About a week ago there was a cluster of people on Alder after school. Two in the middle battled bars while others judged by oohs and ahhs who would take the title. To outsiders, these students looked like loiterers; to the participants, this was emotional, mental and spiritual expression.

Rap is what the consumer makes it. Although it may not be everyone’s favorite genre, perception is often crucial for supply and demand.

The beats of music combined with intellectual lyrics create a product of genius. Many students among the Garfield student body express themselves in rhythm and poetry, also known as rap.

“I’ve always loved poetry, but where I live, poetry would have been seen as the unacceptable form of expression,” says Garfield junior Okoye Berry. “So rapping began as a substitute for what I really wanted to do and it evolved from there.”

Few guys would publicly admit their love for poetry. The desire for acceptance by their peers often has an effect on their interest. Even though rap is an offspring of poetry, everyone who respects rap does n’t necessarily respect poetry.

The only aspects of rap that separate the genre from poetry are the beats and the flow. Rap tends to contain a quicker flow with two-line rhymes. The lyrics are poetic, the beat sets the tone and the rhythm creates the flow.

Many Garfield students make beats, compose their own music and perform for an audience.

“I just did it one day and people thought I was good, so I did it more,” says Garfield senior Anthony Johnson, who also refers to himself as AJTHAGREAT. “Everyone is my audience. The world is my stage.”

Some rappers are motivated by perception; others are inspired by their experiences. Some feed off hostility.

“My drive is my life and what I go through and put myself through,” says senior Julian Jackson.

“Rapping gives me a voice; not that I’m preaching on the mic or anything, but it’s nice to do my thing and have people hear it, whether they’re with it or not,” says senior Conor Shine, also known as Young Shine.

Different people are drawn to rap for various reasons.

“I have just had a love for music, and I’ve always been writing rap because it is my favorite genre,” says Shankbone’s Sam Lachow.

This hobby has created a high school career for Shankbone.

“I make my beats on my computer and use a hand-held mic,” says Lachow. “I’ve only spent like 100 bucks on equipment our whole career. [Our next album] is getting there and it’s going to be ridiculously good.”

Instead of rehearsing and creating music in their garage, sophomore Andy Boelter and his friends do it in the computer room.

“A lot of freestyles go down in the car, and then we usually get motivated to go make a beat and write some stuff,” says Andy Boelter. “We compose in the computer room. GarageBand works.”

Young Shine says the rap game has some flaws.

“It’s not fair that everyone is deprived from the real music and is forced to listen to the played-out bubblegum s*** that everyone knows the words to even though they don’t want to,” he said. “We’re trying to change the game for real.”

His own album “Meaner than the Average” came out on April 20.

Okoye, whose stage name is Yola, has some advice:

“Anybody who makes music to get ‘famous,’ have fun with it first, because fame isn’t promised.”

While on the matter of diversity, AJTHAGREAT says, “Add your friend to the mix that’s a cool lil girl, one white, one black, that’s a cool lil swirl.”

In the words of Kanye West, “Can I please say my piece, if y’all fresh to death then I’m deceased.” I will feed off of that with, “bleeding diction from ink and advocating for meaning rhythm and poetry, if poetry is unacceptable and hip hop is dead I’m breathing life as you read, hoping you will live it for yourself to base your preference off of what you hear and not by what is said.”