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Like Wiz…if they could be like Wiz
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Written by Kionna Woods and Ceirra Saunders
Schenley/Obama rappers have dreams of fame, fortune.
They write, they make beats and they DJ, they put together mix tapes, they perform, and most of all they rap!!! They are Schenley/Obama’s All-Star Rappers. They have rap nicknames like Dre Crawf (Kendre Crawford), Kush Wilkes (Kush Wilkerson), Trell (Raihoz Johnson), Mike P (Mike Peterson), Woo (Myron Taylor), Lady T (Taira Jackson), DJ Mafia (Sam Conturo) or perhaps they just go by their name, like Curtis Pope.
Although, they have many different styles of rap they have a lot of things in common, one of them being that they all look up to Lil Wayne and Drake as far as someone in the music industry. Certainly, the success of Pittsburgh’s (and Allderdice’s) Wiz Khalifa has given them a lot of hopes for their own careers.
They were all inspired by family and close friends and don’t take what they do as a joke.
Woo (Taylor)says, “Rapping is a hustle, a grind, a lifestyle!” and that’s not much different for Kush who states, “The first time I recorded, I had massive fun; I was addicted.”
Although the rappers are the main people we see in the music videos, it’s the DJ’s who play a huge part in this industry. DJ Mafia (Conturo) is what you would call a real hard working DJ. He has been making beats since he was 6 and his love for the industry is like no other. He also takes some credit for putting rapper Mikey P (Peterson)and Woo in the rapping business.
Rappers Woo, Mikey P, Trell (Johnson), and DJ Mafia all form their own group called “H.O.D” and have already found great success, while Dre-Crawf (Crawford), Curtis Pope, and Kush Wilkes are seeking to make their success as solo artists. “Rapping could be a career, but I also have a plan B,” says Mikey P while Dre-Crawf thinks otherwise, saying, It’s a career choice and I’m serious at what I do; it’s not a game to me.”
“I live in the studio!” is a comment we heard from all of the rappers we interviewed, but Curtis Pope is different, in that he visits only once in awhile. Yet he still has the time to make some very inspirational verses. We even had a chance to hear a verse that he recently made. Of course, just asking a rapper to free verse for you gets mixed replies, as in the case of Trell, who said, “I don’t free-style because my style isn’t free!”
Then there’s Lady T (Jackson), who does a fine job by holding it down for all the females in this industry and repping Pittsbugh. She also stays in the studio most of her free time.
After having the wonderful opportunity of interviewing the Schenley/Obama All-Star Rappers, we learned a lot about the rappers and the rapping industry, along with what it takes to be a good…no great…wait… phenomenal rapper!!!
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Sharin Berman–I’m going to have to disagree, Mr.President
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Written by Sharin Berman
Editor’s Note:
Sharin Berman has been our correspondent in Israel as she spends the spring semester there. It struck us that this report was more worthy of a column.
I don’t know how big of a deal it was in America, but a recent statement from President Obama has almost literally set of some bombs here. The first issue was the timing of the statement. It stated a number of controversial things right before the a visit to Washington from Benyamin Natanyahu (Bibi) the Israeli prime minister, which was just stupid on his part. However, the biggest issue with this statement was that Obama asserted that Israel open negotiations with the pre-1967 boarders as a starting point.
In 1967, during the 6 day war, Israel attained a great deal of land: the Sinai Desert, the West Bank (as well as the Gaza strip, but that was part of Sinai, I believe) and the Golan. Since then, Israel has given back the Sinai to Egypt in return for peace (at this point that might be shattered because of the revolution, but we’re watching and waiting).
More recently, the West bank has been given tot he Palestinians. This has proven to be a problematic because there are bombs and attacks coming out of Gaza almost daily. Cities like Sderot get bombed almost daily. Granted, not nuked or anything but enough to do significant damage to a house or person.
Anyway, the big deal about Obama’s statement is that he implied that we not only give back the West Bank and the Golan, but Jerusalem as well. Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel. You don’t just say that a country with some amount of political unrest give up it’s capitol; that’s just stupid.
Another thing that’s an issue is that there are actual cities and mass amounts of Israeli citizens in the West bank. I’m not talking live-in-a-trailor ultra-orthodox settlers, but full blown cities! You can’t just uproot these people and tell them to live somewhere else. (Also, if that part of the country became a Palestinian state tomorrow, why couldn’t the Jews live there?) So Mr President, please consider the situation of those to whom you aim your speech.
Let’s put this into perspective. It’s kind of like suggesting that the US give Texas, New Mexico, California, and Arizona back to Mexico. If we’re going that route then we might as well give the Louisiana Purchase back to France and all 13 colonies back to England. This is how a country is built; land is taken during conflict and settled. Didn’t the US essentially kill off thousands of Indians in buidling what is now America?
The US teaches it’s young citizens about Manifest Destiny as if it was a good thing, but when another country is simply trying to defend its borders that it won fair and square it’s not ok?
Apologies for ranting in a more than slightly biased manner…
There are some things that people don’t know and I think they should.
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