THE STORY Our central program, From the Block, Out the Box launched its first season in the spring of 2006. The 8-week after school Hip-Hop workshop at South Bronx Prep (a 6th – 12th grade school) culminated in two performances, one for the middle school and one for friends and family at Carlito’s Poets Café in Harlem. Local emcees guided 20 sixth and seventh graders through the creative and technical process of songwriting. Working in teams, (one mentor to three or four students) the mentors collaborated with students to create an original song. Our student/emcees learned song structure, delivery and performance. Students wrote songs around the theme of Change…change in their lives as they begin adolescence, change that they would like to see in the music they listen too, as well as change they hope will come to the neighborhoods they live in.

In the fall of 2006, UAB expanded the workshop to include high school students. The volunteer mentor base doubled! The second season of From the Block, Out the Box focused on the theme of Choice. Students wrote about the negative and positive consequences associated with the choices that they make. The final shows, both at the school and at The Bruckner, were highly energized as the middle school students, high school students, and mentors, all shared the stage.

In the spring of 2007 we expanded our program once again. Thanks to very generous equipment donations, we built a small recording booth in the music room at South Bronx Prep. In order to support our participants academically we provided incentives for students to perform well in school. Students that improved in their studies were invited to join us on fieldtrips and had the privilege of recording their own original song.

The theme for Season Three was Storytelling. Students studied artists who incorporated storytelling into their songs and then wrote their own. Since Season Three, the students have written about “The Struggle,” and “The Message,” focusing on what they have been through and what they want to tell the world. This past season, season six, they were writing about ”Growth,” both personally and socially, a fitting theme considering how much Urban Art Beat has grown!

We are excited as we look toward the future. Since its inception, Urban Art Beat has worked hard to increase our reach, while keeping our programs intimate and effective. We now have a highly reputable fiscal sponsor (http://www.nyfa.org) and our vendor license, making it possible to easily partner with any school in New York City. In the fall we will be working with freshmen from a Manhattan High School to highlight themes in Global History and English. Teachers, artists, and students will benefit immensly from our well planned cross curricular collaboration!

Beats & Rhymes was founded in 2007 at the Nellie Stone Johnson Beacons Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Shortly after the program was founded, the YMCA received a grant from Best Buy to fund this new venture. Its purpose was to provide school-age kids the chance to experience making and recording music in a way they could relate to. Each student has to complete their homework in order to participate in the after-school program. It was designed to provide challenging, positive youth and career development opportunities for low income, culturally-diverse youth.

The Beats & Rhymes program has produced and released 8 albums with the various groups it has developed. The NSJ Crew, consisting of just students from Nellie Stone Johnson Community School, was the first group to form. In 2010, the program expanded with the Y.N.RichKids (“Why enrich kids?”) at the North Community YMCA Youth & Teen Enrichment Center where it was able to include kids from many schools around the neighborhood, as well as high school kids. More groups are being developed at Lucy Laney Community School, among many others.

Beats & Rhymes is used as a vehicle to help young people more fully develop their writing, technical, business, academic and social skills. The program uses positive youth development principles and project-based learning to promote leadership skills and cultural tolerance. They teach youth technology skills in the area of music production and engineering.

The mission of Beats & Rhymes is to provide schools and community centers with the knowledge and resources they need to implement their own successful program, and subsequent music group. If you are interested in doing this for your own program, please visit the EDUCATION section.

Thank you to the following for their support:

Nellie Stone Johnson YMCA Beacons Center
North Community YMCA Youth & Teen Enrichment Center
YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities
Best Buy Children’s Foundation
KMOJ Radio
United Way
John Baker
Behind Bars Bicycle Shop
North Star Roller Girls
Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Twins
Families & friends of Beats & Rhymes
Past & present members of The NSJ Crew and Y.N.RichKids