Hobbies, talents, desires and dreams are all aspirations for one’s future. Their career or general path in life is derived from an interest in a certain subject or habit. Rap is one of these many arts, and is something that not many students can say is their dedicated hobby. Ray Reed, a junior at Rev has been known for his aspiration to become a professional rapper.
He has rapped for six years and now he has been given the opportunity to show his former high school students his talent by performing at Rev’s next pep rally on Friday April 7. With this huge opportunity, Reed states:

“ I feel really great and pumped about performing at [the rally]; this is the third year I wanted to do it and I finally get my first opportunity. I just stayed patient, made the right moves, talked to the right people and it happened… It’ll boost my level of confidence when I first perform on stage In front of a lot of people. Everyone needs to put this on social media, record it, post it to get my name out there…I plan to perform a little freestyle then a tribute to Lil Snupe I’m doing his verse in the song outro but I redid the words to make it clean and after that a little something I wrote so the students can get hyped for my next mixtape, The Amazing Twisted Mind Of Ray. It’s gonna be fun.”

The opportunity that Reed has been given is proof that hard work pays off. His consistency in practice and belief that his passion could get him somewhere pushed him into the next step off his road as a rapper. Reed further states:

“ I go by the saying ‘When there’s struggle there will be success; you have to struggle at  one point in your life before you become successful in what you want to do’…The saying goes with rapping, especially with rappers like Kanye and Eminem. Kanye moved to Chicago with his mom after his dad left and he told his mom that one day she wasn’t going to have to work anymore and he became successful and put his mom in a big house and took care of her. Eminem lived in a trailer park with his mom who was doing drugs, dropped out of high school in the 9th grade and now he’s the greatest rapper alive. Because they worked hard and stayed focused on what they wanted to do and did it, they have inspired me to do more and I became known at REV for freestyling as a freshman; now I am performing at a rally and singing the national anthem at every home basketball game and hope to inspire everybody else to do more than me.”
Reed has faced much discrimination and doubt from other people throughout his life when it comes to his hopes to become a professional rapper. He shares the quote, “words that are hateful are like flies; they come in numbers but die quickly” meaning that anything trying to put one down will come and go, it is up to the artist who is facing the discrimination to use it as motivation or as an anchor to push down their aspirations.

Reed will perform at the next pep rally, it has become an opportunity that he has worked hard for and this chance alone shows that hard work, faith and dedication can go a long way. Perseverance through the hard times and through the good times will pay off with unexpected opportunities.