This originally appeared in the 2019 Best of Louisville issue of Louisville Magazine.
NyRee Clayton-Taylor [4] was named the 2019 Kentucky elementary teacher of the year for her creative-writing classes at Wheatley Elementary in the California neighborhood. One of her former students, 13-year-old DaVonn Pitney, recently performed with the Louisville Orchestra. The local musician Jecorey “1200” Arthur [5] made it happen. “It was amazing,” Clayton-Taylor says. “He has helped my students by always inviting them to perform on any stage he performs on.” DaVonn, who will be in eighth grade at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, attends Clayton-Taylor’s iRAP program, which uses hip-hop to teach kids about their history and themselves. DaVonn’s part of a group called Young Prodigies, whose latest song is titled “Black History Cypher.”
We asked DaVonn to pen a poem about Arthur, who’s also the music educator at Louisville Public Media.
Over 3,000 kids screaming out my rap name, “Stay Blessed, Stay Blessed, Stay Blessed!”
3 days, back-to-back, on the stage of Whitney Hall
The Louisville Orchestra playing in harmony behind me
Under the control of their sheet music and Conductor Teddy with his baton
There I stood,
ME
It was my moment and my time had come.
In my soul, my music
In my mind, my lyrics
In my heart, the words of Jecorey Arthur reminded me of my greatness
As my mouth opened, each syllable hugged the tip of my tongue
As the beat of the drums guided my feet to move in a back and forth motion across the stage
For 6 weeks
Practice
For 6 weeks
Lyrics
For 6 weeks
Feedback
For 6 weeks
Jecorey was my rubric
Working with me to ensure
Perfection
Working with me to ensure
Resilience
And most importantly, working with me to ensure that I had
The DRIP!
The Drip, that flavor that unleashes the lyricism that allows it to flow from heart to heart
Using only one lethal weapon —
The Beat
For this, I would like to thank Jecorey Arthur.
This originally appeared in the 2019 Best of Louisville issue of Louisville Magazine. Read more [6].
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Illustration by Shae Goodlett, shaedraws.com [9]