By Brooke Urzendowski
Matt Riedl stands a little taller than most journalism students at camp due to his Carrot Top-like blazing orange hair.
Yet, it isn’t the rarity of a ginger that makes Matt stand out. It could be due to the fact that frequently yells across the ballroom, “Popcorn party!”
No, that isn’t it either.
Matt Riedl is, and always will be, the Kapaun Rapper -- an original rap artist walking among the crowd of awkward teenage journalism students.
“It all started freshman year in gym class when a few people asked me to do a rap and dance to ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson,” the Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School senior said. “They were impressed, and soon it spread to the entire school. It got to the point where if I were to pass a note to another class, such as journalism, the teacher and classroom would stop me to rap before I left.”
On the first night of camp, while most students were still trying to master the uncomfortable small talk, Matt was quick to bust out a beat, even to people he had just met.
“I don’t care at all what other people think,” Matt said. “I’m just doing my thing.”
His talents don’t just end with rapping. This undercover superstar spices up his beats with his own original dance moves.
“I couldn’t control the moves, they just came,” Matt said. “One thing to say about my dance moves is that they are white -- white hot, that is.”
It was in the Holiday Inn room 308 that nine students witnessed what was the most entertaining and comical aspect of Sunday. Matt busted a beat to T.I.’s “Whatever You Like,” adding his own country twang and never failing to sway his hips to the beat.
The performance didn’t stop there. He went straight into one of the original beats he wrote, with those signature dance moves included. Although the way he flailed his arms and occasionally jumped was always unpredictable, one thing remained the same after each performance -- the huge smiles on faces.
“Everyone thinks he’s hilarious,” fellow Kapaun classmate Bailey Buer said. “Everyone knows him around school as the fun, nerdy white guy.”
The tall, orange-haired teenager with rectangular black glasses is content to swagger to his own beat well into the future.
“It’s just a hobby, it’s not my entire life,” the Kapaun Rapper said. “But who knows what the future could bring, I could end up being tight with Eminem.”
Brooke Urzendowski is a senior at Marian High School and a student in the advanced writing class at the Flint Hills Publication Workshop.
No comments:
Post a Comment