Last week, we told you about the great work Scheme a.k.a. Navarro was doing with Beats and Bars, his after school program in Little Village at Lawndale High School. Navarro has recruited close to a dozen students who have written, produced, recorded and performed their debut project, Who They Wish I Was.
The EP includes nine brand new tracks, with Navarro at the helm helping each and every emcee reach and attain their goals. This is truly beautiful and we hope the rest of the city takes notice to this great program and the awesome work Navarro is doing.
The students spent five days a week for many months crafting this project, so we highly suggest you lend it an ear below.
The first official release from Beats & Bars is Who They Wish I Was, a complete 9 track EP. Written and produced by students of Little Village Lawndale High School, Who They Wish I Was chronicles the day to day life of these southwest side teenagers.
Songs such as “Can’t Take It No More” focuses on their angst towards their environment and coping with the repercussions of street life in Chicago. The title song “Who They Wish I Was” has the teens proclaiming they will not become what society expects them to be as young men from the inner city.
“It’s Alright” and “I Was Wrong” provide a hopeful ending to the project. Produced predominantly by Disrupt, one of the students in the program, the production on the EP is a perfect balance of soul samples and hard hitting drums. Who They Wish I Was encompasses the life many teens in Chicago face on a daily basis, but these teens plan on surpassing all expectations and becoming their cities next success stories.
