This year, artists at Sheyenne High School have exceled, achieving local and national recognition. This series of posts features those artists and their artwork.
Emma Nelson is sophomore at Sheyenne and earned Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Silver Key Award for her artwork titled “Yo-Yo Ma Cello Typography”. Congratulations Emma for your accomplishment!
By Catlyn Anderson
The Originals was a show that aired on the CW for five seasons.
This show follows the family of original vampires from The Vampire Diaries.
The main character is Klaus Mikaelson, returning to New Orleans where the show takes place. He is a vampire-werewolf hybrid, but all of Klaus’ half siblings are just vampires.
Klaus and a young woman named Hayley unexpectedly had a daughter named Hope that changed them for the better.
Hayley was just a werewolf until Hope was born, and then Hayley became a hybrid just like Klaus.
Hope is a special supernatural being because she is the one and only tribrid because her father’s mother was a witch, with her father being a hybrid.
Back at the Mikaelson home, there are a few of Klaus’ half siblings who are helping Klaus and Hayley protect Hope. Hope Mikaelson will become a part of the next show called Legacies.
This year, artists at Sheyenne High School have exceled, achieving local and national recognition. This series of posts features those artists and their artwork.
This graphite drawing by Trisha Mehta, grade 9, received a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: Honorable Mention award. Great work on “Subito Piano”, Trisha!
This year, artists at Sheyenne High School have exceled, achieving local and national recognition. This series of posts features those artists and their artwork.
This oil on panel creation titled “Balloon Dog” belongs to junior artist Erika Hoy. Erika earned the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Silver Key award!
This year, artists at Sheyenne High School have exceled, achieving local and national recognition. This series of posts features those artists and their artwork.
Caiden Eriksson, grade 12, submitted three pieces of artwork to the competition, all using digital photography media, and received many outstanding awards.
This year, artists at Sheyenne High School have exceled, achieving local and national recognition. This series of posts features those artists and their artwork.
Aurora Floding (grade 12), received the MSUM Art-A-Fair Honorable Mention Award for her oil on panel artwork titled “Modern Adolescence”. Great job, Aurora!
This year, artists at Sheyenne High School have exceled, achieving local and national recognition. This series of posts features those artists and their artwork.
Senior artist, Amaya Johnson, received the Scholastic Art & Writing Gold Key Award for her photography submission titled “murder”. Congrats Amaya on your outstanding accomplishment!
Ye “Kanye” West released 808s and Heartbreak on November 4th, 2008, to mixed reviews. Some hated the new sounds and use of 808 drums while some found the album to be the best Kanye album to date.
The album had an innovative use of synth’s, 808 drums, and melodic lyrics which previously had only been found in underground hip hop groups with Kanye bringing it to the forefront of modern hip hop.
Younger artists such as Lil Uzi Vert and The Weeknd both have taken major influence from the album.
Before the making of 808s Kanye’s mother, Donda West tragically passed away. After, Kanye and his then fiancé Alexis Phifer split.
Before the death of Donda West, Kanye met soon to be up and coming artist Kid Cudi in a Virgin megastore with Kid Cudi introducing himself to Kanye and after Kanye turned down some of his music he claimed “we’ll be working together one day soon”.
Kid Cudi ran into Kanye again at a BAPE store. Kanye would later hear Cudi’s single “Day ‘n’ Nite”, soon after he would sign Cudi to his label “GOOD Music”.
While working on 808s, Kanye had two artists to help on the album as a whole, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi and Faheem “T-Pain” Najm. Kanye wanted an album much like T-Pain’s first album “Rappa Ternt Sanga”, with Kanye listening to T-Pain’s first album and calling in T-Pain to make 808s sound more like it.
Kanye and Kid Cudi worked together on four tracks, “Heartless” being the chorus, “Welcome to Heartbreak” being featured, “Paranoid” being background vocals, and “RoboCop” in which he helped write.
