DESA FAM (Classes of the millennium--at least the first handful of years),

Can’t believe it’s all over. High School days are behind us and we literally are ready to take on the world. I want to see you on tv, I want to read your book (and I want Oprah to put it on her book club and favorite things), I want to see you rip that script to pieces…make the director cry and go into a zone where he forgets he was shooting a scene, I want you dancing because you got the spirit in the arches of your feet that make you mimic Katherine Dunham, I want you singing testimonials and playing notes that get Grammy nods and/or win Thelonious Monk Competitions, I want you designing, describing, drawing with paints that dye patterns of peace and awareness…I want to look one day and say “isn’t that such and such from Mr. Fisher’s class” and turn the volume up on my radio to hear the all grown up inflections in your voice. I want to be able to say Duke Ellington has a legacy beyond the man; I want to speak about the pioneering jazz musician and the impression of colossal measures he has left; and because of his accomplishments and feats achieved memorials and small mirrors of him remain.

 

And all of that is possible, especially when referring to Eric Mann, Mbea Bassil and André Strong, or Glenn Cobb, or Lindsey Christian whom all have at times worked together as a unit furthering the span of Duke Ellington School of the Arts’(DESA) reach.

Bassil, Mann and Strong form the hip-hop group Likeblood (LB) and all come from separate departments and focuses including Theater and Visual Arts. “Likeblood has three completely different artists to make up this one group. All leaders with total separate views and sounds that can make it work, with a little help from us being friends for well over a decade,” details Strong. The trio embodies their name in essence as they act and feel as though they are family. Their music even reveals the truth in their ‘like blood’ format as it shows their closeness and their individuality simultaneously. Bassil says of group, “Likeblood comes from the heart. You can hear it in our voices on every last song.”

Whether they are collaborating with R&B sweetheart Bobby V., debuting their video on 106&Park, or touring with Raekwon(which brings them to the 9:30 Club, Tuesday, December 15th) the men of Likeblood make certain to distinguish themselves by lyrically highlighting their style and personas which are unique to their hometown. “We are so DC and so universal…We like all types of different genres of music as well as different styles of Hip-Hop,” comments Mann. Indeed, LB’s music has the marked flags of D.C. and no more evident than their urban Washingtonian accents, yet they still leave room for audiences outside the DMV to delve into their reality. “Duke [DESA] made me realize that there’s more out there than what I was exposed to. Duke made me a more diverse individual,” adds Bassil as he explains what an arts school has given to his perspective. It seems this realization has become a niche for Bassil and the rest of LB as they venture around the country sharing parts of D.C. many are unaware of—the existence of D.C. rappers can alone be an anomaly. Strong says, “D.C. has always been the big, little city on the back burner that comes up with a lot of the styles and sounds you see and hear today. The problem is that our visibility and microphone are turned down so low right now, no one is sure of where they’re coming from except a select view.”

On the other side of the city’s music spectrum, in the more familiar realm is the keyboard player for local Go-Go group, Uncalled 4 Band(UCB). He is Glenn Cobb. Cobb coming from a family of musicians attended Duke following his older sister, and honed his skills in the instrumental department. “I decided to go because I felt that was a place where I could grow creatively,” says Cobb of why he chose to attend DESA. Cobb goes on to say that DESA gave him a more intimate outlook on other artistic styles, “I had no understanding of Visual Arts, Dance, Theater, Literary Media, or Museum Studies, making friends in these departments exposed me to these art forms as well as help me develop an appreciation for them.”

Cobb plays the drums, bass and guitar in addition to the piano, and because he was playing in nightclubs by age 14, the transition to his current place in UCB was natural. “I’ve been with UCB for about a year now, but I’ve known all the band members since I was about 15, so when an opening for a keyboard player came about, I was the logical choice,”adds Cobb. It could not have been at a more opportune time. UCB was asked by another up and coming D.C. emcee, Wale, to be his band during apperances and on tour where they open for the rap icon, Jay-Z. Cobb recounts, “My most memorable experience with UCB has to be when we performed alongside Wale as the house band for 2009 MTV VMA's. Just a great overall experience. Not to mention front row seat to great live performances and the Kanye fiasco!!”

Along with Wale, the rest of UCB, and all the venues of The Blueprint 3 tour, Cobb is allowed to help impart the signature sound of the nation’s capital. “Being on tour with Jay-Z is nothing short of a blessing and an honor; to perform every night on the same ticket as the greatest hip hop act of our time is more than I could’ve hoped for so early in my career,” says Cobb.

Somewhere between Cobb’s Go-Go and the gritty, fun blend of Hip-Hop from Likeblood, stands a lady. The silent connector and heavy background presence is Lindsey Christian, alum of DESA’s Literary/Media department and CEO of SoBlu, Inc. Christian’s company released its premiere movie, Jazz in the Diamond District(JDD), this spring which incorporated the acting and musical talents of LB and UCB. “We knew we wanted to set the film in D.C. and we knew we wanted to include Go-go music, but you have to have music from other genres as well. And with that in mind, we knew we wanted the music to come out of D.C.,” describes Christian on the highlighting aspects of her movie. She looked no further than her high school’s backyard, filling out the cast and score with past Ellington students, including herself as the singing voice for the main character. Christian’s résumé though belts louder than her actual performance voice, and extends beyond music. As the director, producer and screenwriter of JDD, Christian almost sends overcast to her singing abilities, but she plans on stepping out of that shadow soon. “I am working on my first solo R&B project, an EP, entitled, "Identity Crisis." I am really excited about that and about getting my music out there. The first single from that album is titled, "Ain't That Easy," and it will be released this winter,” she divulges.
 

When Christian speaks on her company’s objectives to create work that motivates and inspires people, she also infuses where her work ethic and skill was enhanced, “…going to an arts school and being around artists, helped me learn a lot about performing and performance preparation, and also, through my major, Literary, I was able to hone my writing.”

Each of these former DESA students are making marks and taking strides likened to the Duke himself. They have embraced their art, along with open minded ideologies about how their abilites affect not only their own lives but the world. The reflection of The Duke glitters in the moves and missions of his students. As DESA shuffles greatness through its doors, one can only imagine who or what is to come out next…while all apparently want to obtain the ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ superlative.