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Real Impact In The Juvenile Halls!!

We want to share an article with you about the amazing program we are doing in partnership with Today’s Future Sound in the Alameda County Juvenile Hall. This article really gives a great view into the spirit and impact of the program. We were super honored to be featured and have our program highlighted in this way. You can check out the article here, but make sure you come back and finish this blog post, as it will really bring everything together into a compete picture.

To give you an even more in depth look into this program and the experiences of the youth who participate in it, we’d like to share a short but powerful story with you about one young man who came through the first cycle of the program we recently completed.
As with many of the young men we work with in the hall, when we first began the group he was not able to identify or envision a positive future for himself. When he freestyled or wrote raps, the only subject matter he was able to convey was around selling drugs, active gang involvement and shooting his enemies. However, over the course of the group, he underwent a profound transformation. He began to share more personal and vulnerable aspects of his experience, both in the group discussion and in his creative output. He began to identify hopes and dreams he had for the future, things in his life that he would need to let go of to achieve those hopes and dreams, and real steps he could take towards this future.

As part of the process of our group, we do an in-depth, custom designed guided visualization which is intended to help the youth get a clear picture of their future fully successful self, in whatever way they define success for themselves. After going through this visualization experience, this young man’s face filled with an inner light, excitement, and even a sense of innocence. He expressed that he could actually see his future in his mind’s eye, and that he had never had any kind of experience like this before. “I had a whole vision”, he exclaimed in wonder. He went on to share with us that in this vision he saw himself in a suit and tie, carrying a brief case, and leading meetings in a corporate environment.
While some may trivialize this kind of experience as simply a day dream, for a young man who was incarcerated at the time, with his background, with the level of trauma he has experienced and the very limited options that the world has presented to him, to be able to clearly and confidently see and imagine a future version of himself in this position is a step forward that is light years in magnitude. This vision is the first and necessary step for him to actualize the incredible potential that he holds within himself.
So yeah, we love the work we do!

Lastly, we’d like to share with you a quote from a staff member at the Juvenile Hall who worked with us closely on this particular program.

“It is amazing to see how much the youth have learned and grown since the beginning of the program. The way that Rhythmic Mind is able to connect with the youth and create an atmosphere where they feel comfortable to express themselves and embrace new ideas is truly superb. The participants have developed a clear sense of what they would like their future to look like thanks to this program.” – Bradlee Line

WE GOT THE GRANT! RHYTHMIC MIND AND TFS RECEIVE $50,000 CALIFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL JUMP STARTS GRANT TO CONTINUE OUR SERVICES IN THE ALAMEDA COUNTY JUVENILE HALL

We make art, and we make a difference! @CalArtsCouncil is supporting our work through their JumpStArts program. http://tiny.cc/CACGrantees2021 #ArtsCA  Check out the official announcement here!               

Rhythmic Mind (RM) and Today’s Future Sound (TFS) are proud to announce that we were awarded $50,000 grant to sustain our current Advanced Narrative Therapeutic Songwriting (ANTS) / #HipHopTherapy program in combination with TFS#TherapeuticBeatMaking (TBM) program in the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center.

This year’s increased funding will allow for even more comprehensive programming. This not only allows twice-weekly TBM sessions for the units where TFS have worked since 2016, but in addition a select group of youth will be able to engage in an in-depth process of rhymewriting/songwriting involving the re-authoring of their personal narratives and recording of original collaborative songs. The ANTS program, led by Rhythmic Mind, integrates mindfulness, visualization, and a host of other therapeutic modalities, informed by the most current trauma research and practice delivered through a #strengthbased culturally-responsive approach.

#JUMPStArts #hiphoped #strengthsbased #culturallyresponsive #healingpowerofhiphop #todaysfuturesound #rhythmicmind 


Trauma Research Foundation Feature Piece on Rhythmic Mind

We have some pretty big news to share with you today! This has been in the works for a while, but we are extremely excited and honored to announce that Rhythmic Mind is being featured in the Trauma Research Foundation’s blog and newsletter this week. 

For those who are not familiar, The Trauma Research Foundation (TRF) was co-founded by Bessel Van Der Kolk, who is one of the world’s leading trauma experts and the author of the groundbreaking text and NY Times Best Seller, The Body Keeps The Score. In addition to many other clinical, scientific, and educational projects, TRF hosts the preeminent annual trauma conference in the world which brings together experts working at the cutting edge of trauma research and treatment. 

The Rhythmic Mind blog article featured here is part of a weekly series TRF is doing, exploring the growing movement around the Therapeutic Applications of Hip Hop/Hip Hop Therapy. This series will highlight different folks/organizations doing this incredible work, including ourselves, JC Hall, Todays Future Sound/Dr Elliot Gann, Aaron Rodwin, and Dr Raphael Travis. These are friends, colleagues, and collaborators who are all doing phenomenal and innovative work in this field, and we highly recommend checking out their blog articles as well. 

Additionally, all of us are currently doing an 8 week experiential virtual workshop series hosted by TRF, covering our different approaches to the work through the use of various expressive exercises, including lyrical analysis, beat-making, rhyme writing, and freestyle rapping. Rhythmic Mind will be doing one covering our Freestyle Therapy Cypher™️ model next Tuesday, July 20th at 1pm PST. We will also be collaborating with Dr. Elliot Gann from Today’s Future Sound on the eighth and final workshop on Tuesday, August 24th exploring the process of re-authoring personal narrative through lyric writing and beat making. 

You can click here to read our featured piece on TRF’s website.

Click here to read the descriptions of the different experiential workshops, and to view the previous week’s sessions.

And Click here to sign up for the experiential workshops.

