4 Troubled Teens Blog

Speech Debelle has experienced a lot in a short amount of time. She left home when she was a teenager, and was forced to sleep on the streets and in hostels.

According to a Sept. 9 article by Louise Jury of the London Daily Standard, these early setbacks didn't stop Debelle from achieving success in the music world:

A south London rapper who once lived rough was surrounded by the family she left as a teenager as she won the £20,000 Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize.

Speech Debelle, 26, trounced critics' favourites Florence And The Machine and Bat For Lashes as well as big sellers Kasabian to pick up the award established as an alternative to the commercial Brits.

Despite taking her inspiration from her troubled and lonely past when she slept on the streets and in hostels, Debelle celebrated [her victory] with her mother, Marilyn Dennis, with whom she lives again in Mitcham, and grandmother, Madame De Belle, from Streatham.

Labels: homelessness, music

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When Jade Vanacore started teaching music therapy at a school for troubled boys, she never imagined it would end at a recording studio. But as the boys began to open up and share their own poems and lyrics, the focus of her classes shifted.

"She encouraged each of the boys to write songs about their past experiences. She also brought a number of beats, or instrumental hip-hop songs, so the boys could start putting their words to music."

With the help of South Beach's Collins Studio, Vanacore treated the boys to a day in the studio where they were able to record their songs. Producer Corey Hill said a lot of the boys had potential as lyricists and rappers, if they "work hard and stay out of trouble." Source: Miami Herald

Labels: music, dreams, hope

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The average teen hears 84 references to drugs, alcohol or tobacco every day just by listening to popular music, according to a study from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine.

Researchers went through the lyrics of the most popular songs of 2005 to find explicit references to drugs, alcohol or tobacco. About 77% of rap music had such mentions, followed by 36% in country music, and 14% of rock music. Because the average teen listens to 2.4 hours of music a day, the researchers were able to come up with the 84 references per day figure. This study appears in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Worried about the negative influences on your teenager? Learn how to be a positive role model and other free parenting tips at ByParents-ForParents.com.

Labels: media, music, influences

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