Both Jeezy and Lil Wayne inspired Kanye with their use of auto-tune with both getting a feature on the album. Kanye’s sad and melodic lyrics took inspiration from his recent breakup with his ex-wife, with many lyrics talking about her and the whole song of “Heartless” being about her.
The album would peak at the top spot of the Billboard 200 and sell 450,000 units in one day, being the worst selling Kanye album at that point.
Two months after the album came out it became a certified platinum selling 1,000,000 units. Now the album is a certified triple platinum selling over 3,000,000 units as of 2020. After 808s and Heartbreak
Kanye West would find himself in hot water during the 2009 VMA awards, after a drunk Kanye walked on stage and said that Beyonce deserved the award for Best Female Video over Taylor Swift.
Kanye would then go into a secluded state recording “never see me again” and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye’s magnum opus. Most look back at the album now as the forefather of modern hip hop.
With many artists such as The Weeknd saying “[808s] is one of the most important bodies of work of my generation”.
By Carter Phillips
A lot of focus is given to the all-time greats and contemporary mainstream.
With so many people talking about them, it can be hard to give a unique perspective and mention information people won’t hear or read anywhere else.
Perhaps because of this, I usually feel more at home talking or writing about films in small crevices of popular culture or that aren’t even in that spectrum.
Yes, I like Star Wars and Batman but there are so many other things I love which are slowly fading away from public memory. This is the main reason I focus on classic films for the Mustang Post.
Therefore, I’ve decided to write about cult classics and give three recommendations. This is not a best of list; they are just three that I enjoy.
There are also many films which originally were very niche, but at this point are mainstream, such as Donnie Darko. To me, cult classics are movies like Basket Case or Killer Clowns from Outer Space. If we go by the logic that Donnie Darko is still a cult classic, then we go by the logic that Citizen Kane is still a cult classic.
These films are also not without flaws, but I’m in the mindset that you can still enjoy and appreciate a film that is imperfect or even objectively awful.
A young girl living in an orphanage is united with her biological parents.
The house blends in with the others in the neighborhood and its interior looks like any other, to such a point where it’s a little cozy. However not all is as it seems.
Something lurks in the house which clashes against the picturesque world they live in.
Based on a popular Manga and adapted by Daiei Film, the studio most well-known for the Gamera series (a franchise about a giant turtle, made to cash in on the Godzilla series) and credited to Noriaki Yuasa, the leading director of those movies, The Snake Girl and the Silver Haired Witch is one of the most interesting films of classic Japanese cinema.
Gamera is the protector of the universe and referred to as the Friend of All Children. Almost all of the original Gamera cycle featured children as the main characters and by default, were highly fantastical.
Noriaki’s experience with the franchise made him the perfect director for The Snake Girl of the Silver Haired Witch but because of the darker tone, it also makes for an interesting departure from his narrative style.
Made to be a kid film, the movie delved too far into the horror and fantasy and traumatized many of the children who went to see it.
Told through the heightened imagination of the child, the film manages to express a complexity uncommon for the average kid’s film.
Narratively similar to The Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein and Eyes Without a Face, the movies tone clashes between childlike optimism, unfiltered nightmare and the cold blood of a fresh crime scene.
There’s an over reliance on narration which was likely used because the filmmakers suspected that the kids would get bored if nobody talked for long stretches of time. This is a small issue I have with the film. The average moviegoer would likely not be bothered and would not question it. Either way, it doesn’t hinder the experience.
The film is a macabre trip. It’s genuinely eerie but also shocking in many places. Its relatively tame for today, but because it’s a kid’s film and because it’s so old, nobody would expect it to depict many of the gruesome details. At one point, a character’s rips open a living frug and throws it at the child. “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
After the success of the highly influential Blow-Up, David Hemmings, the lead of the film, returned to the mystery thriller with the lesser-known Fragment of Fear in 1970.
It starts out like an average British whodunnit from the 1970’s but as it goes on it starts to filter in giallo influence and pre-curses the American paranoid thrillers from a couple years afterward.
