缅北强奸

This summer, Chesapeake Heartland鈥檚 Hip Hop Time Capsule paired Kent County teenagers and 缅北强奸 students with musicians, college professors, and museum professionals to research, explore, document, and interpret the rich history of African American music in Kent County, Md.

Olivia Rodrigo鈥檚 鈥淕ood 4 U鈥� may have been officially crowned 2021鈥檚 鈥淪ong of the Summer鈥�, but right here in Kent County, 16 students total - 10 local high school students, five 缅北强奸 students and one Chesapeake College student 鈥� were cranking out tracks and beats that rivaled every one of the season鈥檚 biggest hits.

Hip Hop Time Capsule 鈥� a month-long innovative collaboration between high school and college students in Kent County, MD and musicians, college professors, and museum professionals 鈥� challenged students to create original music and album covers from samples they pulled from the digital archive.

Using these digitized clips to create a beat, the student interns then developed their own lyrics or spoken word pieces like poems and layered those on top. The goal was to create two or three original songs, along with artwork for the album cover. Student鈥檚 final songs were added to the , the final 鈥渂est-of鈥� album that was dropped at the conclusion of the program.

By digging into the oral histories documented in Chesapeake Heartland鈥檚 digital archive 鈥� many of which were recorded by 缅北强奸 students 鈥� the Hip Hop Time Capsule interns were building on Kent County鈥檚 rich history even as they crafted their own unique sounds and styles.

鈥淲e have clips in the archive that range from things as heavy as experiences with segregation and racism, to things as light as recipes for white potato pie,鈥� said Kacey Stewart, Assistant Director for Programs and Experiential Learning for the Starr Center. 鈥淲e want to show the history in its full scope and give the full story, good and bad. The clips that students worked with spanned that full range.

鈥淔or example, we found a clip from a gospel song 鈥� 鈥業 can depend on God鈥� 鈥� and that one clip was repeated over and over to form a hip-hop beat.鈥� For another song, two students paired up to create an original song titled 鈥淔lying with Clipped Wings鈥�, which incorporated a choir repeating 鈥渦ntil I die鈥�, and was interpreted into a record that explains the importance of social justice and protest.

In other songs, students used a snippet of an oral history, with the subject reminiscing or saying something powerful. That oral history now becomes part of the music. In this way, students weren鈥檛 just learning about African American history in Kent County, they were actually contributing to it.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e recontextualizing the past in thinking about the future,鈥� said Stewart.

Over the course of the program, students were inspired by visits and sessions with local and nationally-renowned professionals and award-winning recording artists, like Karen Somerville, Dom Flemons, Marlon Saunders, Yvng Swag, and Robert Earl Price just to name a few. The interns developed their own musical personas through which they channeled their work.

Kentavius Jones, a 缅北强奸 alum and an acclaimed singer/songwriter who hails from the Eastern Shore, served as Musical Director for the Hip Hop Time Capsule program. Getting involved was a natural fit for Jones, who has settled in a role as a music educator and community volunteer after years working as a full-time solo artist. 鈥淭he kids really developed some amazing themes 鈥� resiliency, freedom, perseverance, family, community, legacy 鈥� that鈥檚 been the real scope and arc of the work,鈥� he said.

For their part, the students largely found this program to be incredibly eye-opening. The recorded Mixtape in fact captures their thoughts about what they learned (found under Kent County History 鈥� Reflections Hotline), saying, 鈥淚鈥檝e come to value Kent County a lot more, knowing its history and what took place here, and right across the street from me.鈥� Another student reflected on the richness of what was learned, saying, 鈥淚 feel like after coming here, it鈥檚 a lot deeper than what I thought it was. I realized that there鈥檚 a lot more history than what I was seeing.鈥�

Another student reflected on her biggest takeaway, which is that history is not portrayed as it actually was. 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 so much that鈥檚 lost,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut if you really took the time to ask people, they all had so many interesting stories to share. So many stories are lost, and that鈥檚 our fault because we weren鈥檛 recording it.鈥�

This innovative learning program is part of a larger effort to document the community鈥檚 Black history, in collaboration with the Smithsonian鈥檚 National Museum of African American History and Culture, that has drawn over $1 million in grant funding from the Mellon Foundation, the state of Maryland, and others. The program spanned five weeks and all student interns were paid for their time. This was the first run for what promises to be a regular summer program in Chestertown.