Beats & Rhymes

By Maty Boury & Fatima Wane

additional reporting by Oumar Kamara

As we walk in a boom of music hits my ears, my brain is immediately pushed to comprehend the distinctive sounds. The bass is banging out loud tunes helping the group of 20 or so SABS students who have elected to learn the ways of music in the Beats & Rhymes Club.

The group a mixture of girls and boys separated into smaller subsets of 5 or 6 students. In every group computers, headphones and mics are strewn everywhere. The head of this musical operation is Austin Thompson a.k.a Brother Austin leading SABS' future rappers, composers and musical geniuses to auditory glory.

"I don’t drink tap water, only Evian! And please, journalists, the New York Times are releasing an article on me so I can’t be interviewed by you," joked Ardo Hamady Ba, the composer of his group. "I love this group because it gives me the chance to express myself and to create fresh beats with my friends."

Members of the club have the opportunity to make their own lyrics and they express all their feelings and vent all their anger in their songs. Two other musicians, Seynabou Niang a.k.a Qween Nabou and Yusuf Kamara a.k.a Young Black, told me that the club is all they could have asked for and more.

Then the beats start and Young Black, Qween Nabou and Ardo show us and the club what they have composed. One can witness the transformation that builds with each successive note. They resemble a group of true recording artists from the matching mannerisms and they way they move to their facial expressions and their ability to pair a rhyme with every beat. The lyrics talk about trust and tell a story. The students, now storytellers, make their words and music into stories that really come alive.

At the end of the session each group takes a turn to creatively express themselves through song before their advisor, Thompson, wraps it up with a freestyle rap of his own.

Meet The Staff: Ngone Fall Dieye

By Fatima Niang

Her name is Ngone Fall Dieye she is 15 years old and she is in 11^th grade. Her favourite subjects are math, English, and chemistry because Madame Fall, her chemistry teacher, is very kind and she explains things very well. When she grows up she wants to be a banker because she likes money. Her hobbies are watching TV, listening music and visiting countries. Her favourite foods are pizza, hamburgers, ice cream, and chocolate. Her favourite fruit is pineapple. Her proudest day was when she passed an exam.

Meet The Staff: Raghav Tewari

By Abdou Khadre Sene

Raghav Tewari, a.k.a Raghy, is 16 and is in the class of 9/10. Born in India, he was interested in journalism and chose to join the journalism club of the Senegalese American Bilingual School (SABS). His favourite subjects in school are geography, math, biology and computer. He likes playing cricket and soccer when he’s bored, but the thing he likes to do the most in his life is to sleep and make new friends. His favourite soccer player is Kaka. One thing we can’t forget is that he loves eating pizza.

He has travelled to a lot of places including The Gambia, where he went to the Marina International School. While he was in Marina International School something funny happened to him. When he was playing soccer, he tried to tackle, but then his pants ripped in front of the whole school.

Meet The Staff: Abdou Khadre Sene

By Raghav Tewari


Abdou, a.k.a Lil’King, is a student at the Senegalese American Bilingual School. He is also a member of the Journalism club. He believes it will teach him something new and that he will get to express his views and ideas in the articles he will write in his time at the club. The 14-year-old has a keen interest in basketball, rapping and just likes to have a good time. Born in Boston, he aims to make it big as a rapper or a basketball player. His favourite subjects at school are: Math, Biology and Theatre. He is of a very nice and kind nature.

Fun fact about Abdou: Once, while everybody was watching, Abdou tripped and fell as laughter erupted all around

Meet The Staff: Charlotte Young

By Oumar Kamara

Charlotte Young is a first-year teacher at SABS and one of the advisors to the Journalism Club along with Joshua Thomas. Young is also the News Director for SABS Media.

Young's favorite pastime is writing. She also likes to travel and make things. Her favorite juice that she tasted so far in Senegal is Bissap or Ditakh. Also, her favorite Senegalese plate is lakh.

The most embarrassing thing that happened to her is that she once got lost in her own neighborhood in Dakar.

Welcome!

SABS Media is a student news organization with a mission to inform, entertain and generally provide relevant news to the Senegalese American Bilingual School and its surrounding community.