When people think of Louisville they usually think of the Kentucky Derby, Louisville Slugger, or famous people like Muhammad Ali, Colonel Sanders, Diane Sawyer, or Tom Cruise, who wasn’t even born here but lived in Louisville for a number of years. For those who don’t know, Louisville is also home to a vast number of artist, musicians, rappers, and dancers. This concentration of local talent creates a huge difficulty for those whose skill surpasses others, so much so that they should be more than just local talent. Living in Louisville is especially hard for rappers unless they have something that sets them so far apart from the rest that there is no way they aren’t noticed.
Louisville has many characters, one of which is DaVaughan Reardon, member of the well-known group, Dramagang, and creator of Non-Sleepers, but he is more simply known as "Bonus" or "Nanza". Nanza is one of the craziest, most energetic people I have ever had the pleasure of coming in contact with. He is also, in my opinion, one of the few great rappers based out of Louisville, Ky. His excellence isn’t only in his lyrical skill, flow, or rhythm. It is in his personality, his style, and his life philosophy.
For those who may not know Nanza or have only seen him in passing, with his 3-pointed haircut called the "Tri-Hawk", dancing in the streets, talking to everyone, wearing a variety of wooden chains(Yes, that was Nanza), he seems crazy. The people that know him know he is, sometimes but mostly he’s determined, expressive, and slightly philosophical.
When I first heard that Nanza’s motto was simply "No Sleep", I wrote him off, like many do, thinking that he was either weird, or insane, or both. Everyone knows that people have to sleep, right? It wasn’t until later, in a rare, serious conversation, that he explained the true meaning. "No Sleep" is not about staying awake. It’s about a person sleeping as little as possible, the bare necessity, until his/her goals are reached. Nanza hates to sleep because he knows it’s a few hours that he won’t be working to improve his quality of life and achieve his dreams. Nanza said, "I don’t wanna have dreams, I wanna live ‘em".
The first part of his journey will be complete on June 10, 2011 when he releases his mixtape entitled "No Sleep". It is a feast of emotional and musical tastes about the highs and lows of constantly chasing your dreams. It will make you want to dance, cry, and work harder than ever to get where you want to go in life. June 10, 2011 is the true beginning of the "No Sleep" revolution. To get a copy of "No Sleep" message DaVaughan Whoananza Reardon on Facebook, visit http://www.itsfetti.com/, and follow his twitter, @Whoananza. There are also "No Sleep" T-shirts available. So support one of Louisville’s up and coming artists and join the "No Sleep" revolution to put you on the path to living your dreams.
