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Issue date: 3/6/07 Section: Entertainment

DaBoondox

Writing raps during study hall more than a dozen years ago, two high school friends tucked in the "Armpit of Da States" found a sound called hip-hop and a dream to resonate music of their own.

The armpit they called home was Girard, the hip-hop they called music was life, and 13 years later, the dream is still strong.

The friends are Youngstown State University students Troy Napier and Jeff Killin of local hip-hop group DaBoondox, and they have plenty of material for their music. They have been in and out of college and relationships, through child-rearing and the early '90s hip-hop era, and amid multiculturalism and stereotypes.

"Today's rap music lacks originality; everyone seems to follow everyone else. It has no substance. … Real hip-hop was made to have a message, and that's what today's rap does not have," Killin said.

Influenced and inspired by late rapper Tupac, Napier and Killin stressed that DaBoondox's music is rooted in old-school hip-hop, never in materialism like today's mainstream rap.

"You will never hear DaBoondox write songs about cars, gold chains, grills and guns. We want people to relate to more than that. People can hear our songs and say, 'Yeah, I've been there before,' or 'Yeah, I've been in that situation before.' … DaBoondox hopefully can … change rap today," Killin said.

DaBoondox is "not trying to commercialize," but Napier believes the group's focus on music with a message could replace materialism in today's mainstream rap.

"Our message could become mainstream. We feel that there [are] more things to talk about than guns and 22s when you have an outlet to a wide audience," Napier said.

As a black-and-white duo, DaBoondox is unique for its multiculturalism, Napier said.

"It's important that we're multicultural," Napier said, comparing DaBoondox to white rapper Eminem and black rapper Dr. Dre, who collaborated, but as separate artists.

"It's really important that people know the black-and-white thing. … DaBoondox is more than just a hip-hop group," said Napier, who considers DaBoondox a family.

"I call [Killin's] mom 'Mom,'" Napier added affectionately.

Killin's mom is not the only family member who's part of DaBoondox family. Killin's 5-year-old nephew, Justin, made his recording debut on DaBoondox's first album, "Armpit of Da States."

"He's got that cute little munchkin voice, so one day I decided to record him saying some things for our first album. It was funny, and he loved it so much that he would say the song he was on was his song. I recorded him one day for the intro for our first album saying, 'Boondox Baby!' and after that it kinda became our catch phrase. Now people see us and say 'Boondox Baby!' and even at our shows, the crowd screams it," Killin explained.

Continued...

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