The local music community is mourning the sudden loss of Kevin Joshua “Rowdy” Rowsey, an inspirational teacher who carried the love of hip-hop and creative expression around the globe.
Rowsey died of a heart attack on April 17, at the age of just 32.
Josh Rowsey began his career as a student at UNC, where he founded the collective No9to5 Music and the UNC Cypher, an improvisational hip-hop circle that still performs today. He later launched a second cypher in Durham – the Med City Cypher, also still going strong. More recently he co-founded the music label Only Us Media, with a stellar lineup of artists including Grammy nominee Pierce Freelon.
As a musician, “Rowdy” was universally celebrated as one of the shining lights of the Triangle hip-hop scene. His solo career featured two acclaimed albums, 2017’s “Return of Black Wall Street” and 2019’s “Black Royalty.” He also led the jazz ensemble (J) Rowdy and the Nightshift, which performed with artists like Busta Rhymes and Rakim and was nominated for a Carolina Music Award in 2017. Barely a week before his death, he completed a stint as the featured artist with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra – playing eight sold-out shows at the Tanger Center, in an experience he described as “a highlight of my career.”
But Josh Rowsey’s greatest impact may have been as a teacher, not just in our community but far beyond. Armed with an master’s degree in teaching from UNC-Greensboro and a drive to inspire creativity in young people, Rowsey taught locally with the Carolina Hip Hop Institute and served as executive director of Blackspace, an Afrofuturist teen center in Durham. Through Blackspace he helped produce the children’s show “Classroom Connections,” which aired on PBS stations across the state. His educational career even took him across international borders: as a Hip-Hop Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, he traveled to Mexico and taught students how to find and spark the creative spirit within – a spirit he often called the “God voice.”
Friends and family gathered last Friday in downtown Durham to celebrate Rowsey’s life, with performances by the cyphers he founded – and social media was flooded over the weekend with tributes from the many people whose lives he touched.
“Your legacy lives on in all you’ve inspired,” wrote one. “Because of you, countless people will hold strong to their dreams, reaching for the things in life that bring them the greatest joy…
“Because you believed in us, we believe in us.”
Photo of Josh Rowsey via the UNC Department of Music.
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