Saying Wayland has its own share of musical talent is an understatement. Ranging from classical to rap and rock, music at Wayland High is as diverse as it gets. Wayland has even produced some famous rappers in alumni David von Mering and Carter Schultz of the rap group Aer, as well as rapper Sammy Adams. For many students, music is a vital part of their everyday lives.

The same goes for juniors Greg Buchanan, Jeremiah Darlington, Enrique Rouge, Josh Nova and John O’Donnell. They are all part of a rap group known as Young Fresh Kingz, or YFK, started by Buchanan, Nova and Darlington in early 2014.

“[Darlington and I]  started writing raps in a journal at my house and eventually ended up sharing them with [Buchanan, O’Donnell and Rouge],” Nova said.

As freshmen, they did not take making music seriously.

“At first we would just write funny raps and never actually record the songs,” Nova said.

However, a lot has changed for the group since they first started rapping.

“Now we’ve gotten much more elaborate with the whole lyrical process,” Nova said. “Nowadays, we will find a beat and just freestyle over it for a while, then we will sit down and write the lyrics as we listen to the beat.”

The group has a methodical creative process in which they create a beat, freestyle and then write. The assortment of their abilities allows them all to have individual roles when they create their art. For instance, Buchanan may be crafting a beat while Rouge writes lyrics and O’Donnell and Nova critique the outcome.

The amount of maturity in their approach to making music varies when they are working. This depends on whether the music they are making is a freestyle or a genuine track.

“If I were lying, I would say that great rap groups like NWA and Outkast made us strive to try to become rappers, but in all honesty we were just a bunch of close friends who decided to make something entertaining like music,” Nova said.

YFK hasn’t released their music to the public yet, but some students have heard bits of unreleased songs.

Junior Zac Ward has known all the members for years.

“I have been familiar with YFK since their inception, and my friends are familiar with them as well,” Ward said.

YFK has a relatively small audience, but that small audience may grow larger soon with the upcoming release of a mixtape.

“It’s YFK season. We plan on dropping a fire mixtape by spring once football ends,” Nova said.  

According to the group members, when the untitled mixtape releases, the student body may learn a lot more about YFK, and in a few years the WHS Wikipedia page may note the group as notable alumni.

“As a group we would like to receive mixed reviews, positive and negative, to see what we can improve on and also to know what people liked so we can continue doing that,” Nova said. “And after the tape drops we will continue to mold our craft to make it pleasing for everyone to listen to.”