The isolation booth door clicks shuts. The recording sign blinks to life. Enclosed by soundproof walls, aspiring rapper J-Lew takes a deep breath as he steps closer to the microphone.
After a year of rapping as a hobby, junior Jabari Lewis decided to pursue rapping as a career.
“I want to a rapper because I love music,” Lewis said. “I really think I can be something in hip-hop or any other thing to do with rapping. Also, I just like contributing to keep rap alive for generations.
Plus, I won’t only make money, I’ll also be giving back to my community, family, friends and supporters.”
Lewis’ neighbor, freshman J’lon Smith said he saw potential early on.
“He would always be listening to music and come out with freestyles out of nowhere,” Smith said. “He raps some legit stuff, so it really wasn’t a big surprise when he told me he is going to be a rapper.”
The mix tapes were recorded at his friends’ house and Anarchy studio. Lewis said a recording session ranges from $20 to $40.
“His songs sound like something I would hear on 97.9 radio station,” sophomore Sabrina Quiros said. “He has a lot of potential.”
On Nov. 1 Lewis posted his first digital CD to his Facebook page. His latest work was released in late December.
“I have a different variety of music it could be upbeat, calm, romantic,” Lewis said. “I sing about my everyday life, things I feel and my opinion. I am inspired by God, my mom, other rappers and my starting fan base. God because I believe if I keep him first, I can accomplish anything, other rappers because I see them going day in and day out and I just think that can be me, mom because she works so hard and it inspires me to work hard to one day reward her.”
According to his mother, Karyn Lewis, she was not initially thrilled with Jabari’s decision.
“I wanted him to do Christian rap,” Karyn Lewis said. “Jabari is constantly writing, and perfecting his craft to give his fans the best of the best. I can truly say that my son has changed my mind and made me so happy to just call him my handsome, wonderful, super-talented, extremely intelligent son. I thank God for my blessing.”
Karyn said she appreciates Jabari including morals in his raps.
“My favorite song is “Keep your head up to the sky”, Karyn said. “This song is special because it lets me know that he still has a since of God in his life. It lets me know that he is listening to me when I tell him to work on being positive in his rap lyrics and to spread love. I would prefer that he could be a little less colorful in some of the lyrics. However, I know his heart is with God.”
As Jabari gains more popularity, he said he wants to make sure he thanks all his supporters His stage name page on Facebook, J-Lew, gained about 1,053 and counting fans in the course of six months.
“I watch the videos that he posts on Facebook and I like them,” junior Mackenzie Klempnauer said. “A lot of my friends are friends with him so they know about the page. He’s really friendly. He posts ‘thanks guys’ and ‘thanks for supporting me’ a lot.”