Our Story
MC ZiLL is an educator and a mind boggling lyricist. He uses music to reach his students and community to make a difference. MC ZiLL is celebrating the release of his new album called "Brainwashing."
MC ZiLL has teamed up with his soul mate to make a difference with music. MC ZiLL and Katie Ann have successfully toured several markets together. Their Tour "Brainwashing The Ride" started on the Pacific West coast of the United States in Summer 2014. In 2105 Brainwashing The Ride took their second summer tour but this time toured several new major markets on the East coast to promote the release MC ZiLL’s new album “Brainwashing.” MC ZiLL hypes up the crowd with his mind-boggling lyrics and Katie Ann hits the soul with her beautiful voice and extremely talented piano skills. Watching Brainwashing The Ride is truly and unforgettable experience to enjoy.
The couple has been using their musical skills to make a difference in their community. They create songs advocating activism within government systems, especially public education. Recently the couple was interviewed on Time Warner Cable, ABC’s regional headline news and NPR Radio because of their positive and controversial message in their music video “We’re teaching.” The video caught wind and went viral bringing in thousands of hits with in the first few days of its release. Click here to see the press release for "We're Teaching."
The couple also hosts a benefit show every year for an organization called "Music is Art." One of the many things the foundation is geared to do is help children of need obtain musical instruments in schools. Katie Ann is actively involved as a music educator in Buffalo, primarily a piano teacher in her community. MC ZiLL was part of an after school program called I.M.A.G.E (Individuals Motivated Against Gang Environments). The program taught high schoolers how to write and record music as well as book shows and perform. Katie Ann and MC ZiLL highly believe in making a positive difference peacefully through music.
The video series, "We're Teaching and Still Teaching," is one way MC ZiLL has already successfully made a difference in his community.
Press release statement about "We're Teaching" music video:
"My mission with releasing my music video is pretty simple and straightforward. I want to inform all educators, teachers, parents, students, and other taxpayers from our communities about the harsh impacts that high-stakes standardized testing is having in our public school system. It is my goal to personally meet with local, state, and eventually federal politicians and policy makers to inform them of my message in order to revise current educational policies.
Because of low tests scores on high-stakes standardized tests, public schools across our communities, state, and country are being labeled as "low performing," causing a disturbing trend of the shutting down of these schools. I believe this is a gross misrepresentation of what's really going on.
All students are being tested the same (given the same tests and are expected to achieve at the same results) regardless of their abilities. What results is that students with learning and emotional disabilities, ELL (English Language Learners), and students who are simply behind in basic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic are being subjected and held to the same learning outcomes as our regularly abled students. This high level of accountability has been negatively impacting our public schools since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002.
Additional federal policies such as the Race to the Top initiative (a contest in education) in which funding is directly connected with school districts' compliance on implementing the Common Core Learning Standards and accompanying high-stakes standardized tests, only compounds the problem. We need to have serious conversations about these policies and make the necessary changes accordingly."