As the murder mystery turns into an espionage psychological horror, hints arise that can lead the viewer into two different conclusions: It’s all a cover-up or main character is slowly going insane after the traumatic murder of his aunt (or he’s stuck on heroine).
Some people will defiantly be disappointed by the ending, David Hemmings didn’t even like it, but it’s memorable. It keeps you wondering long after the credits. I think that the screenwriter Paul Dehn (who later went on to pen Beneath the Planet of the Apes, the most artistic and experimental film of the franchise) was in the right direction. Keep in mind also that this is an adaption from a book published five years earlier in 1965 so credit should also be given to its author John Bingham.
Horror icons Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee star in this forgotten gem from the British horror scene of the 1970’s.
Nowadays, they are more commonly associated with Star Wars (both) and The Lord of the Rings (Lee) however during their heyday they were as well known for their horror films as Vincent Price.
They were the Lugosi and Karloff duo of their era, however unlike those two, who had an over exaggerated rivalry publicized about them, Cushing and Lee were intimate friends in real life. This always created an interesting chemistry because two best friends were pretending to be enemies on camera.
Coming out in the early 1970’s it is at an interesting era in the genre.
Censors were becoming less restrictive and smaller studios were getting more and more daring.
Films such as The Last House on the Left, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, The Amityville Horror and most importantly The Exorcist took the horror genre away from decrepit castles and grand dusty mansions to the modern day.
Even as early as 1968, Peter Bogdanovich: The Ultimate Cinephile, made Targets with Karloff, a film way to inappropriate for school, to go into detail about but which has only gotten more relevant and genuinely upsetting with the succession of spree shootings in the last few decades.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where this shift started, but it is necessary to understand the context.
Some people would claim that Night of the Living Dead is the big movie that altered the genre, and it did but was it the movie entirely responsible for this shift?
In reality it had been a slow process that began shortly after the second World War, when Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy no longer scared people.
They had the horrors of war, concentration camps, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a way, Earth was in a horror movie of its own.
This is when horror and other genres payed more attention to fate, individuality or a lack thereof and scientific progress.
Before then, the fears on the screen were reminiscent of: disfigurement, outsiders and being rejected. This was a generations direct response to the Great War, considering the vast amount of veterans who came back wounded.
In those films, the fear was that you, the viewer, had more in common with the so-called monster than the ‘normal’ human characters.
The look of The Invisible Man, hidden in winter wrappings and with a scratchy voice (which Claude Rains had acquired after allegedly inhaling some of the mustard gas on the battlefield) to me, is a perfect example of this.
The times were changing but meanwhile, Lee, Cushing and Price were still appearing in beautiful gothic period pieces.
The Creeping Flesh is about an archeological discovery one could imagine Wells or Millies dreaming up.
Cushing discovers the bones of an extinct Goliath. If the bones touch water, they can reanimate.
Lee, the bitter brother of Cushing wants the glory for himself and sets out to rob him of the discovery.
Oddly, the film has a strangely melodramatic side to it. At times it almost feels made for tv, however the abrupt change in tone is usually fleeting.
This is no masterpiece, especially when compared to the other films of the era, with the same actors, however with its dated or flimsy aspects, it has a charm to it that is non-existent in any contemporary film.
It’s not schlock either. This film has the same creativity as the classic horror novellas and books from the 1800’s.
It’s ironic because, without going into spoilers, Cushing’s scientist has a downfall due to his own passion and discovery.
The film does make a statement on science. It asks what betterment discovery is. Are some things best left forgotten? Or do we need to remember, as not for it to become repeated?
Cushing played the role not long after the death of his wife, and likely this is the reason his characters wife is also dead. The experience he brought to it, made it what I consider to be his best performance.
In 1973, when The Creeping Flesh was being made, the Frankienstine films over at legendary horror studio Hammer Film Productions were in a late stage.
Both actors were regulars there and Cushing was the man who played Frankenstein.
