope, DJ Spinna, Lord Finesse, J-Rocc, DJ Scratch, & Just Blaze to name a few.

To maintain the momentum, Lepse always keeps the music fresh and interesting. An obsessive record digger, Lepse has at his command a library of 20,000+ LPs and 45s–all making him better at what he does. “I really don’t think of myself as a record collector. I am a DJ,” Akalepse explains in an interview. “Getting more records is like learning more words in a language. It gives me the ability to be more articulate as a DJ.” However, You could have all the rare records in the world, but not be able to do anything with them if you don’t have that ear for quality, inventiveness, and feel. Akalepse has these things in spades. So much so that Brooklyn’s own Truth & Soul records, the funk/soul imprint that is responsible for monstrous acts like Lee Fields and The Expressions and El Michels Affair, hired Lepse five years ago to bring his expertise to the label. Now Lepse is a jack of all trades for the label, from Label Manager to Head of A&R to house DJ.

Today you can find Lepse continuing to bring that raw, heavy, fun, sexy, soulful and honest music. His ability to run the full spectrum of soul music has officially become what he’s known and respected for. Akalepse and Philly-bred DJ Rich Medina run the worldwide respected weekly party PROPS in Manhattan, playing classics right next to “Are they really playing this out?!?”-type obscurities. This night, like many of Lepse’s other parties before it is about pushing music forward and promoting culture. In that way, it’s reflective of the choices and moves he’s made, and the high regard in which his craft is kept.