PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Ant Brown goes by a number of titles — father, community activist, motivational speaker, youth engager and rapper. His style of rap is a little different from the rap culture that's widely popularized, and it's the reason he's become a role model to hundreds of kids across the city.
It's positive rap, with positive messages, meant to deter the youth away from some of the negative influences of rap culture such as violence.
"We implement positive lyrics and positive thought patterns inside of the mind. So we are also reshaping the way that they think as well," Brown said.
Brown has brought what he calls the ABRO experience to several schools around Philadelphia. The experience has many layers to it. Sometimes it looks like a presentation where they bring in influencers to speak with the youth and share their stories, while sometimes it's a performance in auditorium full of excited kids.
"It's a school tour that promotes positivity to art entertainment education," Brown explained, "and we utilize social media influencers to engage with students, because the students all watch these influencers. So what we do is we bring them to the kids. If your teacher tells you stay out of trouble, stay out of violence, you might not get it."
Brown said when the message is coming from people that the youth idolize on social media, they are more receptive to it. It's about meeting them on their level and engaging them where they are.
"It just became a movement of bringing influencers into the schools," he said. "I speak to them through a medium that they understand, which is music, which is energy, you know, and I think that's what makes them gravitate to me. When I'm in performance mode, I'm in full performance mode. It's not like I'm trying to come talk down on the kids."
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His model has had a lot of success, so much so that he said he's working on a partnership that could bring the ABRO experience to all schools across Philadelphia.
"When I'm doing this work with the kids and young people, I see so much of myself. I see a lot of them going through similar experience that I went through," he shared.
Brown, who has lived all over the city, including in South, North, and Southwest Philadelphia, said growing up, he had to face his own set of challenges. But today, his story is what helps him to connect with the youth.
"I grew up in the hood," he recalled. "So it's like the same thing happening every day. You might hear some gunshots around the corner. I grew up with a mom on drugs. So that was like a big challenge for me as well. And I think that's kind of what made me want to do the positive stuff I'm doing now."
Like many of the youth that he reaches in Philadelphia schools, Brown knows loss. He lost his brother and friends to gun violence. And though he's gained a lot of notoriety in the last year, empowering and serving his community is something he's been committed to, through the influence of his mother who passed away a few years ago.
"These kids, they look at me as like an older brother," he said. "A lot of these kids lost dads, brothers, uncles, as well. And I'm able to connect with them with different coping mechanisms because of the experience that I went through. So that experience I went through allowed me to emotionally put myself in the feelings of somebody who's mourning the death of somebody that's close, like an immediate sibling."
Brown's experiences are also echoed through his rhymes, which he says the kids grasp onto really easily.
"I was the broke boy that had no dreams, a nice tribe. He was the one with his wings up in the sky," he rhymed. "Walk in the living room seeing this mother cry, shut off. No. Does he see the tears in the eyes holding the shoulder? He wanted to give us some closure said don't worry about me. Make sure you get your diploma. Get your children a future I wasn't able to get you."
Brown said he has big plans for 2022. He's looking forward to starting a youth positive rap choir to bring more opportunities and hope to young people.
"It's exposure for them. They get to get a little popular, which they all want to be," he joked. “And depending on the resources that come with it, they'll benefit from those resources."
You can hear more from the interview with Ant Brown on the Bridging Philly podcast. Subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.