CINCINNATI — In the basement of Lighthouse School in Madisonville, students make memories and music.
It’s part of the first-year project in collaboration with the Refresh Collective, an Ohio non-profit doing its first work in Greater Cincinnati.
“I got not one, not two, but four people around me that I feel safe around and they help me get through the stuff I'm going through,” said Destiny Morris, a junior. “I liked it. And I stayed and look… I made a whole song.”
The song is called “No Struggle, No Strength.” In it, Destiny raps about her own experience, and the “weight on her shoulders.”
“My mother passed away and, and I got so much weight on my shoulders," he said. "Just think about the positive and not the negative, like you got to let it go.”
Tenth grader Zack Loechel said the song is one that will resonate with a lot of people.
“You can listen to it like 'no struggle, no strength' and you can get out of what you're going through.”
He wrote about his experience, too.
“I was just very down and like in a pit of despair. So right in I'm like, 'if you weren't having pain, you're not in the game.' Just going through picking out different lyrics that fit me. So, my verse is about who I am, what I'm going through and how I can get out of it,” Loechel said.
The students get pushed to create and share as they learn how to make music using professional equipment and digital programs.
Regis Jones, better known as the local rapper “K-Drama” is the lead teaching artist at Lighthouse.
“I love the fact that they have fun with music," Jones said. "And I think that should be the leading thing. But you can also have fun doing what you love.”
Jones said the students remind him of where he was. He started making music at 14 but the music is secondary in this space.
“The relationships that we're forming here, how we're able to speak in their lives, like, that's the real success here. These are amazing kids that I'm like, man, like I just want to see y'all succeed," Jones said.
A similar sentiment comes from assistant teaching artist Kayla Meade, who said seeing them step into their growth as they write more songs is beautiful.
Refresh Collective started in Cleveland more than a decade ago and has helped produce more than 700 student songs, but “No Struggle, No Strength” is the first from our area.
Lee Harrill is the city director for the organization.
“We know that our students’ voices are valid. So, we don't need to tell them what to say. We just have to learn how to listen and maybe help them craft, how to say their message,” said Harrill.
There are plans to expand to Aiken High School next year, with bigger classes and more students served. The students can earn two seals toward their graduation by participating in the class and there is more music coming from the basement at Lighthouse.
“I'm like, if you like, 'No Struggle, No Strength,' you're going to love 'Songs from the Basement.' It's a banger,” said Jones.
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