There are teens all over the world who have a love for a hobby or talent; singing, dancing, painting, sports, acting, writing, poetry, etc. Rap is a combination of both poetry and rhythm. A junior at REV, named Ray Reed has a strong love for this talent and is always seen with a beat surrounding him and words flying from his mouth that both rhyme and have an actual meaning along with corresponding to the rhythm he has chosen.

“I have been rapping for six years… I started out of jealousy,” said Reed. “When I was in fifth grade, this kid named Joshua rapped and had everyone’s attention. I just sang but no-one noticed me or took me seriously so I decided to change it up…so I spit my first free-style in sixth grade and I started writing in seventh.”

When questioned of when he knew that he was going to continue rapping, he stated, “When I started going with it. I felt it in my gut. In my heart.”

As many know, one must be inspired to begin a hobby or talent as such, therefore Reed spoke of his inspiration, “Eminem is my favorite. If I never listened to Eminem or Tupac or Kanye, I would not be rapping. I give them high respect. My style is a mix of Eminem, Tupac and a little bit of Kanye and I have my own style.”

He goes deeper into description by stating, “Most of my lyrics are about my feelings and thoughts at the time. I’ll release my stress or express my happiness with my lyrics. Rap is poetry just with a beat to it.” This speaks to the fact that it takes rhythm and the skill to write poetry to create rap. 

People who have a talent that is not quite common face discrimination and judgement from others who may not understand their talent. Reed speaks of his thoughts on this by stating that he faces this, “all the time. Since I look up to Kanye, when people talk down on me or my lyrics or my work, I’ll just say ‘I’m an artist, this is my work and my lyrics, not yours so don’t judge.”

With this in mind, Reed speaks to future rappers by stating, “Make sure what you write about is true. Poetry and music comes from the soul of the person creating it and you have to be careful.”

Through Reed’s insight on his love for rap, one can see that Reed not only represents one who has such a rare talent but rather one who goes the distance to ensure that his future has better and more improved rap.