Investing in My Future

Walking the Streets of Underground rap

This unit in Journalism, the Senior class focused on the sound aspect of telling a story. We learned that sound is as important as the visuals of a story, for an FE a sound engineer named Luke came in to teach us what sound is and about the music theory. The purpose of this Action Project is to pick someone who has impacted people through their voice and develop a story from there in the form of a podcast. I chose to focus on Daniel Dumile(MF DOOM) an underground rap artist that started in the early 90's. I wanted to focus on MF DOOM while also exploring the idea of hip-hop and underground rap. I started my podcast with a story of how I began listening to MF DOOM, then I dive deeper into how hip hop has changed and with that change came (MF DOOM).The message I wanted the viewer to understand is that some artist will stay underground others will go on to become mainstream and just because an artist decides to make music for their specific audience that comes from the heart doesn't mean that they aren't as good as the next artist. This AP was a challenging one for me, I had never done a podcast and I don't consider myself to have a voice for the podcast. Despite these flaws, I created a story that I felt passionate about and wanted to give 110% to this AP.

Below is my podcast:

WHEN	WHO/HOW	WHAT
0:00 0: 10 0: 33 1:02 1:03 1: 42 2:03 2:18 2:25 2:26 2: 35 2:38 2:40 2:41 2:43 2:47 2:48 2:50 2:57 3:04 3:46 3:48 3:56 3:59 4:22 4:27 4:45 4:53 5:33 5:34 5:35 5:37	Laylah cue Dooms Day Fades out Laylah Laylah Laylah Laylah Laylah Alex Laylah Alex Laylah Alex Laylah Alex Laylah Alex Laylah Alex Laylah Manny Laylah Manny Laylah Manny Laylah Manny Laylah Manny Laylah Laylah	LWhen I was younger my dad drove my siblings and I to school every day. He would always go to Pandora and play a certain radio station, the usual would either be some 80’s funky music or some old school rap. I remember one early morning, my dad turned on his phone, hooked it to the aux cord and began playing one of my favorite rappers today. I was captivated by the sample of Sade’s song, Kiss of Life and then even more intrigued by the beautiful flow of poetic words. Later that day,  I searched for the song, typing in every keyword I could remember, and finally, I found my hidden gem, MF DOOM. Daniel Dumile aka Mf DOOM, Metal Face, Madvillain, Dangerdoom or Jj Doom is an England native that birthed his underground rap career in New York City during the 90’s. In 1988, he formed a group called KMD with his younger brother Subroc and was shortly then signed by Elektra Records. After their debut in 1993, Subroc was murdered and KMD was shortly dropped from Elektra Records.  Subsequently, after the death of Dumile’s brother, Dumile retreated from the rap scene, but in 1994 after 2 years of sleeping on the benches of Manhattan  Dumile re-emerged himself in the scene and started his lifelong passion for comic books and sci-fi through rap. Dumile began freestyling at open-mic events in Manhattan anonymously while wearing a mask that was similar to Marvel Comics supervillain, Doctor Doom. This created his new identity alias: MF Doom, Ever since then, MF DOOM has never shown his face in interviews or shows without his mask. In 1999, MF DOOM released his first full and most famous album Operation: Doomsday. I have been listening to MF DOOM Madvillain, Danger Doom and Viktor Vaughn for years after my discovery, but have never heard his music on mainstream radio. Personally, I thought that Dumile was a great artist whose lyrics deserved to touch the hearts of many, but I guess others thought differently. I decided to go around my school and ask few of my classmates whether they listen to MF DOOM or not. Here's what they said. Hi, can you state your name, age, and Occupation? My name is Alexandria, I'm 17 and I'm a high school student. Ok, and do you listen to MF DOOM? No Do you know who he is? He’s a rapper..? Yes, do you often listen to underground rap artist? Yes, I guess you could say so. If so, who? Xxx Tentacion… I listen to Trippie Red, those people basically. Do you prefer your underground rap artist to become more mainstream, if so why or why not? I wouldn't just because I feel when you do become more mainstream your work as far as an artist becomes worse and you try to, I guess peer pressure yourself into doing what other artist are doing. Like talk about girls and crap and like big a****. Like basic stuff like you see all the rappers do. Like  DJ Khaled or whatever, he’s not even a rapper, roast…. ahahaha. He’s not a rapper but he has videos or whatever with like girls and stuff like that. What’s your name, age, and occupation? I’m Manny, I'm 17 and I'm a musician I guess you could say. Do you listen to MF DOOM? Uh, yeah,a lot actually. I mean, I used to listen to him a lot more, I listened to him a lot when I was a kid and I was really really studying rap, trying to figure it out, I guess… I don’t know. He’s always been one of the most influential people in my eyes and when it comes to the rap genre. So, do you consider MF DOOM to be an underground rap artist? Uh,  I feel like the term underground is kind of irrelevant now that the internet exists, because it’s kind of hard to be underground. I mean, compared to mainstream, like really mainstream artist, yeah he’s defiantly an underground guy because he doesn’t like the spotlight. Mhm, do you prefer artist to be considered, “ underground”  or mainstream and why? Uh, I honestly, when if I really like an artist, I prefer they don't get too big because you can’t get really big without changing your original sound. The mainstream has a certain pattern and mainstream artist fit into it, I guess,  and it’s hard to say that, but at the same time, it’s not because you can change the mainstream. But what you do has been something that completely appeals to everybody to be able to change the mainstream. MF DOOM doesn’t have something that will appeal to everybody. He has something that appeals to people that really like lyrics and really like the essence of what hip-hop is. Thank you! You’re welcome. Bye! I can’t help but wonder if MF Doom were to be signed to a or become more famous if his music sound would change and become mainstream. As much as I”d like for my favorite artist to become more famous, staying an underground artist is what keeps them unique.

