Everything about that night makes freshman Andre Bowie uneasy. His voice drops when he talks about it, and he stares at the floor. Twelve-years-old at the time, he was at his grandmother’s house on the phone with his cousin when he heard the whole story. There was a fight, a gun pulled, 11 shots. His close friend, whose name he won’t mention, passed away shortly after being taken to the hospital. This was someone Bowie had looked up to, confided in, and in the flash of a muzzle—he was gone. This wasn’t the first traumatic moment in his life, and certainly not the last, but through writing and recording hip hop music as his alter ego Yung Dre, Bowie has found an escape from a world he desperately needed escaping from.

Sitting in study hall at Mission Valley Middle School, Bowie wrote his first lyrics. This clean cut environment was a far cry from his days at Quindel Elementary in the Kansas City, Kan. school district. Up until middle school, he had lived in Wyandotte County his entire life. It was where his friends, his family and his memories lived. But here, he knew nobody.
“When I was in seventh grade, I just didn’t even talk, because I didn’t like it out here,” Bowie said.
Writing came to be a routine, and before long, Andre transitioned from a notebook to his Blackberry, where he could write his thoughts the moment they came to him, anywhere. This concept wasn’t new. Writing had always been Bowie’s escape from the violence and trauma that so often took place in his former neighborhood.

“I was born in Wyandotte county,” Bowie said. “I’ve always been there, but for somebody that don’t know, they don’t wanna go there.”

A long-time hip-hop fan, it was at 13-years-old that Bowie tried performing some of his written lyrics for the first time. Using the basic recording software “Cool Edit Pro,” he created his first track,

“Stay The Same,” on his home computer. Lyrically, Bowie kept his music consistent with the thoughts in his head. Reality and his experiences both good and bad were all fair game. It just had to be the truth.

“Everything that I say, I’m serious about, because it’s stuff I probably don’t want to talk about,” Bowie said.

This becomes apparent after only a few listens, in songs like “Watch Me from Heaven,” dedicated to his grandmother.

“I know it’s been hard over these long years, but no more tears if I tell you how I feel,” sings Bowie.

Moving into the eighth grade, he would develop his name as an artist and start to find his voice as Yung Dre. By October, under the lights of the all-school talent show, Bowie was on stage performing for a full room of classmates and parents, an experience he references as both boosting his confidence and making his presence as an artist more legitimate in the eyes of his peers.

***

Promoting himself through both a Facebook fan page and a self-run YouTube channel featuring nearly 40 songs, Bowie is doing everything in his power to get his name out and follow up on a dream he mentions in countless songs–getting signed by a record label. This is a pursuit he has actively worked on for about a year, at one point even speaking briefly with local rap sensation Tech N9ne’s label “Strange Music” about what it would take to make a record.

Social networking is Bowie’s hub for everything as an independent artist. All four of his mixtapes have been advertised here, along with links to songs on each. Going on the theme of color, each of “Yung Dre’s” album titles and covers are based on a different pastel. His most recent release, “Red Rose Champion,” still recorded on Bowie’s home computer, was ready in November, and features
Yung Dre on the front surrounded by a swirl of the dark, thorny flowers.

Even without a tangible deal, Bowie is serious about frequently releasing new Yung Dre songs and getting feedback from fans who have found him online. There’s even the girl in Florida who went so far as to get his named tattooed on her neck, a picture he proudly displays on his Facebook page. This moderate success hasn’t changed the freshman’s hardworking attitude, one that his English teacher, Meredith Birt, believes will take him far.

“I’ve never heard him complain, and I’ve never heard him say ‘I can’t do this,’ and I can’t say this enough, he’s extremely dedicated,” Birt said.

Birt went as far as to purchase Bowie’s most recent release and fourth mixtape to show her support for a student who she believes is completely capable of achieving everything he has set out to do.

“He has a goal,” Birt said. “He’s going to get an ‘A’ in my class, he’s going to be a rap artist, and he’s going to do it, and that’s how it’s gonna be.”

***

“I’m confident in the work I do. Yeah, I’m still true, even after what I been through, living life on a journey, even though I’m so worthy,” rhymes Yung Dre in the thought-provoking “Dear God” from his “Red Rose” album.

Only in his first year at East, Bowie is still finding his place in a school that’s worlds apart from where he comes from. He also hasn’t received unanimous support for his music or ideas. Not everyone understands Bowie, he’s doesn’t fall into the normal East demographic, and some don’t take the idea of a freshman rapper seriously, but it doesn’t matter. He’s doing what feels right.

“People choose to dislike me, ‘cause they think I’m just ghetto, that’s not how I am at all,” Bowie said. “I’m just going to tell you what’s real about Wyandotte County.”

That’s all he ever planned on doing: telling the truth, and writing songs about what has happened or what he believes will happen. Making a living off of music may be a distant vision, but with every new song, Bowie moves a little further past the struggles in his life, and a little closer to the dream.
“All this music is just a must, I’m gon’ make it, and that I trust,” Bowie raps, in Red Rose’s fitting finisher, “Music is my passion”.

Bad Girl Twerk by Homegrown Sampler

Show Me by Homegrown Sampler

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