Decked out in colorful hats and white Chicago skyline T-shirts with “GS” written on the side, GradSchool artists paid homage to God and brought an anti-violence message to the stage during their pregame performance at the Chicago Football Classic earlier this month.
GradSchool is made up of seven solo hip hop artists who collaborated to create "The Cease Fire: The Message Volume 1" mixtape. The group's members include: Carache Da God, BJ, Jovan “Mr. Daniels” Granderson, Darren “Redstorm” Redmond, Larry “Koop” Vivians, Paul “C Note P” Richardson and Jerry “Spree Isreal” Kelley.
Chicago hip hop artist Kanye West did it with rap song, "Jesus Walks," but today’s secular rap music is not popular for bringing up religion. So how do GradSchool artists feel about being embraced by those who expect commercial or gangsta rap?
Spree said, “We’re getting God's word out. People are going to judge me whether I’m on or not. It makes me happy knowing that I'm spreading life instead of death, instead of sex.”
Spree is proud that his grandmother and mother can now hear his rhymes and doesn’t want to go back to making club-bangers or commercial music, regardless of how popular his previous music was on local radio stations and at Chicago clubs.
Koop mentions how a little girl
felt their music saved her life after
hearing the "Lil Mya" song on the mixtape, created after the stabbing death
of 9-year-old Mya Lyons who was
found in an alley near her father’s
home.
Redstorm remembers the
days before the "Lil Mya" song, and
said that song made the members do
a 180 degree turn in their music and
start talking about religion and nonviolence
more, performing for
CeaseFire, an anti-violence community
organization, and other venues.
The guys, who individually record for GradSchool Entertainment, all met each other at poetry sets and in the studio performing songs. But the company brought them together to record as a group.
Inspiration for performing hip hop came from playing church instruments, watching hip hop movies like "Krush Groove" and "Electric Boogaloo," singing with Donnell Jones and singing in the choir. GradSchool artists are also members of New Beginnings Church where hearing Pastor Corey B. Brooks preaching has been influential.
But the group was not always angelic, especially considering some of them were in gangs, robbed, did drugs and participated in violence.
Redstorm never thought he’d be performing spoken word or doing hip hop. But after 13 years in prison, being strung out on narcotics and listening to Tupac, Redstorm played with the pen and realized he had talent. He is the 2004 winner of Chicago’s Best New Poet Award, was on HBO’s "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry" that same year and authored the book Finder of Lost Souls.
“It’s hard pushing the word of positivity in the land of negativity,” Spree said. “We want Chicago to know that it’s some real brothas out here that’s really trying to help everybody…gangbanger to gangbanger, from hustler to hustler, get on the right path. So when they see GradSchool, think of somebody who’s coming to help you, not coming to harm you.”
For more information on these artists, visit www.myspace.com/gradschoolgroup.
Shamontiel Vaughn can be reached via e-mail at svaughn@chicagodefender.com.
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