CMHS rappers duel it out

By Terrance Sandidge

Sports Editor

Bennie McClain and Eric Rhodes are upcoming rappers at Crete-Monee High School. They have been rapping and telling what made them become artists. 

Bennie McClain and Eric Rhodes have a rap battle.

“My homie Ty has been a rapper since 2020. I met his sophomore year. Junior year, we really got close, and he used to be on the phone rapping, and he was showing me his songs, and one day he just said hop on, and I just hopped on, and it was slightly decent Lil Durk,” McClain said. 

“As a little kid, I always used to play with instruments and stuff. So I feel like as a little kid, I knew I was always going to do music,” Rhodes said. 

Eric and Bennie express how they first got into music and became artists. It’s very cool because both of their answers vary and are different from each other.

“My favorite artists are Rod Wave and King Von. They are two different genres,” McClain said. 

Rhodes and McClain have favorite rappers who are similar because both of their favorite rappers sing also.

“The first song I would play by Rod probably will be something from his new album like Great Gatsby or Checkmate. King Von, you already know I’m playing ‘All these N****S’ and then that back again,” McClain said. 

“[I like] Lil Durk’s new song ‘Smurk Carter,’” Rhodes said. 

These are very good songs by both of their artists, as they have some melodic and drill type of rap music in both.

“Now I’m starting to freestyle because of my homie Lul Noop. We got Hellcats and SRTs out,” McClain said. He told me to start freestyling because it makes you more versatile, so I don’t always say the same stuff, and he is not lying.”

“I’m a freestyler. I never wrote any of my songs,” Rhodes added. 

Freestyling is a skill, and it is a good skill to have because it makes you able to produce more and better music. In the end, Bennie and Eric’s stories were really interesting in how they started getting into music and rapping.