DaShiya Jackson, aka Shiya Da Goat
Age: 18
In three words, her music is: Real, raw and uncut
DaShiya Jackson and her friend, Mariah Roper, took to the mic during a Mixtape Project recording session.
Other youth sat at tables, some chatting, some writing, most were listening and the two went to it.
Both teens pulsed to the rhythm, one sharing lyrics after the other, then giggles or expletives at a slight mistake before
hopping right back in for another try.
The Mixtape Project benefits our community because a lot of people in Duluth are artists, said Jackson.
“I don’t feel like people actually take the time out their day to take it seriously,
to know that it’s somewhere and something for that.”
That has been her experience. Jackson, 18, has been writing for a couple of years. “I never took it seriously, I just knew
I was good at it.” Then she participated in Daniel Oyinloye’s Act Out Loud class at Denfeld High School, where she saw
how her peers were able to express themselves.
Black, minority students who experienced negative racial acts put their stories together in a play, she recalled.
While the class is now canceled, the Mixtape Project offers another way toward expression.
Oyinloye is a mentor to Jackson today, he “always tries to push me to my best ability,” she said.
As a result, Jackson and her mother, Kaprice Brown, helped recruit youth for the project, including Roper.
Of her art, Jackson said her greatest source for her rap or poetry are her personal experiences.
“Writing helps me calm down if I’m mad, sad or depressed. ...Music is my actual get-away,”
she said.
Since participating in the Mixtape, Jackson and Brown have erected a recording studio in their house,
where they’re regularly hosting sessions with Jackson’s friends.
Her advice is there is no right or wrong answer in music-making, you don’t always have to rhyme, and:
“If you’re feeling anything, writing it down helps.”
written by Melinda Lavine
