Hasan Salaam has opened for Common, Floetry and Wyclef Jean. But don't lump the 23-year-old New Jersey native with other conscious rappers.
"I prefer not to deal with labels because then you put yourself in a box, dictating what people expect to hear," said Salaam, who will be featured in the "Taste of Asia" dinner and talent show Saturday.
He tops a lineup of local, cultural and University acts.
Salaam - who released his first album, "Paradise Lost," as an independent record - toured in support of the disc this summer, with dates in New York City and northern New Jersey. Tracks focus on social change.
"My music is my therapy that allows me to confront various issues in life - oppression, relationships and certain trials and tribulations I've experienced that I want to share with the world," Salaam said.
Besides Salaam's underground rap, the Taste of Asia event features the dance troupes of the Rutgers Association of Philippine Students and the Chinese Cultural Dance Troupe.
Also performing: Deep Foundation, Silent Knight, Technique, the alpha Kappa Delta Phi Sorority and Pi Delta Psi Fraternity.
Taste of Asia is an annual event that in previous years drew an audience of hundreds. It is a project of the Douglass Asian Women's Association, who will sell tickets today and tomorrow evenings in the Busch Dining Hall, as well as in the Student Activities Center and Douglass College Center.
Taste of Asia is more than a talent show during which students perform skits, songs and traditional and modern dance. It's also a food bizarre that encompasses dishes from various Asian countries.
Tickets will not be sold at the door.
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