Last week, Massachusetts teenagers got the opportunity to showcase their music skills thanks to the Teen Music-Maker Showdown, the product of a partnership between the Boston Public Library (BPL) and The Hip Hop Transformation (THHT), a music program for teens at the Cambridge Community Center.

Local hip hop powerhouse and artist development director of THHT, Red Shaydez, tells me that the collaboration started with a direct message on Twitter. Lower Mills librarian Ritse Adefolalu asked her for recommendations of teenage producers who would like to have their beats featured on the BPL’s Twitch streams. From that message came the eventual collaboration between THHT and the BPL. Shaydez and her staff started meeting with librarians bi-weekly to plan and promote events and workshops, leading to the eventual competition, held on March 5. The three winners of the competition received Visa gift cards, as well as a commission to produce new music for the library.

"It's been a lot of hard, hard work and planning," Red Shaydez says. "There were memos sent out to the BPS. Other libraries tapped in and started supporting us in the Greater Boston area." Shaydez also spread the news to the students of a course she teaches at a charter high school in Cambridge. "About two weeks before the submission deadline, we started ramping up social media, and because people — kids and adults alike — love last-minute pressure, we got a slew of submissions in the last two nights."

The competition began on February 5 with a kickoff event on Twitch, where the nature of the competition was explained: participants, aged 13-18 from Boston and the Greater Boston area, were to submit one original track, no longer than seven minutes and no profanity. The songs would be judged on their originality, quality of structure, and execution. The kickoff was followed by a music-maker workshop on February 17, run by Red Shaydez, fellow THHT collaborators Lightfoot and Flash, and representatives from Boston youth organization Zumix. There, contestants were able to have their questions answered about the contest and production as a whole, and received constructive feedback on potential submissions. The event culminated in a live-streamed Twitch award ceremony on March 5, hosted by Adefolalu, Shaydez, Flash and Lightfoot. In addition to celebrating the final three winners, audiences got to hear ten of the strongest submissions, out of a total of 75 received. Prizes went to Jamie Glover of Brookline in third place for “Love Will Come Again,” Nayely from Chelsea for the song “Infinity” in second place, and The Loop from Dorchester taking the top prize for their song, “Affirmations.”

The showdown highlighted the diverse talent of teenagers in the Boston area and Greater Massachusetts. Shaydez says the submissions spanned a wide range of genres and subjects.

"There were a lot of love songs," she tells me. "Kids have a lot to say about their feelings and love. There were some trap songs, which was dope because I know that they're influenced by what they hear on the radio. Some of them sound really professionally produced, and others did it at their computers, which was also fun and raw and authentic."

Red Shaydez has been with THHT since 2016, starting as an advisor and helping kids to polish their songs and fine-tune their sound. THHT usually runs a seven-week summer program dedicated to teaching kids the art of hip hop — from music and dancing to the industry's ins and outs — that concludes in a showcase, but that program was halted due to COVID-19. With the Teen Music-Maker Showdown, the THHT and Boston Public Library hoped to provide an alternative creative outlet for teens across the state.

"Music is always a big passion or hobby that kids have and share, especially with apps such as TikTok and Twitter," Shaydez says. "I know a lot of people articulate themselves best through creativity. And with us having so many artists, producers, beatmakers — this is a great way to get them to flex their creative muscle, but get compensation for it."

If you missed out on this year's competition, don't worry; next year's showdown is already in the works.

"I would presume that this is working wonders in the community," Shaydez says. "And hopefully, it will grow into something even bigger next year."

Catch the award ceremony here.