Beat Making Lab

<p class="p1">Welcome to the Beat Making Lab project. North Carolina musicians Pierce Freelon and Stephen Leviton, AKA Apple Juice Kid, are teaching students around the globe how to produce hip-hop beats and we're coming along for the ride. Each week we check in with Freelon and Leviton to find out how things are going at their latest lab in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. See their weekly videos get perspective with Freelon's weekly blog.</p>

A return to Ethiopia rekindles the spirit of the Beat Making Lab

The Beat Making Lab organizers have never returned to the place where they held their lab. This week, though, they're back in Ethiopia, presenting what they learned with the lab and reconnecting with the beat-makers they worked with.

A return to Ethiopia rekindles the spirit of the Beat Making Lab
Recording session at our studio in Addis Ababa.

Pitch your beat to the Beat Making Lab and join Marco and The World's staff as they dance Azonto

Pitch your beat to the Beat Making Lab and join Marco and The World's staff as they dance Azonto
Presentation outside Beat Making Lab studio.

How do you say hello when no one speaks the same language?

How do you say hello when no one speaks the same language?
Adamasu our drummer on the poem.

Rap? Meh. Poetry is the rage at the Ethiopian Beat Making Lab

Rap? Meh. Poetry is the rage at the Ethiopian Beat Making Lab
Stephen Levitin aka Apple Juice Kid on a site visit with IntraHealth.

Can you mix a masinko and a soccer game chant into a beat?

Can you mix a masinko and a soccer game chant into a beat?

What happens when you mix culture, talent, health and passion? Music

The Beat Making Lab's trip to Ethiopia was about more than helping people make music. It was about using music to help understand the health issues on the minds of people in Addis Ababa and elsewhere in Ethiopia.

What happens when you mix culture, talent, health and passion? Music

And the Beat Making Lab goes on, to Ethiopia

If you've ever wondered what the world sounds like, the Beat Making Lab wants to help you find out. Armed with a few laptops and a lifetime of music-making experience, the two men behind the project are bringing community music labs to communities all over the world.

And the Beat Making Lab goes on, to Ethiopia