In 2007, the YES for Peaceful Communities youth wrote and recorded a rap song, entitled: “We are the YES”. The idea to do a rap song as a project was generated in 2008 during the “Hip-hop for social change” unit of the curriculum. The youth really liked the idea of creating music for their final project.
As the youth worked through the community assessment portion of the program, they focused on how they could affect the community through song. Project staff found a civic-minded local music producer that had a mobile recording studio. The music producer helped the participants to create the hook and focus the message. The youth idea for the temp/beat beat was translated into an electronic beat. YES youth laid the vocal tracts for “We are the YES”.
