UH lops hip-hop

After almost five years, the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's KTUH-FM 90.3 has pulled the plug on popular alternative hip-hop DJ Kavet the Catalyst's Light Sleeperz show. The Thursday-evening program, which featured a menu of abstract and downtempo hip-hop, hip-hop instrumentals and rarely heard old-school grooves, ends with a six-hour, anything goes adios this evening from 6 until midnight.

The university pulled the plug on Kavet because he's no longer a student there.

"I actually graduated about a year and a half ago," said Kavet, laughing. "To have it end so abruptly is kind of sad. But the rules are the rules." KTUH general manager Lori Ann Saeki blamed Kavet's post-baccalaureate presence on confusion over his student status. No decision has been made on whether Light Sleeperz will continue without him.

As for tonight's final program, "I basically put the word out to everyone that ever helped me out," said Kavet, who also is host of his own alterno hip-hop DJ events around town. "They'll be open turntables. If you've got records, come spin them. If you want to rhyme, come and get on the mike. It'll be a positive free-for-all. I've prepared the station for it."

— Derek Paiva, Advertiser staff writer