In this difficult recession, cutbacks are being made in all aspects of our life. One of the areas where things have been reduced or eliminated in is our schools. The first things to be eliminated typically are the non-core classes like art, music and physical education. These are all important subjects that young students need in order to be completely stimulated for their minds and their bodies. The problem now happens that only the children that can afford to take music lessons or to buy a student violin or an electric violin will be able to experience the many benefits that learning how to play an instrument teaches. Because of this, many groups across the country have formed to try to support the learning of the arts or to try to bring back the arts to schools and why it is so important.

Learning how to read music and playing an instrument has been shown to help kids in school to do well later on. There has been research that shows that children who are involved in music and learn to play an instrument at a young age, will perform better in math than students that have had no music lessons or training. This is why it is so imperative to have these taught to all children, not only the fortunate who can afford private lessons.

One example of a group that is advocating music education in schools is called AMC which stands for American Music Conference and is a national non-profit group that is spreading the word on the importance of music education. Several well known musicians have supported this specific group like Nick Lachey, Run DMC and several actors and actresses. This group has worked together with Teen people magazine to put on a huge artist of the year event celebrating those in the music industry and brings awareness to how important music education in schools is.

In addition to several various bigger groups that are supported by different celebrities, several lesser known grassroot advocacy groups have formed trying to support music in schools too. One such group is called MusicFriends and was started by parents and a little community that wanted to support music in their local school district. They are supported by MENC which is The National Association for Music Education that started in the early 1900′s and encourages the importance of music education in schools.

This group states that music was mentioned as a core subject in the No child left behind education Act of 2002 and how important it is and should not be cut from school districts trying to save money.

Whether it is a large national group or a little group in your community fighting to keep music in your schools, the same message is being advocated. Music education helps children, particularly the younger ones in elementary school and districts should consider it as important as reading or math when considering budget cuts.

You don’t know who Young Jeezy is? Check out our Young Jeezy Mixtapes after reading this bio. Jay Jenkins (born September 28, 1977 in Columbia, South Carolina, USA), currently known as Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He was formerly known as ‘Lil’ J’ in his early rap

Early life
Jay Jenkins was born in Columbia, South Carolina. As an infant Jenkins and his family relocated to Duncan Block, a neighborhood in Macon, Georgia (75 miles south of Atlanta). He eventually moved to West Atlanta’s 4th Ward between late 1999 and early 2000.

Under the layer of the sad childhood, Jeezy became a strong person who had a thing with words. He was apt in shooting verses and had a talent in melody that led him wanting to jump in the music business. He was a CEO for Corporate Thugz Entertainment and was determined to sit behind the desk before the urge to step up to the spotlight as a performer took over. ‘Before music I was just trying to survive out this motherfucker. I had other artists, some local cats off the street, but it didn’t work out,’ he recalled. ‘So I just decided to do it myself. Ain’t nobody gonna go as hard as you gonna go. I saw the bigger picture at the time. I have a way with words and I know how to hustle.’ At the age of 24, he released an indie album called ‘Thuggin’ Under Influence’ with Lil J as his moniker. The following years, he spawned more mixtapes that impressively sold averagely around 100,000 copies within a year.

Young Jeezy also won an award for ‘Hustla Of the Year” Soon his name traveled to P. Diddy’s label, Bad Boy Records that signed him in 2004 as one part of rap group Boyz N Da Hood. With the boys, he released a self-titled album in 2005 that peaked at #5 on Billboard Hot 200 chart. Despite the success, he left the group and the label to go under Def Jam as a solo artist. Spanning only a month apart from the Boyz N Da Hood album, he released a debut solo album ‘Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101′ under the new label. It went on platinum at the end of 2005 and propelled him as a capable solo artist. Like many other rap artists, Jeezy was a vocal one in what was happening in the society. When the Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005, he criticized the way government handled the crisis and opened his house to provide shelters for the victims. However, being a true street artist, he was also never off from controversy and rivalries. In March 2006, he was arrested following a shooting in Miami Beach, Florida and charged with illegal firearm possession. More information on Young Jeezy Mixtape here.