And you can check out the links here to learn more about our colleagues and collaborators.
todaysfuturesound.org
hiphoptherapy.com
flowstory.org

Hope you’re able to join us for the workshops!!

And as always, please consider making a tax deductible donation by clicking this link here, as every contribution large or small really does help us in spreading the tremendous impact this work has!


Harry Mack Spits An Amazing Freestyle Rap About Rhythmic Mind

We’re honored and extremely juiced to have one of the greatest freestyler rappers of all time spit an off the top of dome/improvisational verse about our organization and work! He really captures the spirit of what we do, and conveys it with the phenomenal skill and lyrical dexterity he’s known for. Peep game!


Rhythmic Mind in Conjunction With KOTD & Ruin Your Day Presents: A Rhythmic Mind Freestyle Therapy Cypher™️

We are incredibly honored and thrilled to announce our upcoming FTC fundraising event, done in conjunction with King Of The Dot and Ruin Your Day. Taking place on Saturday April 17th, from 4-7pm PST, this groundbreaking cypher event will feature some of the best off- the-top of the dome MC’s in the world, including battle rap legend Dizaster, freestyle phenomenon and rhyme wizard Harry Mack, St. Louis battle rap pioneer and Rhythmic Mind Staff Artist REMYD, MC’s from the indomitable Project Blowed and the highly lauded Fresh Coast Movement, and more! If you know how these folks get down, you know this is about to be absolutely mind blowing!

The event will be hosted by the ever illustrious Lush One, who will also be rocking with us in the cypher, and it will be live-streamed on the KOTD Twitch and Ruin Your Day YouTube channels. We’ll be doing some of our custom Freestyle Therapy Exercises, as well as an extra bonus fundraising round, where y’all can donate and request one of the MC’s to freestyle about a topic of your choice. As always, all proceeds will go towards supporting our Hip Hop Therapy programs, and helping us to positively impact the lives of more and more youth.⁣

We are so incredibly juiced to see what MC’s of this caliber can do with our workshop and exercises, and feel deeply blessed and humbled to be able to offer this to the world. ⁣

Needless to say, this is a can’t miss event, so make sure you mark your calendars now, and tune in on the 17th!⁣

And extra big shout out to Lush One for being such an instrumental and key part of making this vision manifest. Much love and respect homie, and this is just the beginning!⁣

  • Video and beat by the insanely talented The Phronetic

Lush One Interview

MC/battle rap pioneer Lush One chops it up with Rhythmic Mind Co-Founder Max Kline about how Hip Hop helped him to form a strong identity from a young age, and not only gave him a lot of self-confidence and a sense of belonging, but also a way to authentically build community with others using Hip Hop as a universal language to bridge worlds and connect across all racial, cultural, and socioeconomic boundaries/backgrounds. He discusses all the positive/therapeutic aspects of battle rap, as well as his journey to sobriety and how it’s affected his self-perception and creativity/way of being in the world. All of this through the lens of the transformative and healing power of Hip Hop and how it’s been so instrumental in shaping his life on every level.


We Got The Grant! TFS and Rhythmic Mind Receive $45,000 California Arts Council JUMP StArts

We make art, and we make a difference! @CalArtsCouncil is supporting our work through their JumpStArts program. http://tiny.cc/CACGrantees2020 #ArtsCA Press Release

Today’s Future Sound (TFS) and Rhythmic Mind (RM) are proud to announce that we were awarded $45,000 grant to continue and expand our current #TherapeuticBeatMaking (TBM) program led by senior TFS staff Elwin Williams III aka @darapnerd (Project Coordinator and Instructor) and Marlon Richardson aka @unlearntheworld (Instructor) in the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center to include the Advanced Narrative Therapeutic Songwriting (ANTS) / #HipHopTherapy program.

Since 2016, TFS has run TBM groups in the hall, with an expansion of services to include twice-weekly delivery and work with even more units than previous years, thanks to the CAC JumpStArts grant. Youth participants were able to learn the craft of beat making on Ableton and #AbletonPush with TFS instructors, in addition to learning the basics of recording and audio engineering.

With this year’s increased funding RM was able to come on board as a partner/collaborator. This not only allows twice-weekly TBM sessions for the unit where we have worked since 2016, but in addition a select group of youth will be able to engage in an in-depth process of rhymewriting/songwriting involving the re-authoring of their personal narratives and recording of original collaborative songs. The ANTS program, led by Rhythmic Mind, integrates mindfulness, visualization, and a host of other therapeutic modalities, informed by the most current trauma research and practice delivered through a #strengthbased culturally-responsive approach.

#JUMPStArts #hiphoped #strengthsbased #culturallyresponsive #healingpowerofhiphop


Lyrics Born Interview

Interview with rapper/actor Lyrics Born, one of the most skilled lyricists in the game. He explores how hip hop helped him find his voice and place, discusses being a trailblazer as an Asian American rapper, and also unpacks the therapeutic benefits of entrepreneurship/ownership and how he uses his music to help him get through challenging times and deal with grief and loss.


Dr. Bruce Perry Interview

An interview we did with Dr. Bruce Perry, a leading expert in trauma research and treatment.  He discusses how and why highly rhythmic activities, and specifically hip hop, can be extremely effective tools in addressing trauma and its impact on one’s functioning and well being.


Remy D Interview

Rhythmic Mind interview with legendary battle rapper, freestyle wizard, and all around extremely dope MC RemyD, He touches on some really powerful dynamics, such as how Hip Hop gave him an authentic voice, to be used in place of a voice/language forced on him through oppression. He goes on to share an incredibly personal and touching story about how Hip Hop literally saved his life.