Planning My Future

For this unit in Economics: Risking Value, the senior class explored the world of economics; we learned about the market, stocks, supply and demand, opportunity cost, interest rates and much more! or an FE, we went to Capital One Cafe near our school. I really liked the cafe ambiance of the bank; it made banks seem less intimidating. The purpose of this AP is to choose a career that you plan to do in the future and have two options of how you will get there. I really liked this AP because it is relevant to my situation as a senior about to graduate. It made me realize what options are realistic and which are not.

Below is my Project:

Introduction to Economics AP, LD,2017,Soundcloud

Script:

Hi, I’m LD and a senior at GCE Lab School currently taking a class called Economics: Risking Value. I’ll be graduating this year and after high school, I’d like to become an entrepreneur in New York City. After New York, I would like to expand my business in Japan. I want to build my own film production business as an outlet for young teens to produce their own work. It will become a means for young teens to voice their opinion on mainstream media. In order to do this, I must attend college.

I chose my top 2 college choices: NYU Stern and Parsons School of Design.

They are both in the heart of New York City, which is where I’d like to be. Both schools have entrepreneurship majors as well as film programs. The main difference between the two colleges is that NYU is a pretty large school that cost a lot of money while Parsons is smaller and cost almost a third less NYU. Throughout this AP, I am weighing options to decide which college is better for me.

During the process of this AP, I wanted to interview my dad who has created his own IT business with his close friends. I look up to my dad because he has been through a lot during his life while trying to build his own business. While interviewing him about college and how I should go about my own business he said,”You should go to a college that best fits your interests, get in where you fit in, you will be amazed as to where life gets you, so never give up on what you want to do, even if you have to make some sacrifices for it.”

Total Cost of Parsons School of Design,LD,Google Sheets.2017

Total Cost of NYU,LD, Google Sheets, 2017

Looking at the calculations, the total cost of NYU is $911,702 and the total cost of Parsons is $347,303. The annualized increase rate is 5%, causing the price to increase every year. This shows that money today is worth more than money tomorrow because I didn’t have enough money to pay the full amount, every year I would have to pay an interest. Going to NYU would take 20 years if I paid 58% of my salary going toward the loans and 25% of every check going to my loan for Parsons School of Design for 19 years.

By referring to my Current vs. Future Market that shows the current market for being a film producer/director, you can tell that the supply and demand for the job are increasing. A market is when both parties are selling and buying. The seller's objective is to sell goods and services at the best price. The buyers objective is to acquire goods and services at the best price possible. Supply is the total amount of goods or services while demand is the consumers want to buy a good or service for a certain price. The number of people in the field in 2014 is 122,600 and n 2026, the number of people in this field is predicted to increase by 11,100. My salary as a director/producer as well as a small business owner will increase also. 

 Current vs. Future Market, LD, Google Drawings,2017

Throughout the project, I made a few assumptions to predict the future.These assumptions allow me to create a model; if assumptions are done incorrectly they can lead you down a wrong path of false numbers and calculations. A few assumptions I made were: the tuition cost of both colleges assuming that I didn’t receive any financial aid or scholarships, how much money I would be making as an entrepreneur for the first few years and the annual salary raise( how much my salary raise would increase every year). If I did receive a scholarship, then this calculation would differ and I wouldn’t end up paying the full amount. Assumptions are important because they allow us to accurately predict the future.

So, is NYU and Parsons a better for me? My final decision is Parsons School of Design. I think it is an overall better choice financially and realistically. I would only have to pay 28% of my salary of $171000 for 19 years, if I decided to go to NYU I would have to pay much more and for a longer time. Although the programs may not be as great as NYU, I can still work toward my business. I will spend 4 years at Parsons and after graduate with a BBA.

Sources:

“College.” Flickr, Yahoo!, www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/7027599019//?rb=1.

“Entrepreneur.” Sokanu, www.sokanu.com/careers/entrepreneur/salary/New York/.

“Future Success.” NYU Stern, www.stern.nyu.edu/programs-admissions/undergraduate/future-success.

“Registrar.” Tuition and Fees 2016-2017 | The New School in New York City, www.newschool.edu/registrar/tuition-and-fees-2016-2017/.

“Registrar.” Tuition and Fees 2017-2018 | The New School in New York City, www.newschool.edu/registrar/tuition-and-fees/.

Summary.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/producers-and-directors.htm