LISTEN: Using Art & Music for Movement Building

When I first learned that Philadelphia Student Union would be starting a soundtrack group, I was super excited. I’ve always wanted to be a part of the music industry, and being a part of this group has given me the chance to pursue my dream.
 
When we entered the studio for the first time, I was ecstatic. Sitting behind the mixing board, I felt I was where I belonged. My mentor taught me everything I needed to know, from recording people in the vocal booth, to making beats on the computer. From then on, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. And although going into the recording booth was nerve-wracking for the whole group at first, we all got used to the fact that we would be hearing our voices later on. Besides, once we heard the final product, we knew that it was worth it.
 
Beyond just having fun with music, I get to brainstorm with other students on topics that we feel are important. This has included issues like Imagine 2014, Renaissance 2010, teacher equity, political and social justice, and how we as teenagers view the world and everything in it. We write lyrics pertaining to these issues and make beats to fit the lyrics and mood of our songs. We want the music we make to be an organizing tool. A way to get the message of change out to young people in a way that matters to us. MP3 Players are everywhere, and if we can get inside them in the same way that major artists have, we can begin to make this a much broader movement.
 
By putting our words to beats that are easy to listen to, we can reach people who may not hear our message otherwise. And as we reach more people with our message, it will increase our ability to educate and inspire them to join us in empowering and improving the lives of poor people in our community.
 
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Last summer, Amber Marie Felton & I wanted to explore how people's artistic talents can be used to support organizing. We interviewed young musicians, poets
and artists who also do organizing work, to hear what they had to say. We used their voices to make this audio piece, called "Art for Social Change: Conversations with Young Artists."  We originally made this audio piece for our youth produced radio show, On Blast.
 
By Simone Waller

Khalif performs his poetry at one of PSU's youth-led open mics.