It is interesting to see him play a good-natured scientist opposed to one who is bitter and morally skewed.
If anyone was to play a horror scientist during this time, it should have been Cushing.
The majority of the film builds up to when the skeleton will awaken, and going into it, the viewer should probably be aware that it takes a long time.
It ends with a Cabinet of Dr. Caligari style twist which stays with the audience long after the sun sets.
By Logan Staska
Music plays a major role in all our lives. Whether it was getting hyped before a sports game or wanting to relax while you play videogames, music was a to go to for many of us.
So, while we are in the early stages of the new year, let’s look back at those hit songs by our favorite rappers and the songs that got us through the past decade.
2010 was responsible for some of our desired rap songs and party hits. One of the most notorious rap albums of all time is My Beautiful and Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West.
This famous record had features such as Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and Nicki Minaj. Selling 496,000 copies, this album still plays a major role in many of our lives to this day.
One of the most requested songs at parties and school events like homecoming and prom also came out in 2010.
That song is No Hands by Waka Flocka Flame. This song is favored by many.
Thank Me Later by Drake was also a major part of the 2010s. This album got 447,000 sales making it Drakes first number 1 album.
Even in 2011 Kanye West and Jay-Z were still delivering to us giving us their collab album Watch the Throne.
With Kanye’s amazing production and Jay-Z brilliant lyricism it makes it a classic album that brought in 436,000 album sales.
Along with Kanye West, Drake also brought another classic album in 2011 known as Take Care.
With Thank Me Later attracting so many new Drake fans the third studio album by drake got 631,000 first week sales.
Other albums that were released in 2011 were Live. Love. ASAP by A$AP Rocky, Cole World: The Sideline by J. Cole, Tha Carter IV by Lil Wayne, and Goblin by Tyler the Creator.
The most famous album from the 2012’s is good kid M.A.A.D city by Kendrick Lamar.
This record topped off at number 2 on Billboards 200 and in its first week it sold 242,000 copies.
Many people consider this album to be one of the greatest rap albums of all time.
Based on A T.R.U Story was also one of the more famous rap albums to come to the 2012’s.
The Album isn’t currently as popular as good kid MA.A.D city but it still has classic tracks that is still being played today.
Starships” by Nicki Minaj, Love Sosa by Chief keef, and Mercy by Kanye West were some other songs from 2012 that were blowing up the charts.
2013 didn’t disappoint with hit albums and songs either.
Yeezus is Kanye West’s most idiosyncratic album by having more unique sounding beats.
Many people thought it was Ye’s first “bad” album and due to that factor, it had his lowest first week sales at 327,000.
But it later grew on many people and for some becoming their favorite Ye album.
Nothing Was the Same by Drake was also released in 2013 and this album blew up on the billboards.
In the first week it debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard 200.
His first week sales were 658,000 copies. LONG. LIVE. ASAP by A$AP Rocky was another major part of 2013.
It had a lower count of first week sales topping off at 139,000 but it also debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard 200.
One of the biggest hit songs of 2013 was Rap God by Eminem.
With this song, Eminem set the record for fastest rap song averaging at 4.28 words a second.
2014 was kind of a drought year for rap albums with the only significant rap album being 2014 Forest Hill Drive by J. Cole.
This album is responsible for one of the greatest songs of the decade being No Role Modelz.
However, singles made 2014 with many singles like, No Type by Rae Sremmurd, Anaconda by Nicki Minaj, and We Dem Boyz by Wiz Khalifa.
2015 made up for lack of songs in 2014. In 2015 trap music became mainstream and many more trap artist were starting to get noticed.
One of the biggest trap albums of all time is Rodeo by Travis Scott. This album had many different sounds in the record.
Songs like 90210 being a slower moving song and more of a vibe song, unlike songs like 3500 also on the album.
Rodeo debuted at number 3 on US Billboards 200 and 85,000 units sold.
