Black Lives Matter, police brutality, black-on-black crime and being aware of what’s happening in one’s own community congeal lyrically in the song “Peace,” written by a Frederick Douglass Academy senior Drake Glover and featured by junior Deon Butler, as part of a Lyricist Society project.
Glover has been apart of Lyricist Society since the beginning of his junior year at Douglass.
“The music wasn't very hard to write, but it took some time,” said Glover, who wrote the song with Butler.
“The goal was to make a music video that has a positive message and with good feedback,” said Glover.
Glover and Butler were the featured rappers in the music video, which is available on the Lyricist Society channel on YouTube. The video was edited by Douglass senior Kamar Graves.
Lyricist Society, a Douglass hip-hop club run by staff member Quan Neloms, is a music program for students that have an interest in hip hop and poetry. Members write lyrics and perform on music videos, or work behind the camera in areas such as videography, documentary making and sound engineering.
The program has been at Douglass since 2010.
“At the moment there are eight students involved, but since we been in existence we’ve had about 30 students who participated” said Neloms.
There are music videos and also documentaries of positive messages from students to the public. The significance of Lyricist Society is that teenagers are in tune with the music stylings of their peers, so they make music speaking to their peers in a positive way. They focus on showing positive messages towards communities in and out of state by making songs called “Nutrients,” “Peace,” and also “What Would You Do?”
Graves is a three-sport athlete who intends to play college football. He has been apart of Douglass since seventh grade.
“I wanted to be in Lyricist Society because of the hip hop, you're just able to speak your mind positively,” said Graves. “With me knowing how to record and being a photographer I felt as if it would've been convenient for the program and also me to learn new experience.”
The video was shot on Jan. 8 in front of Douglass and also inside. Students who participated in the video wore all black and held up signs with the message related to peace. All of the seniors hopped on board and wanted to help spread awareness. The message of the video was to imply that black on black/black on blue crime is unnecessary for those young and older.
In the beginning of the video there was a MLK quote, “It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world. It is nonviolent or non existence.”
Inside of the lyrics, the boys really implore just how important it is to be aware of what is going on in our community, how Black Lives Matter, and that police brutality is very relevant. These young men wanted to put their feelings about the situations that have happened and let others know that this is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
You can check out the group’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/LyricistSociety.
