Gaknew Roxwel

Social Worker

GaKnew's current EP "The Return" is social commentary through the lens of a social worker and educator. Having grown up as a Hiphop artist in the inner city of Los Angeles, GaKnew's socially conscious lyrics led him into the spoken word scene where he became a national poetry slam champion and frequently invited to speak with at-risk youth. He quickly became inspired to do more than write about the woes of the community and began his career in social work at the Children's Law Center of California. Social work led to GaKnew studying psychology and becoming a certified non-violent parenting educator.

Social work put art on the back burner for GaKnew, but he always used Hiphop as a tool to connect, whether it be rapping with the kids or building rapport over aerosol art. To have more art in his day-to-day life, GaKnew became a high school art/ animation teacher in 2021. However, when students discovered his music videos on YouTube, he found himself fielding a challenging question. His students continuously asked, "If you can rap like this, why are you teaching"? He was teaching to reach the youth but appeared to reach them more through music than lecture. How could he push his students to pursue their dreams while letting go of his own?

GaKnew's insight and approach to life has always served as an asset for him. It is the sole reason it was able to work in social work without a degree and excel to the point of rewriting the programs protocol. Even after leaving the Children's Law Center, they've hired him on contract to train case managers and MSW interns.