A group of students from Jefferson County Public Schools started this school year with an original song. Since its release, “Where My Bus At?” has more than 50,000 views on YouTube, and it’s caused a social media stir in Louisville and beyond.
In the viral video, dozens of kids rap and dance to their original lyrics, sharing their thoughts on JCPS’ ongoing transportation struggles that began on the first day of school last year. That’s led to thousands of students at magnet and traditional high schools in Louisville not having the option to take the bus to school this year.
‘Real Young Prodigys’
The kids that wrote the lyrics to “Where My Bus At?” are part of the Real Young Prodigys. It’s a program under Hip-Hop Into Learning (HHN2L), a nonprofit organization created by husband and wife duo NyRee Clayton-Taylor and Antonio Taylor.
In an interview with LPM News, Clayton-Taylor said the song was born from months of frustrations experienced by the students and their families.
“Our motto is ‘Lyrics to action.’ And so whatever song that they write or produce, they have to have an action to it. So one of the topics that we talk about is, what is it that you can advocate for through music?” said Clayton-Taylor.
Taylor is the creative director for HHN2L. He said the Real Young Prodigys spent a week over the summer at Cumberland Falls writing the song together. Older students with HH2NL taught the younger students how to write and record the lines you hear in the song, Taylor said.
“It was really wonderful seeing our older kids mentor the kids on a project like this, and seeing what came out of that, because this is truly a youth-led project,” Taylor said.
How hip-hop turned into learning
Real Young Prodigys began in a classroom at Wheatley Elementary, Clayton-Taylor said. She said she was a teacher for 25 years before starting HHN2L.
“I was teaching a class, teaching writing through hip hop. I would put on music, and I'd say, ‘Well, just write a rap.’ Everything we did was through hip hop,” Clayton-Taylor said.
Her unique method of teaching garnered attention from school administrators, she said. In 2019, Clayton-Taylor was awarded the Kentucky Elementary School Teacher Achievement Award for her work with students.
One day, she said the principal asked if her students could perform an original rap song for a school event called Phillis Wheatley Day, the elementary school’s namesake.
“I got them a Drake beat, and [the students] produced this song,” Clayton-Taylor said. “They wrote this song about Phillis Wheatley, and the whole school went crazy. It was at that time that they named themselves the Real Young Prodigys.”
From there, Clayton-Taylor said the Real Young Prodigys started to grow, and Clayton-Taylor’s and her husband had an idea.
“We were trying to figure out, how do we do this wonderful work? How do we do it outside of the classroom and expand it and offer it to more kids?” Taylor said.
The two decided to launch HHN2L together. Neither of them had experience running a no-profit, Taylor said. Clayton-Taylor said she had to work a second job outside of teaching, and Taylor used his 401(k) to fund the nonprofit, he said.
‘Hip-hop saved my life’
When asked about why the two chose hip-hop to teach students, both said it stemmed from their childhoods.
In elementary school, Clayton-Taylor said she struggled learning how to read and write.
“I wasn't always looked at as a student that already came into the classroom knowing something,” Clayton-Taylor said. “It was always, ‘Well, you can't read. Well, you can't do this.’ As a student, my teachers, as I remember, never talked to me about the things that I could do.”
At an early age, she said she started using hip-hop — a genre of music she loved — to teach herself.
“I had a record player,” Clayton-Taylor said. “So what I would do is take that tape and rewind and write all the lyrics down. Were the lyrics written correctly? Probably not, but it's how I taught myself to read and be a more fluent reader.”
Taylor also said hip-hop was there for him through tough moments in his childhood.
“I'm a foster child, [but] I didn't come from that lens of foster care that was negative. I had wonderful foster parents, and had a wonderful life. But coming out of foster care to relocate with my biological mom, I immediately knew that I was in poverty.” Taylor said.
Taylor said hip-hop helped him release his anger and anxiety growing up.
“Hip-hop saved my life when I was very young,” he said, “and I understood, and I knew my passion was music, and that was my escape.”
Now, Taylor said he provides that “escape” to the students in HHN2L.
“Hip-hop is a platform,” Taylor said. “It's a vessel to where kids can not only find themselves, but they can find a way out of any situation, and they can turn a negative into a positive. And we've seen these stories in hip hop with our heroes like Jay-Z, like Tupac, like Biggie Smalls. And we truly believe that our kids — the Real Young Prodigys — that they will become that.”
Clayton-Taylor and Taylor said they have a lot planned for the Real Young Prodigys in the future, including a music festival at the Park Hill Community Center called “Parkchella” next month.
