Mixing Music with Business Education: Beats Not Bullets

Baltimore’s hip-hop scene and heritage are inextricably joined with the city’s lifestyle in standard. There are many grassroots organizations and platforms that look for to uplift and teach Baltimore Town college students, and Beats Not Bullets’ method is resourceful and immediate, mixing tunes training with enterprise instruction when educating pupils about the new music industry at substantial.

Beats Not Bullets, the brainchild of Kevin “Ogun” Beasley, was started 6 years back as a way to instruct pupils in Baltimore how to deliver and build tunes. Beasley was eventually joined by program coordinators MC Bravado and Brandon Lackey, both of those former Baltimore City Public University teachers as very well as musicians, and the afterschool program’s distinctive blend of positive impact, specialized instruction, and networking has been a organic extension of their training exercise. “We the two began to lead to Beats Not Bullets mainly because we both equally skipped teaching,” said Lackey. They are the two method coordinators for Beats Not Bullets. The pair operates a history label named Label Necklace. 

Beats Not Bullets was introduced with one particular of six 2022 SXSW Local community Service Awards previous thirty day period 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 performed at the pageant. “We use our platform to attract focus to systems specifically like Beats Not Bullets,” Lackey said. “That’s exactly what we did at South by Southwest. We labored with many applications just striving to get eyeballs on all the pleasure taking place about the intersection of hip-hop and schooling because Rich and I are both of those former teachers in Baltimore City.” 

Founded in 2016, Beats Not Bullets aims to maximize center- and superior-faculty-age students’ expertise of audio engineering and the recording business. Contributors study to use instruments, pc application, and audio products to make new music. Over 500 learners have graduated from the plan, which is staffed and funded by the nonprofit Dream Bigger Group Institute. 

Bravado and Lackey are passionate about hip-hop and education and learning and instilling entrepreneurial and economical literacy techniques in Baltimore youth. They’ve partnered with community organizations to make sure these capabilities are taught. Through the pandemic, BNB fundraised ample to have a actual physical cohort all through the pandemic at their studio, bringing in healthcare facility-grade air filtration systems. Beasley, alongside with DJ Five Star, also made a remote group for learners to tap in. The program is now at Attain! Partnership and Electronic Harbor Significant University. Bravado and Lackey emphasize that they hope to expand nationally. 

Tonight’s live performance at Metro Gallery is a fundraiser for BNB featuring MC Bravado and BNB plan alumni. Fifty p.c of the ticket sales will go specifically in the direction of supporting the method. Proof of vaccination is necessary to go to the concert. You can order tickets here. If you’re unable to go to in particular person, you can donate to BNB right here. 

E. Brady Robinson took the pictures down below of MC Bravado, Kevin “Ogun” Beasley, and BNB learners Eddie the Artist, Jay, Jordan, Tayybandz, and D Funds.