by Shrav Krishna

Ah, the fame of breaking into the music industry and being signed onto a label at a young age to inspire the world of your peers: A timeless, yet revered, tradition throughout the decades of digital audio. The Beatles stormed into the early 60′s to create a musical outlet for a newly formed society of rebellious teenagers. Early hip-hoppers rejuvenated the disenfranchised youth with a strong political and moral confidence through hits like Grandmaster Flash's The Message and Redhead Kingpin & The FBI's Do the Right Thing. However, Columbia Records spawned rap superstar Nas officially sang "hip hop was dead" in 2006 at around the same time the Atlanta-based hip-hop group D4L persuaded clubbers to "shake their laffy taffy's".

Seems the raunchy and talentless personalities of today's popular record labels have forever tainted a long influential tradition to inspire, especially with current headlines of Def Jam Records Rihanna's new blonde hairdo and thigh-high PVC boots overshadowing artists that are committed to civic-engagement.

Photo by MiKeARB

However, not every record label is perpetuating a genre praising material wealth or crafting a generation of ill-mannered juveniles. Chicago's newly developed YouMedia Records, powered by the Digital Youth Network, is committed to delivering young artists with a passion for ethics and initiating positive social change in a city that just concluded January 2012 with 40 homicides, up 43% from the 28 homicides last January. These young artists/activists are driven to tackle Chicago's greatest tragedy, let alone revive a provocative music industry.

In the "YouMedia Records: Behind the Remix" video posted on the YouMedia blog, a Chicago teen freestyles: 'More emotion you put into it, the harder I rock. Yes, yes, ya'll, we're back on the block. Time to cure violence and get more stylin'.' Also posted on the YouMedia blog's content archive is the fully produced track, I Believe by teen songwriter and performer AnArkie, who is a high-school senior at Phoenix Military Academy. AnArkie has already mastered the art of influential story telling within stanzas of incredibly catchy lyrics and a raspy marketable voice reminiscent of R&B star John Legend. AnArkie and all the other self-driven musical activists of YouMedia Records are in the process of reshaping Chicago's violent image in the face of the world, and as a fellow 'Chicagoan til' Chicagoan wins', I approve of that message.

In addition to recording inspiring tracks, teenagers also learn music production and marketing, all apart of the "All Things Considered Cool" initiative at YouMedia [yoo me•de•a], a new social learning space located at the Harold Washington Library Center designed specifically for teens, to learn the latest digital media technology. If you're a Chicago teenager, and would like to be considered as "staff" at this revolutionary record label, or even learn basic multimedia design, get more information at http://youmediachicago.org/ or http://youmedia.tumblr.com/. And download your own personal copy of AnArkie's I Believe at http://www.digitalyouthnetwork.org/. Now you can finally have a better alternative to sporting your PVC's!

Written for Music Jobs by Shrav Krishna

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