Chicago Teens Just Want To Be Welcomed Somewhere

This story starts at Hyde Park’s Silver Room, which serves as a cornerstone of Black Chicago culture. For one, they actively provide a vast repository of the Black literary canon. During my frequent shopping trips to the Silver Room, I have procured books about Aaliyah and Tupac as well as a photo book showcasing the legendary Ruth E. Carter’s costume designs. 

Yet, their offerings extend far beyond literacy. One Thursday in May, I spotted a chalked sign that promoted an open mic night later that day. Upon attending, I learned about Beats and Bars. Beats and Bars is an artistic partnership with Kenwood Academy founded by Southside rapper Phalair Carter, and it serves as a mentorship opportunity for burgeoning artists who attend the school. Last week, they released their first project.

Dylan, Miles, and Tyler, recent graduates of Kenwood Academy, were contributors on the project. For this debut, Carter was the executive producer. Carter, who is an alum of Kenwood, met Dylan, Miles, and Tyler through his partnership with the Silver Room. For this project, Dylan and Miles were co producers, Miles and Tyler rapped on the project, and Tyler sang as well.

Collaboration Credits: Tyler Dixon (TheALYEN/Frankenstein Kweli), Miles Lewin (Miles Alan), Dylan Paddy (JuKnow), Chris Brown (Apollo), Kaniya Williams, Kiyomi Taylor, Hans (KaMillion), Jordan Miller (JC), Lia, Andrew B, Drayden (D7co), and Phalair Carter

When you listen to “Beats and Bars Vol. 1,” the eclectic sounds of the collective blend seamlessly into nine tracks that span about 19 minutes. It reads as a quick introduction to something much bigger. Carter said he hopes that Beats and Bars will expand to other high schools now that he has established a baseline with Kenwood Academy.

During the interview, I mentioned Louder Than A Bomb, a popular poetry festival in Chicago. This slam is hosted by Young Chicago Authors and has boasted famous alum like Chance the Rapper and singer Jamila Woods. Yet, to Carter, it was not designed in a way that could effectively propel all artists forward rather than a select few.

These sentiments were echoed by Dylan, Miles, and Tyler. To them, LTAB (as it is abbreviated) pits youth artists against each other instead of mentoring them. For Carter, he is focused on a “proof of concept,” which this project has proven to be. 

At 23, Carter mentored Dylan, Miles, and Tyler, who are in their late teens, and, in turn, they now mentor younger talent within the collective. This idea of giving back is something that Carter and his collaborators focused on in the interview. We also talked about “snap curfews,” which describes a new ordinance that  Chicago’s City Council recently introduced (although Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed it).

WGN reported that a snap curfew would grant the Chicago Police Chief the authority to determine a curfew anywhere in the city within a 30-minute window. Although some city council members expressed disagreement with the Chief having total power over the curfew, the ordinance still passed.

It is one measure being introduced to curb “teen takeovers,” WGN noted. This is a colloquial term used to describe mass social gatherings with teenagers in different areas of Chicago. To Miles, the city council takes isolated incidents and makes sweeping judgments that affect all teenagers. 

Dylan added that some youth feel targeted by these policies. Tyler said, “It’s brewing something bad.”

Overall, their sentiments represent the concerns some youth have with the city’s treatment of the youth. In his official statement after vetoing the ordinance, Johnson noted that violence is down because there are other measures being taken to prevent it. Diverting from his predecessors like Lori Lightfoot and Rahm Emanuel, Johnson is taking an alternative approach to safety.

I reached out to Johnson’s office as well as city council members for comment on this story, but I was unable to get in touch with them. However, Beats and Bars is not the first of its kind. Since the days of the first Mayor Daley, Chicago teens have lost their “third space.”

Recently, The Triibe reported about the loss of the youth third space, which inspired me to reach out to Carter for this story. Along with Beats and Bars, there are other citywide programs seeking to provide a “third space” for youth. Last year, Good Kids Maad City, a youth led organization that provides programming, put on its fourth annual Peace Palooza.

This festival, which took place at Oakwood Beach, brought the community together through music, food, and mutual aid. In addition to performances and vendors, there were also tents with free clothes for those in need. Carletta Pittman, a former GKMC member who is now a Youth Coordinator at GKMC Englewood, said that their programming spans from things like Peace Palooza to anti-violence marches, Juneteenth events, and youth employment programs.

When speaking to Dylan, Miles, and Tyler, they also reflected on youth employment. They said that while After School Matters provides paid roles for youth, it mirrors a classroom setting, and they would prefer something more akin to a corporate setting. For this reason, they were drawn away from After School Matters and gravitated to the Silver Room, where they met Carter.

Nonetheless, After School Matters serves a huge role with Chicago’s youth. Eboni Prince, the Senior Program Director for the South/Southwest branch, noted that the program has been around since the 1990s and has expanded greatly since its inception. What started at Block 37 as an arts program with less than 300 teenagers has now grown into a full-fledged youth employment program serving over 19,000 people.

To Prince, she believes that After School Matters wants to be “a part of the solution.” She said that the youth in Chicago are misunderstood by the media. In the media, there is a perception that the youth are troublesome and causing problems, but her experience allows her to see teenagers thriving when they are given the opportunity.

Then, when the city council and Chicago Police Department implement policies such as bag checks in Millennium park, ID checks at the Water Tower and this snap curfew, the youth begin to feel like “they don’t belong in a city they are residents in,” she added.

As a parent, Prince empathized with the need for youth safety but also mentioned that youth would like to feel heard too. Prince mentioned that she grew up during a time when there were malls like Ford City and Evergreen Plaza, but these third spaces have seemingly disappeared over the years. Prince supposed that this could be due to funding situations and sustainability.

Sustainability is something Carter also touched on in his interview. Carter said that there was a lack of musical third spaces when he was in his formative years, so he became the change he wanted to see.

According to Carter, he created the Beats and Bars program with Kenwood Academy as a “pipeline” for artists, producers, and engineers into the music industry. 

Overall, Beats and Bars is evidence that Chicago’s music scene transcends generations. From building on the remnants of the Blues era to becoming the pinnacle of drill rap in the 2010s, music plays a vital role in Chicago’s legacy.

Regarding the Beats and Bars project, which is titled “Beats and Bars Vol. 1,” listeners are drawn in with vocals from a youth choir that sets the stage for the melodious project that follows. The project is primarily Hip Hop, but it also blends other genres such as Jazz, R&B, Pop, Rock, and Spoken Word.

Carter and his collaborators dub this mixtape a “love letter to rap,” but it also feels like a love letter to Chicago’s youth. Upon listening, we are reminded that art drives the culture, and the culture drives art.