David Ellis, the founder of High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul, walked into the lunchroom fashionably late, chomping on a bag of Doritos as he surveyed the crowd. Two students had just started rapping. By the time the chorus hit, a mob of fans rushed the stage for a chance to freestyle a verse.
Nick Vlcek
High School for Recording Arts, located in St. Paul, serves 225 students using a combination of classroom instruction and independent projects
Nick Vlcek
David Ellis, High School for Recording Arts founder, freestyles in one of the school's professional recording studios
"Do you see the joy in these kids?" Ellis says. "They've got relief up there. Music is saving their lives."
Ellis wandered through the rows of tables, greeting students with handshakes and hugs.
"When politicians talk about the achievement gap, they are talking about these kids," Ellis says. "They're pushing them out of traditional schools to better their numbers, and here we are just trying to prove these kids deserve an education. You're not closing the gap; you're hiding it."
Ellis started his own private recording studio in downtown St. Paul in 1994. A former Paisley Park Studio producer, Ellis split off on his own when Prince broke his contract with Warner Brothers.
Teens started hanging out in the skyway near his studio during the week, bugging him for time to record.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" Ellis would ask.
"Nah man, we don't go to school anymore," came the inevitable response. "We just want to rap."
When Ellis finally gave the kids a chance to perform, he was shocked: They had raw musical talent.
So Ellis founded the school. He envisioned a place for students who had dropped out or been kicked out of traditional schools.
"I saw a need in the community," Ellis says. "These students had been pushed out, suppressed, and depressed. They needed positive relationships with adults."
High School for Recording Arts has morphed into a project-based charter school where students take traditional classes and work on independent assignments to earn their high school credits. The reward for finishing early is access to two professional studios to record their original music.
The school's 225-student population represents a hodgepodge of problems. School administrators call them "overage and under-credited," but that doesn't begin to account for all that they are up against. Ellis says the school represents "every child left behind."
Nine in 10 of its students live in poverty. They typically arrive at 17 years old and at least one year behind in credits. Their academic ability is usually at least two years below grade level in basic skills; many possess only elementary-level knowledge in at least one subject.
By the time they get to Hip-Hop High, 39 percent have been kicked out of their previous school and nearly two-thirds have been involved in the criminal justice system. Half don't live with a parent or legal guardian and more than 70 percent are involved in gangs. About 20 percent of the female students are teen moms and nearly half of the male students are already fathers.
"We're dealing with kids no one else is engaging right now," says Paula Anderson, the school's education director and English teacher.
Yet the Minnesota Department of Education is blind to those challenges. The school is judged on its four-year on-time graduation rate, which last year was below 20 percent, one of the worst in the state.
Anderson says it would be impossible for the school to achieve a high on-time graduation rate with students who are so far behind.
"Traditional schools push their 'bad' students out to schools like us," Anderson says. "What would have been a 'drop' is now a 'transfer' on their record."
Tony Simmons, the school's director of development, watches students come in as hardened, uninterested teens, but they light up when they see the studios, he says. Before long, the students are engaged in their core courses and getting back on track to graduate.
"What traditional schools don't realize is that creativity is important to academics," he says. "We take the core essence of who they are, and their energy in school is fed around their creativity."
Phil Winden, the school's studio director, says he watches students turn their lives around through the freedom to be creative through music.
"These studios allow them to express themselves and not act it out in a violent or physical way," Winden says. "They want a chance to be in the spotlight and be heard, and once they know they are being heard, that reinforces their purpose to think about their future."
DOMINIQUE FARRAR entered the school's dance studio crooning like Chris Brown and moon-walking past the mirror. Another student plunked away at the piano while a girl sang along with her iPod.
Once everyone had arrived, the school's media manager tried to focus them on recording a commercial for the weekly "Pick-Me-Up" Friday performance.
Farrar, better known as Dominoe, quickly became the No. 1 distraction. He sent the room into giggles once the camera was rolling.
"Can you put all the lights on me?" Dominoe asked.
"Why?" asked another student.
"Because I'm a star!"
Dominoe had a lot of practice getting a room's attention. When he was an infant, his mother put him and his older brother into foster care. They bounced through seven homes in the first 12 months.
I am Shadonna CArter.. I am A High School for Recording Arts Graduate.. Like TC Said I was kicked out of ALL Minneapolis public schools when i turned to Studio 4!! I just want to say thank you for the oppurtunity I was one of the youngest graduates at the age of 16. Thanks paula She was the best!! I would recommend Studio 4 to all teen who love music but as well as to the teens who feel like they have no hope. you will get out what u put in.. Thanks Studio 4!!
b 04/06/2010 1:25:00 PM
This is a really great story. Someone needs to make a documentary film about some of these kids' lives and this school and how it changed them. Show them before, during, and how they turn out after. If I was a filmmaker I would jump all over it!
Jen 04/03/2010 1:00:00 AM
Loved this story, Emily!
test 04/02/2010 9:58:00 PM
testing.
mp 04/01/2010 12:24:00 AM
Wow. The people who hold this school together should be really proud. That's pretty amazing. I hope these kids find a future that doesn't include jail in prison, but I can't help but worry. How many people do you run into that work in the music industry? Not a lot. I can't help but wonder what these kids will do if they're not able to have a career in the music industry. But it does sound like one of the kids understands they need an education in case they're not able to make a living doing what they love. Goals and dreams can change lives but the real world doesn't change just because you have goals and dreams.
kristoff krane 03/31/2010 9:59:00 PM
This is amazing. Thanks to the school and city pages for making this and making it happen.
Chris
