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.
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