More Than Music

On Friday, November 22nd, The KRUNK Movement performed at the 59th Annual Comcast Light Up Night® in Downtown Pittsburgh. It was a wonderful show. Under the lights of the Highmark Unity Tree, among a crowd of people moving together to the beats, I couldn’t help but pause for a moment and just marvel at the talent presented here. These are high schoolers! In fact, Raeven, who captivated the audience with her powerful voice, is the youngest member of KRUNK at fourteen and joined the program this summer. During the show, DJ Chubbz introduced The KRUNK Movement and its vision. KRUNK is an acronym for Kreating Realistic Universal New School Knowledge. It’s easy for the audience to see this in performance. That is, after all, the pinnacle of the program, the culmination of all their hard work, and the form in which most people encounter KRUNK. 

But what you don’t see is everything that goes into making artists of this caliber and building a conscious, encouraging community for them. I sat down with Jazmine Bailey, the Program Coordinator, and some KRUNK students to step into the world behind the scenes and bring you a more comprehensive look into their activities. The experience that KRUNK provides to students is an invaluable one, not only due to the skills it teaches but also for its emphasis on peer education and the creation of a supportive society.

At Light Up Night, the performers won hearts when they welcomed the most enthusiastic little audience member to the stage to showcase some of his dance moves. This is reflective of KRUNK’s ethos. The most rewarding thing for the students has been the community they’ve found at KRUNK—through shared motivations, passions, and love and respect for their art. This is a family. “This is where I found so many people like me,” Raeven said. She enjoys being able to learn alongside the older students because it helps her gain more perspective. Adam, who signed up for KRUNK’s free music lessons this semester but has worked a lot with the artists in the past, said, “I think the coolest thing about KRUNK is that everyone here is on the same wavelength.” He was also the guitarist at Friday night’s show. Since a lot of these kids go to school together and are already friends, they bring a great atmosphere to the group. Adam highlighted the same: “It’s easy to collaborate with these people. I don’t think there’s anyone here I wouldn’t feel comfortable making a song with.” Years down the line, alumni are still close to the people they connected with through KRUNK. Jazmine Bailey also says that the relationships she has built with others who were in KRUNK with her are some of the most important ones in her life. They are still her friends to this day.

Singer-songwriter, Kaja Cutlip (left) and Producer/Sci-tech, Kai Spadafora (right) performing The KRUNK Movement's new unreleased single, "Eastside" at the 59th Annual Comcast Light Up Night®.

 This encouraging community makes KRUNK a positive place for creation and experimentation. The students are here to learn and explore. The endeavor is further supported by the mentors, Lewis McDonald (MC), Jimmy Julz (Band), and Jazmine Bailey (Dance). Some of the best artists in the city, these mentors excel in their fields and give so much more to the students than just skill training. The students have the opportunity to network, ask questions, and sometimes even perform with them (as they did on Friday). To have alumni on staff is one of KRUNK’s greatest strength and clearly speaks to what Center of Life can do for an individual.

As the Program Coordinator, Jazmine Bailey prioritizes the students’ all-round development. “Instilling a sense of responsibility and culpability in our students is going to prepare them for a successful life as an artist outside of here. We’re big advocates for teaching the students to be in control of their own economy. We’re giving them the professional development now to figure out how to make opportunities in the arts for themselves instead of waiting for someone to book them or having to sign major record labels. We teach them how to value their craft so they can be in control of their own economy in the future, as artists.”

The students also acquire crucial personal skills such as time management, planning, resilience, confidence, collaboration, and cooperation. But to do so through hip-hop brings a lot more to the table. In Jazmine’s words, “Hip-hop is one of the ways to communicate better to our community, to meet them on our level, to speak to them in a language they understand so they can give that message to others.”

This focus on knowledge and peer education is critical to the program. In the past, the group learned about new subjects or issues through lecture-style vibe sessions. However, Jazmine has revamped these sessions to create more dynamic, involved discussions. “I want our students at KRUNK to really shape their own thoughts and their own perceptions instead of it being the mentor forcing their perspective into their students.” She includes different activities centered around current events, political cause and social justice issues. “I want our vibe sessions to be just as current as the events that are taking place today, that are directly affecting our students. I think there’s a way to lean into broader themes by attaching them to actual issues they are facing themselves.”

Kaja Cutlip, a 10th-grade student at Taylor Allderdice High School, performing “Freedom”.

So far this semester, the vibe sessions have covered topics such as Mental Health Awareness Day and Reconciliation (what it means to be human). The latter was led by Dr. O'Brien, a professor from Duquesne University. They touched on themes such as freedom, friendship, reconciliation, etc. The conversation evolved into a show, created and performed by the KRUNK artists for an audience of Dr. O’Brien and her class from Duquesne University who visited the nonprofit program in Hazelwood. In the future, Jazmine would like to have other community leaders and people working in education and entertainment lead vibe sessions to share their expertise with KRUNK.

The students I spoke to found both vibe sessions enriching and described them as eye-opening and evocative. The vibe session around Mental Health Day was valuable as the free-flowing discussion had them think about how this directly affects their life. For example, they thought about ways to help friends and peers dealing with mental health issues or the different ways in which those manifest. They are aware of what is happening around them and are already thinking critically and drawing inferences. The program focuses on health and knowledge, so the students inspired by the conversation can create music that truly conveys their ideas. “Our students are more than equipped to have perspectives,” Jazmine says confidently. “KRUNK is a place to learn how to communicate them.”

“We’ve been taught so much about what is healthy—like the right kind of food and what we should put in our body and how to take care of it. But what should we put in our spirit? KRUNK really allows there to be discussion around that. What are we going to put into our spirit so we can feed and nourish others that are coming and listening to our music and being a part of our events?” Adam phrased the same idea succinctly: “Music and health go hand in hand because music is a release.” The KRUNK Movement shapes and allows the students to find their own artistic voice by providing safe spaces, a supportive community, and the knowledge to educate their peers and spearhead positive change.