Lynn students enjoying hip-hop rivalry

LYNN – Lynn Classical senior Jeremias Jimenez and Lynn English senior Caleb Michel have responded to the long rivalry between Lynn English and Lynn Classical High School in a way that has their fellow peers singing along.Jimenez and Michel have each recorded a song about their respective high school and what they believe makes each one better than the other, under the management of Jason Jimenez – Jeremias’ older brother – and friend Shaun Bryson at Pure Sound Management recording studio in Lynn.Both teens are performing the songs at their pep rallies this morning.Ironically, however, this competitive musical duo describes themselves as “best friends.””Jeremias and Caleb have been friends since elementary school,” said Jason Jimenez. “They’re just using their musical talent in a fun, innocent way to stir up the historical rivalry between Lynn English and Lynn Classical,” he said.Classical Principal Gene Constantino said he agreed to allow Jeremias Jimenez play his song, “Green and Gold” at the pep rally because it does not personally attack English and is a harmless way of supporting the school.”The song has no foul language and is just a song about Classical so we allowed for it to be used at the pep rally,” he said.Michel approached English Principal Thomas Strangie on Monday morning with the lyrics to “English Anthem” and asked if he could play the song at the English pep rally.”At first I was a little scared because the first thing Principal Strangie told me to do was tuck my shirt in,” said Michel.Strangie approved the song after examining the lyrics and verifying that there was no explicit language used.”It’s not so much a song about the rivalry, I think it’s more so a song about English and going to high school here,” said Strangie. “I think it’s pretty innocent.”Both of the students have been practicing their musical talents since they were 10 and had their first chance to record music at the after-school program at the Gregg Neighborhood House in Lynn. Jason Jimenez and Shaun Bryson started Pure Sound Management and signed the two students to a recording contract two years ago in order to manage their talents for writing and recording their own original music.Jason Jimenez then advised his younger brother to record a song that would appeal to his age group and local community.”I first told Jeremias to write a song to focus on his school (Classical) so he could start with a fan base there,” said Jason Jimenez. “After his song gained a lot of popularity and the response from students was huge, we told Caleb to write a song about English because of the ongoing rivalry between the two schools. We wanted to get some buzz going.”Jeremias Jimenez spent two days writing and recording the song titled “Green and Gold,” which refers to Classical’s school colors.”The whole song is related to my high school and what makes Classical, in my eyes, the better of the two schools,” said Jeremias Jimenez, who is referred to as “Nova” in the hip-hop world. “Jason came up with the idea and I thought it would be a fun way to show my support for Classical.”One set of lyrics in “Green and Gold” support Classical’s athletics and states: “Other teams with your minds full of false starts, thinkin’ you could win a game in our ball park, never did I stutter, now all together, we better than any other.”Michel said it’s always fun to enjoy “a good, friendly rivalry,” who responds to “Green and Gold” in his song titled, “English Anthem.””If there is a song supporting Classical, of course I felt like I needed to represent English,” he said.The chorus of Michel’s “English Anthem” celebrates the English school mascot, the Bulldog, and English’s school colors and states: “I got Bulldog blood running through my veins, even when I graduate I’m still reppin’ (representing) maroon and gray, we own the city and we make the rules, we don’t make it easy, not like the others do, put the sweater on wearing only English, these other schools begin it so of course w