Cheniel Garcia is turning his own tough times into music from the streets. Born in Harlem, raised in southside Framingham, the 17-year-old junior at Keefe Technical High School is rapping his way out of trouble.
A few years ago, the 6-foot-4-inch, 320-pound teenager nicknamed "Biggs" was attracting the wrong kind of attention with an appetite for trouble and a mouth that wouldn't quit.
In court, Garcia met Framingham truant officer Bill Phillips and they've been making music ever since.
"I'm over that now," said Garcia, looking almost sheepish as he towers over Phillips. "I'm focusing on rap music and making an album."
A trim man with a shaved head, Phillips resembles a cross between Mr. Clean and a Marine drill sergeant.
At Keefe, Phillips directs New Beginnings, a program that helps at-risk students avoid trouble in the form of alcohol, drugs and violence. Citing legal confidentiality, Phillips said Garcia came to his attention after "an incident" in 2003 that involved the juvenile court system.
After years of dealing with wise guys and tough kids, Phillips saw Garcia as a "sensitive" though sometimes volatile teen who needed support and guidance. "Cheniel had been running his mouth. At the time, his character was a little less then perfect. But I saw, at heart, he was a good kid. I wanted to show him there was a better way to go through life," said Phillips in his office.
Phillips -- or "Phipps" as he's known to students -- knows firsthand about the dangers of alcohol. He was on the road to ruin himself until Massachusetts Justice Robert C. Campion gave him a chance to turn his own life around.
Phillips, Campion and William Gaines developed the New Beginnings program to educate young adults about the dangers of substance abuse.
Sober for 20 years, Phillips has presented the New Beginnings program, now run in conjunction with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, to 200,000 students, parents and teachers across the country.
When Phillips learned Garcia had musical ambitions, he worked with him to produce a rap song that now plays on the New Beginnings Web site.
"I encouraged Cheniel to see what he could do and where it might lead. He's become a role model for other students. He's growing up," he said. On the program's Web site, Garcia, accompanied by thumping music, advises young listeners to make a "new beginning" of their lives by avoiding alcohol and drugs.
Phillips has covered the walls of his first floor office with newspaper headlines, including "Murder in the First" and "One dead in Shooting," to remind students drugs and alcohol have potentially fatal consequences.
Garcia's straight-from-the-gut rap addresses substance abuse in no frills street lingo with the phase "TSDD," short for "tough s***, don't drink."
At Phillips' prompting, Garcia recently performed his rap for students and staff at New Beginnings meetings in Framingham and Natick. Watching the mismatched pair together, it's clear Garcia values Phillips' paternal approach. "Cheniel hasn't always had things easy. But he's changed his life," said Phillips. "Other kids see that and it provides a good model." These days with Phillips' encouragement, Garcia is laying down tracks for "My Turn," an autobiographical album of raps he's written about everyday life in the Southside.
He was born in New York City and moved with his mother, Daisy Garcia, and four brothers to Framingham eight years ago. With prodding from Phillips, Garcia now recognizes he wasn't always an angel around the house. "My mother went through a lot to keep me safe," he said.
Growing up in public housing around Beaver Street, Garcia has seen his share of conflicts and shattered lives. One taped track of a rap-in-progress contains the voice of a young Framingham man who was later murdered.
But he emphasized "as long as you keep your head right people will be cool. I'm cool with everybody," Garcia said. "It's OK if you mind your business."
His raps are poetic, sometimes profane observations of life seen through the eyes of a teenager who has felt the sting of neighborhood bullies. Garcia credits neighborhood friend and musician Frankie Hammers with teaching him "to rap about the truth and be honest with my rap." Recently, Garcia has been working with local producer Kevin Williams who uses a special computer program of background music to record his raps.
He also enlisted his younger brother, George Ramos, to help him make a short film about the struggles and successes of growing up in Framingham. "I'm showing my story and how it went and what people I met," he said.
While he admires the popular performer named 50 Cent who glamorizes the "gangster life," Garcia said he also records mellower raps "for the girls." One tuneful rap begins with a stanza from "In The Still of The Night." Another features what sounds like several hots. Garcia's growing reputation seems to be paying off. As he walked through the school halls, he gallantly accepted a kiss on the cheek from a dark-eyed sophomore girl. In addition to rap music, Garcia has been taking a double-barreled approach to a post-high school career. He studies culinary arts at Keefe and is known for baking giant-sized chocolate chip cookies known to students as "the Bigster."
And Garcia is also a self-taught barber, a skill he's been honing at Liga Mayor, or Major Leagues, a Second Street shop. Working with the shop owner who calls himself "Lovey Love," Garcia has mastered various hair styles such as "the fade" and personalized designs. Garcia even trims the hair of several Keefe Tech teachers though not Phillips whose shaved pate remains smooth as an egg.
A neighbor, Tonya Boston, braids Garcia's long hair in precise corn rows, which he refers to as "my way back in the day style." After some rocky times, Garcia is back in school, pursuing his diploma, making music and basking in some hard-earned self-respect. "I just want to take my music as far as I can" he said. "I feel like somebody reached out to me."
The gentle teen-age giant and the truant officer with the shaved head nod toward one another and smack their knuckles together.
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