Jus’ Like Us program mentors by using hip-hop

Catherine Rierson

UNC Staff Writer

the Durham VOICE

thedurhamvoice@gmail.com

Jus’ Like Us, a nonprofit organization based in Northeast Central Durham, cultivates kids’ artistic impulses through hip-hop. And it’s not your typical mentoring program.

“The kids just come in, feel a groove and then write something to express what they feel,” said Alex Hawthorne, the founder of Jus’ Like Us.

Jus’ Like Us supplies 13-to 17-year-olds with tools to make their own music in an attempt to draw them from the streets and curb potential involvement with drug-related crime and gangs.

“Hip-hop is what this demographic clings to, so it’s effective when you’re trying to keep kids’ attention, especially when there’s a mentor involved,” Hawthorne said. “And music is one of the greatest influences in a person’s life, second only to the church.”

“Too often though, rap gives a wrong impression about life,” Hawthorne said.

“It falsifies what being a man is. We teach them how to think differently and express themselves more consciously so they don’t feel like they have to spit out what they’ve heard on the radio or images they’ve seen on TV.”

With a focus on music, kids can express themselves in a different, more productive way. Unlike most mentoring programs, the mentors at Jus’ Like Us are actually able to relate to the kids, said Hawthorne, who came up with the idea while in jail in 2005.

“I can actually tell them, ‘I’ve seen what you’ve seen, and I’ve done what you’ve done,’ and they respect that,” he said. “Being able to relate on a day-to-day basis makes it easier to connect with the kids.”

The program started in 2005 in a small, unheated room in the East Durham Recreation Center, with just a single microphone and computer for 10 kids. But now — equipped with five Mac computers and one microphone — the classroom is located in the Holton Career and Resource Center in a room big enough to accommodate a church choir.

“It’s not forced, like a lot of mentoring programs,” said Karim Shyllon, Hawthorne’s friend and colleague. “The kids don’t have to talk or explain too much because the music can express the same thing.”

The computers in the room already have beats and samples prepared from earlier work. This gives the students the option of choosing one they like and creating a rap to fit it, or making their own beats with a miniature keyboard equipped with sounds ranging from acoustics to percussion.

“Kids generally like to freestyle,” Shyllon said. “Bringing written material to the class seems too much like homework, and often times the reading and writing levels in this area are sub par.”

But parental participation–the program’s ultimate objective–is slim to none, and attendance is inconsistent, too, Shyllon said.

“Some days we will have one kid come in and on others we’ll have 20 kids,” he said. “It all depends on how things are going at home or at school — whether or not things are too hard.”

Nonetheless, parents appreciate having a safe place for their children to go after school, Shyllon added.  And for those that can come, the enthusiasm is palpable.

Michael McCrae, 18, has adopted the program to develop his own skills — he plays the drums, the bass and the piano, and he rarely misses a class.

“If I got a song in my head, I have to come by,” he said. McCrae makes beats with his keyboard that he brings from home, and he’s the go-to guy for others in the class.

“Girls will flock to him with questions,” Shyllon said. “They will have written the lyrics down but need help making the beat, and Mike will have the whole song ready for them by the end of the week.”