Stepping in the recording studio, a beat is playing, the sound of drums echoing through the room. Junior Nick Forrest sits before a laptop, reading the lyrics he’s written. Carefully looking them over, he goes to the microphone, ready to record.
Debuting in the rap genre, Forrest started making music nine months ago, with his first song “Found”. Since he was a child, music has been a love of his, and something that’s influenced him.
“Artists like Tyler the Creator and Kendrick Lamar always got me into the lyrical aspect of music,” Forrest said. “I’ve always loved writing and expressing myself, no matter what.”
In his motive of expressing himself, Forrest draws deeper meaning from his most influential artists and how that drives him to be the artist he wants to be.
“I look up to Tyler the Creator because he expresses himself and does what he loves to do, because that’s always what I want to be and that’s my dream,” Forrest said. “I also take into account Kendrick Lamar whenever I think about lyric styles and how to write. And then for my production, I really like Thundercat, his production style is amazing.”
Many of Forrest’s songs include a slow, methodical rhythm, a matching chorus, and two or three quick-paced verses. In one of his songs: “Real”, the chorus includes lyrics about finding yourself, which is a theme Forrest wants others to take from his music.
“A specific message I always want to express is always be yourself and express yourself,” Forrest said. “I never want someone to hold back what they actually feel inside.”
Prior to the making of his music Forrest had taken guitar all throughout middle school. However, he didn’t continue on with it because it wasn’t something he considered enjoyable.
“I don’t really like doing music in school because of all the guidelines and you can’t do anything creative you’d want to do,” Forrest said. “I feel like in schools it’s just going off a note sheet, but I love doing my own thing and just creating my own music.”
The process Forrest puts into making his music has piqued the interests of many, hoping to learn how he does that he does, including chemistry teacher Kevin Laughlin.
“Knowing Nick and his personality and how full of life he is and how full of energy, it would be really neat to see him map out his creative process,” Laughlin said.
The platform in which Forrest releases his music is YouTube, where he works with others to get beats. The writing and background, he does himself.
“It takes a week, or two weeks, to make a song, if I do it pretty quickly,” Forrest said. “The writing takes about a week, and I analyze it, and the recording I do pretty quickly.”
Throughout his music-making process, Forrest constantly looks to grow as an artist and improve his craft, getting help from the people around him.
“My parents are more than supportive,” Forrest said. “All my friends support me in it, too. They’ll give me some tips, and I love the structure of criticism and how they can help me, because I can only get better from that.”
Laughlin has known Forrest since he taught him back in sixth grade at Gorzycki middle school, and only sings praise for the kind of person he is, not just as a music artist, but as a baseball player and as a person.
“He’s just a genuine person, and he always puts others before himself. Even back in middle school, and it’s no different on the baseball field,” Laughlin said. “His selflessness is one of the things I love about Nick, that he’s just a generally good person that is always willing to help people, and always has a smile on his face. You just can’t help having a smile on your face when you’re around him.”
Forrest’s positivity towards others as noted by Laughlin, is also in combination with the fact that he makes music in general stands out to his friend, junior Daniel Sinton, as well.
“He’s one of the only people I know that actually makes music,” Sinton said. “I think it’s hard to do with the people that don’t like it or say things behind your back, but he doesn’t care about what other people say.”
Despite the challenges that may come with making music, whenever Forrest is on the topic of his music Laughlin notes the importance of it to him.
“Whenever you talk to somebody that is passionate about something, you can see their facial expression change,” Laughlin said. “You can just see the passion in his face when he talks about it, he lights up.”
Junior Devin Smith, a friend of Forrest’s since middle school, sees his friend’s music-making in a positive light.
“I think it’s really cool,” Smith said. “The fact that he’s going for it. Most people kind of just think about doing it, and they never do. I think the fact that he’s actually trying to go for it kind of shows he’s really into it, that he’s all about it.”
Forrest has a total of four songs out as of now. He is, however, currently working on an album that he hopes to have out this coming summer or at the start of the next school year. It’s something he’s stated that he’s excited for.
“I think he’s brave putting out music, and you can tell he puts effort and thought into his music through his storytelling,” Sinton said. “I can’t wait for new music and to see his progression.”
