GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING PRODUCER RETURNS TO ROANOKE TO LEAD STUDENTS THROUGH MUSICAL PRODUCTION PROJECT

On July 5, 2021, Grammy award-winning producer 808-Ray (Rayshon Cobbs, Jr.) returned to his hometown of Roanoke, VA to work with local high school students for a week-long residency at the Music Lab at Jefferson Center.

He gave the students behind-the-scenes access and information on how he makes his own beats, gave them critiques and advice for their personal projects, and led the students in creating a final collaborative project.

For the final project, the students sampled a song that was written by Felix Mendelssohn in May of 1823 (String Symphony in B Minor), it was performed by Roanoke, VA’s Patrick Henry High School students in March of 2020, and these students all worked together to give it a completely new sound in July of 2021. The beat they created is the soundtrack for the above video.  You can download the full song by clicking the button below.

CLASSICAL BEAT CHALLENGE

#classicalbeatchallenge

The 808-Ray Project keeps moving, now as part of the “Classical Beat Challenge”!

We are encouraging  our audience of talented rappers and lyricists to build off what 808-Ray and these students started.  Download the song from the button above and share your best take of 16 bars on Social Media using the #MendelssohnBeatChallenge hashtag and tag Jefferson Center.  We will collect and share our favorites on our website and on social media.

Any questions?  Reach out to Jordan Harman at the Music Lab:  jharman@jeffcenter.org

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