Mixing Music with Business Education: Beats Not Bullets

Baltimore’s hip-hop scene and background are inextricably linked with the city’s lifestyle in normal. There are quite a few grassroots corporations and platforms that search for to uplift and teach Baltimore Town pupils, and Beats Not Bullets’ strategy is imaginative and direct, mixing tunes schooling with enterprise schooling even though instructing college students about the new music marketplace at substantial.

Beats Not Bullets, the brainchild of Kevin “Ogun” Beasley, was began six many years in the past as a way to instruct learners in Baltimore how to deliver and make tunes. Beasley was at some point joined by method coordinators MC Bravado and Brandon Lackey, both equally previous Baltimore City General public School lecturers as nicely as musicians, and the afterschool program’s specific blend of positive effect, technical education and learning, and networking has been a normal extension of their instructing follow. “We both equally started to contribute to Beats Not Bullets mainly because we both of those skipped teaching,” stated Lackey. They are the two software coordinators for Beats Not Bullets. The pair operates a history label named Label Necklace.

Beats Not Bullets was introduced with 1 of six 2022 SXSW Community Services Awards last month in Austin, Texas. MC Bravado, Beasley, and Lackey traveled to Austin, and Dawuane Johnson (aka Bigwuaune), a BNB graduate, joined them on the journey and executed at the competition. “We use our system to attract interest to courses precisely like Beats Not Bullets,” Lackey stated. “That’s just what we did at South by Southwest. We labored with a number of courses just striving to get eyeballs on all the pleasure taking place all over the intersection of hip-hop and training since Rich and I are equally former instructors in Baltimore Town.”

Launched in 2016, Beats Not Bullets aims to raise middle- and large-college-age students’ understanding of audio engineering and the recording sector. Individuals find out to use instruments, pc software program, and audio products to make audio. More than 500 learners have graduated from the software, which is staffed and funded by the nonprofit Aspiration Even larger Local community Institute.

Bravado and Lackey are passionate about hip-hop and education and instilling entrepreneurial and financial literacy capabilities in Baltimore youth. They’ve partnered with community corporations to make confident these techniques are taught. All through the pandemic, BNB fundraised adequate to have a physical cohort all through the pandemic at their studio, bringing in medical center-quality air filtration programs. Beasley, together with DJ Five Star, also established a distant team for learners to tap in. The application is at this time at Arrive at! Partnership and Electronic Harbor Significant University. Bravado and Lackey emphasize that they hope to develop nationally.

Tonight’s concert at Metro Gallery is a fundraiser for BNB featuring MC Bravado and BNB program alumni. Fifty per cent of the ticket income will go instantly in the direction of supporting the system. Proof of vaccination is needed to show up at the concert. You can order tickets here. If you are unable to go to in particular person, you can donate to BNB here.

E. Brady Robinson took the shots beneath of MC Bravado, Kevin “Ogun” Beasley, and BNB college students Eddie the Artist, Jay, Jordan, Tayybandz, and D Income.