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Children of Tomorrow

Marcellus Brown
Music & Culture IRL
Published in
7 min readDec 13, 2021
Photo by Devin Avery on Unsplash

“An analysis of 2009 graduation rates found that 60.9 percent of high-schoolers in cities graduated across the country, compared with 75.3 percent in suburbs” (Butrymowicz). Graduation rates within the inner city have always been subpar. This is due to a plethora of reasons, one being the lack of connection adolescents have with school. To add to this, kids that grow up in urban communities often face experiences that force them to put education on the backend, whereas those growing up in suburban areas have a totally different outlook. Imagine what the world would be like if schools tried relating more to their kids. Imagine if they understood how many opportunities would open with an education. With the help of music, there are ways to help keep kids engaged in their studies. We must give them a chance.

Ultimately, much more can be done to show adolescents that there is a way out, and it’s not what they think it is. Unfortunately, with the way things are for urban-area adolescents, they’re only exposed to what they see locally and that’s never really a good thing. They have no mentorship, guidance, or help to show them that there is more to life than meets the eye. Anyone who grew up in that environment would understand that those around them aren’t training to be lawyers or doctors. Many young people end up turning to the streets and never look back. With help, more can be done for the youth of tomorrow.

In order to keep youth engaged, a connection can be made through music, something that seems to be influential in everyone’s life! “Music can be a career. Among the students’ responses were questions such as: If music were taken out of the schools, how would people know if they had any talent and wanted a career as a musician? How would famous singers and symphony players become known? Adolescents often admire musicians and their fast-paced lifestyles” (McDowell). Artists made it where they are today, of course, with their talent, but there are plenty of artists that share the same experiences as listeners. That’s what keeps their audiences so invested. One may wonder how music could impact the youth, and it’s simple. It demonstrates to them that expressing how they feel is important.

We all are familiar with artists who keep journals just for personal thoughts: artists like Drake, Juice WRLD, J. Cole and many others. Journaling is a very useful way to express how a person is feeling and can indeed help with many factors, including writing, mental health and decision making. “Within the busy pace at which you move as a fitness professional, journaling can provide an opportunity to slow down and look at your life. Think of journaling as a powerful tool to clarify, focus and evaluate the reasons you do what you do” (Larsen). In other words, journaling helps people analyze things associated with their life. Whether those experiences are good or bad, people can benefit from writing them down and dissecting the situations. Being in tune with one’s emotions helps tremendously in the long run, as it’ll help a person figure things out for themselves and decrease stress. It seems like a tactic that can help youth, especially those in the inner city.

When listening to artists today, they’re practically an open book. Composers like Juice WRLD have never been shy when it comes to explaining their own personal lives in their music. Struggling with depression and addiction, Juice WRLD made it apparent that he was far from perfect. Because of such vulnerability in his songs, listeners felt connected. It’s not surprising to hear people say Juice WRLD saved them for this reason. “Being misunderstood is the currency of many a young male artist, but in Juice’s case, you do sense that there was more to him than the glum public image that was presented. Surely we had only just begun to know him” (Norris). Everybody faces challenges, everybody handles them differently. In this case, Juice was able to capitalize off of it, and turn it into a legacy.

The influence hip-hop has had on the community can really open up doors for youth. There’s always been a bad rep when it comes to rap, but in actuality, the artists are teaching the younger generation. They’re showing with their words and their experiences that their audience, too, can create art through literacy. Not to mention, just by simply writing down experiences and journaling daily reading and writing test scores can improve. “U Chicago researchers have found that students prone to test-taking anxiety improved their scores by nearly one grade point when given 10 minutes to write about what was causing them fear” (Harms). Journaling just doesn’t have benefits that are associated with reading and writing, it also helps with emotions, dreams, quality of life, etc. The children of urban America could all capitalize on this practice. Whether they want to make music based on their thoughts and experiences, or they just need a break from life by just taking some time out to write about their day; regardless, both are beneficial for youth.

“School Daze” by J.Cole (2007)

This song is so important as an outcry for change in urban area school systems. Cole mentions in a verse “‘cause instead of tryna send a n**** to a tutor, them guidance counselors tryna introduce us to recruiters, it’s a setup.” This quote is strong because here J. Cole is exposing the school system for what it is. It isn’t preparing youth to succeed; instead, they want them to fall vulnerable to America and it’s unjust system

“I Can” by Nas (2002)

Nas’ “I Can” is a great example of a hip-hop artist influencing youth in the way of art. He has children chanting, “I know I can, be what I want to be.” This is important for youth to know, and most of them just aren’t aware of all the opportunities in the world for each and everyone. With that knowledge, they won’t be seduced to accept only what they’ve been brought up around.

“Children of the World” by Big Krit (2020)

This song goes into depth about what’s in store for those that grow up in the tough neighborhoods and go to school experiencing the inner city. These kids are exposed to so much, yet so little at the same time. Unfortunately, in this song you can tell that the victim Krit is storytelling for is obviously someone who is a part of that crowd that may have fallen into the streets.

“Malcolm” by G Herbo (2018)

G Herbo’s storytelling is what carries the message here. In the song, there is a character named Malcolm. Malcolm is a teenager growing up in the city of Chicago, and obviously he doesn’t have anyone to go to in moments of crisis. Herbo does a great job of walking his listeners through an average day in Chicago. Would more kids think like Malcolm if they known of the opportunities that are available in this world?

“Get Smoked” by Lil Mouse (2012)

This song was selected because it is youth pushing for change with the right intentions behind the art. Here is a display of Mouse Myers, who was about 12 years old at the time of the recording of this video. He did indeed use all of his experiences to create art. Kids need to be pushed to do whatever it is that makes them happy, along with being given opportunities that they may not be aware of.

“Oodles O’ Noodles Babies” by Meek Mill (2018)

In Meek’s “Oodles O’ Noodles Babies,” he emphasizes how much of a trench he was in due to his tough upbringing in Philadelphia. In the song, you can tell he actually lived this lifestyle because of his extensive, in-depth storytelling. Although the situation was bad, Meek used his hardship to create his music.

All in all, I believe that the children of tomorrow aren’t being accommodated properly when it comes to meeting their needs within the education system. This topic is vital because of its connection to all of us, regardless of the skin being black, brown, or white. If a child is not being taught to a parent’s liking, then that’s a huge issue. To fix these problems, I would just suggest inserting programs that are more liable to keep kids engaged. Anything they can relate to in a program can be tried in a community. Music is definitely something that is relatable. No matter who a person is, it is a guarantee that some music out there is explaining everything they’re through. What I liked about some of the songs I shared is that these people weren’t necessarily raised with a silver spoon in their mouths growing up. They know what it was like to experience those tough moments that not everyone does. Instead of falling victim to the society they grew up in, these artists capitalized on the situation, creating art through music!

Imagine if we were able to get on the same page as all of the students that attended school. That’s the issue, we’re so accustomed to teaching every kid the same, yet we fail to realize that everyone is different. Everyone doesn’t learn the same. I know something everyone does love though, music! What if we had all students create a song. Engagement like this is something that students would find fun. It’s something that’s not only getting the student involved in the activity, because they are having fun, but they are also learning writing skills.

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Marcellus Brown
Music & Culture IRL

Written by Marcellus Brown

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