Other trap albums that came out of 2015 was DS2 by Future, SremmLife by Rae Sremmurd, and the Barter 6 by Young Thug; Young Thug became mainstream from this album and his rise to fame started here.
Drake, who is a more melodic and flow rapper, also got snatched into the trap music wave by releasing If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late.
He also collaborated with famous trap artist Future to create What a Time to be Alive.
Kendrick Lamar was able to prove why he is one of the best rappers of all time in 2015 by releasing To Pimp a Butterfly.
This album, which imitates the sound of the 90’s, was the biggest album of 2015. Kendrick tackled topics in the album such as racism, police brutality, and many other controversial topics.
This record won 5 out of the 7 Grammys it qualified for including Best Rap Album of the Year.
The fact Kendrick Lamar was able to come out on top in a trap music era proves why he is one of the best.
Fetty Wap had one of the greatest years for an artist in 2015 with the release of Trap Queen in 2014.
This hit song was one of everyone’s favorite in the summer of 2015 and almost everywhere you went you would hear it.
Every single year carried its weight furthering the evolution of hip hop in the last decade, however when you ask someone about their favorite year of rap music, they’ll most likely say it is 2016.
The Sound Cloud era started in 2016. Sound Cloud is a website and app where you can listen to music and create your own tracks and hope they blow up.
The first artist that comes to mind when you think about Sound Cloud is Lil Uzi Vert.
With hit songs like You Was Right, Canadian Goose, Money Longer it’s easy to say that Uzi is one of the most influential Sound Cloud Rappers.
Trap music kept getting more mainstream each single year and one reason it’s in the place where it is now is because of the large variety of trap albums released in 2016.
Young Thug released three albums alone with Jeffery, Slime Season 3, and I’m Up.
Other artist that released a major album is Travis Scott with Birds in the Trap and 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’s collab album Savage Mode.
Not only did trap artist thrive in 2016 but it was a major year for rappers like Kanye West with the release of the Life of Pablo, Views by Drake, and Untitled Unmastered by Kendrick Lamar.
Lil Yachty also thrived in 2016 by release his major hit songs One Night and Minnesota. Dram also had Lil Yachty featured on one of the biggest songs of 2016 called Broccoli.
Major songs to come out in 2016 were Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd, No Problem by Chance the Rapper, Congratulations by Post Malone, and Bad and Boujee by Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert.
2017 is also a year that many say is one of the greatest years for rap music. Kendrick Lamar released his hit album DAMN. which won a Grammy and holds two of his biggest songs in history which are Humble. and DNA.
Along with non-trap artist like Kendrick Lamar, other rappers that dropped where Tyler the Creator with Flower Boy, and Jay-Z with 4:44.
Trap artist had a major role in 2017 with Migos releasing their hit album Culture and Without Warning with bars from 21 Savage along with Migos Offset and Metro Boomin Producing.
2 Chainz also came through with Pretty Girls Like Trap Music and Beautiful Thugger Girls by Young Thug.
Lil Uzi Vert was one of the most successful rappers in 2017 with the release of Luv is Rage 2.
This album holds majority of his top tracks such as The Way Life Goes, Dark Queen, 20 Min and of course his most famous song in his discography, XO Tour Lif3.
This song alone has 1.3 billion streams.
Lil Uzi Vert opened the gates to the sound cloud era letting in artist like Playboi Carti, Ski Mask the Slump God, and XXXtentacion.
Playboi Carti came out with his self-titled mixtape, that holds classic songs Magnolia, Location, and WokeUpLikeThis.
Ski Mask the Slump God and XXXtentacion where a great duo and even alone they were great with Ski Mask the Slump God releasing Catch Me Outside and X releasing 17 his album that had songs like Jocelyn Flores and Save Me.
Songs that came out in 2017 include Bank Account by 21 Savage, Ric Flair Drip by Metro Boomin and Offset from Migos, I Spy by Kyle and Lil Yachty, Roll in Peace by Kodak Black featuring XXXTentacion, and Bounce Back by Big Sean.
