Transcripts

[MUSIC PLAYING] DUVAL MONTGOMERY: See, sometimes, I just come in here, and I'd be in the zone. I just go straight into the zone and get to tripping on these boards.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

TIM PUGMIRE: In a dimly lit production studio at the Studio 4 school, student Duval Montgomery sits behind a large mixing console, adjusting levels on his latest recording. Located next door to a mattress factory in Saint Paul, Studio 4 has little resemblance to traditional schools or even other charter schools. But its students are learning, and not just about music. Montgomery says he earned his studio time by hitting the books for a variety of subjects.

DUVAL MONTGOMERY: Basically, in order to see this studio, you have to go to school. If you ain't coming to school, doing no work, you're not going to see this studio. Because in order to get in the studio, it's like money. You do your work, you get money. But instead of money, it's points. You do your work, you get so many points. Then you need so many points to get in the studio. So if you ain't did enough work, you ain't got enough points. So therefore, you are not getting in the studio.

TIM PUGMIRE: Montgomery and other students are learning the music business from record producer and school founder David Ellis. Ellis worked for The Artist Formerly Known As Prince at Paisley Park Studios, then left to start his own business, Studio 4. Ellis says a lot of young people were hanging out at the studio, asking questions, and trying to get a chance to record their own rap songs. He says many of them were high school dropouts, but highly motivated to learn about the music business.

DAVID ELLIS: I was noticing that a lot of these young people that people would consider thugs, or gangsters, or something, they were really working hard at trying to accomplish that, learning how to publish and copyright their music. So I said to myself, because I had experienced alternative education myself, I said, this is an opportunity to show, demonstrate how you can learn through something they're interested in.

TIM PUGMIRE: Ellis says the Right Step Academy and Saint Paul Family Learning Center helped him develop a curriculum and get the school off the ground. He approached the Saint Paul School district earlier this year for its support through a charter school sponsorship. Ellis says Studio 4 has already changed the lives of students who had dropped out or were on the verge of dropping out of traditional schools in Saint Paul. Patrice Morris describes herself as an at-risk student. She says she feels less pressure and more freedom as a student at Studio 4.

PATRICE MORRIS: At my school, I just felt they put too much pressure on me. I mean, if I didn't know how to do the work, they wouldn't take the time out to help me out. And so I figured, well, if I go to school every day and I don't do my work, then what's the use of going to school? So I was thinking about dropping out because it was too hard, the work. But when I come here, they put me at a-- they gave me the work that was at my level. So I felt more comfortable. And I felt like I was learning something. So that gave me a purpose to come to school, instead of just sitting there like, oh, I don't know how to do this. What's the use?

TIM PUGMIRE: Fellow student Damon Johnson enrolled at Studio 4 about a month ago. Johnson says he likes making music and likes the freedom and creative atmosphere at the school.

DAMON JOHNSON: I mean, there's always different classes at a regular high school, but it's never exactly what you want. It's always more like their curriculum. So they tell you exactly what to do. And here, it's your own idea, like the way music is supposed to be anyway. It's like you come in with your ideas and put it together the way you want it to sound.

TIM PUGMIRE: It's perhaps evidence of the school's success that students like Johnson and Morris are in school and learning during the traditional summer vacation. David Ellis says his students are working hard in the classroom and the recording studio. Studio 4's first school year culminated with a special recording project. Students collaborated with other community groups on four songs with an HIV/AIDS awareness theme. Ellis says the resulting CD, called HIV Ain't No Joke, shows the level of talent at the school.

DAVID ELLIS: As far as what you're hearing on the radio, or seeing on MTV, or BET, these kids have the ability to perform in that caliber. It's that good.

[RAP MUSIC] Let's take a trip to what's up. Ain't nothing but troubles. Got to squeeze the top from rolling on it, watch for bubbles. I know it feel good. But baby boy, don't slack. Cause that's the case when you bend to the back in the soon to attack, without you even knowing. From a small.

TIM PUGMIRE: Saint Paul School district leaders and members of the State Board of Education generously praised Studio 4's unique approach to learning. Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, is also a big booster. Nathan taught Ellis at Saint Paul's Open School in the 1970s.

JOE NATHAN: David Ellis is a young man who has the ability to work effectively with youngsters who are very seriously alienated, who are very angry, who have not succeeded in traditional schools, with whom schools have not, traditional schools have not succeeded. These are young people who will, in some cases, have caused great problems for themselves and for other folks if we're not successful with them.

TIM PUGMIRE: Nathan says charter school proponents and other alternative educators are watching Ellis and his school closely. He says if Studio 4 can build on its success reaching troubled inner city youth, the school could become a model for other schools throughout the country. I'm Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio.

[RAP MUSIC] The HIV ain't no joke. Creeping through your system, so you better be down low. Riding bareback and get your carpet dead. The time is coming, so please drop your duty, use your head. The HIV ain't no joke, creeping through your system, so you better be down low. Riding bareback can get your carpet dead. The time is coming, so please drop your Jimmy and use your head.

(SINGING CONTINUES) My elevation lakes were concentration deep in this time. Looking around, thinking my homies got that STD, man. But I can't run and hide, knowing so silent that homicide, and all I can do is let it ride. Stuck in position, dying, kind of trapped too deep in this thing. Looking around, knowing I'm dying without my crown, man. No passion, I thought I was going to die blasting. How drastic, dying without transaction or mention.