As 2018 rolled in, a new star was brought through the gates of Sound Cloud known as Juice Wrld.
His fame grew from his two songs All Girls Are the Same and Lucid Dreams blowing up and thanks to the help of Cole Bennet from Lyrical Lemonade, his career was able to erupt.
He released his debut Album Goodbye and Good Riddance on May 23rd of 2018.
Another artist who released their debut album was producer Metro Boomin with Not All Heroes Were Capes.
This album featured, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Kodak Black, Swae Lee, Drake, Gunna, and of course his partner in crime, 21 Savage.
Kanye West was busy in 2018 releasing both his collab album with Kid Cudi Kids See Ghost and YE.
The biggest trap albums to come out of 2018 are, Astroworld by Travis Scott, Die Lit by Playboi Carti, Drip Harder by Lil Baby and Gunna, and I Am > I Was by 21 Savage.
Other notable albums are KOD by J. Cole, Swimming by Mac Miller, ? by XXXTentacion, and Tha Carter V by Lil Wayne.
As for singles in 2018, that would go to Drake. He released some of the greatest rap songs which are Gods Plan, Nonstop, I’m Upset and Nice for What.
Other singles that came out in 2018 are SAD by XXXTentacion, ZEZE by Kodak Black featuring Offset and Travis Scott, Mo Bomba by Sheck Wes, and Praise the Lord by A$AP Rocky.
2019 wasn’t impactful as other years in albums. Tyler the Creator released his number 1 album IGOR on May 17th in 2019.
Other albums to mention are Death Race for Love by Juice Wrld, So Much Fun by Young Thug, The Lost Boy by Cordae, and Drip or Drown 2 by Gunna.
Singles in 2019 where amazing for the year with every month having a new hit song by new artist that rose to the top of the charts.
Suge by DaBaby was a hit in the summer of 2019 along with other songs like Ransom by Lil Tecca, Highest in the Room by Travis Scott, and Shotta Flow by NLE Choppa.
Even though everything was shut down in 2020, that didn’t stop rappers from hitting the studio.
Lil Uzi Vert came back to rapping with his long-awaited album Eternal Atake released March 6th.
Along with Uzi, Playboi Carti came back from a long wait without music with first the single @Meh and then towards the end of the year he released “Whole Lotta Red”. This Album was considered terrible on release day but as fans kept listening it tend to grow on them.
Other albums that came out in 2020 were, The Goat by Polo G, My Turn by Lil Baby, Alfredo by Freddie Gibbs, Wunna by Gunna, and Savage Mode 2 by 21 Savage and Metro Boomin.
Two of the biggest albums in 2020 where unfortunately post humous albums being Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon by Pop Smoke and Legends Never Die by Juice Wrld.
Some major songs of 2020 that came out where What’s Poppin by Jack Harlow, The Box by Roddy Ricch, Life is Good by Future and Drake, and The Scotts by Travis Scott and Kid Cudi.
2021 was another good year of music with Drake and Kanye West battling over who has the number one album.
Drake’s Certified Lover Boy and Kanye’s Donda where a huge argument between fans.
Eventually Ye and Drake called it truths making the fans start to mutually respect each other after defending their star rapper.
Other albums that released in 2021 are Call me if You Get Lost by Tyler the Creator, The Off-Season by J. Cole, Punk by Young Thug, and the Melodic Blue by Kendrick Lamar’s cousin, Baby Keem. Lil Nas X was a major part of 2021 making two hit songs in 2021.
Industry Baby with Jack Harlow and Montero where some of the biggest songs in 2021 becoming Tik Tok hits.
Other singles that were released are Wants and Needs by Drake and Lil Baby, Rapstar by Polo G, EVERY CHANCE THAT I GET by DJ Khaled with Lil Baby and Lil Durk, and Family Ties by Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar.
With 2022 already being here and many more years near, it’s always nice to look back at the songs, albums, and rappers that got us and music to the place we are at today.
The Mustang Post 