Sex, drugs, grades, divorce: Life lessons an Indy rapper learned from his students

Emilee Robinson
IndyStar
Marc Williams, aka Mr. Kinetik, an Indianapolis-based hip-hop musician, DJ, emcee, and teacher, is photographed at one of his favorite local record stores, Luna Music, in Indianapolis on June 27, 2017.

It was April 2008 and a 22-year-old Marc Williams had just been fired from his job.

He was driving home to his Downtown Indianapolis apartment, listening to “Next Day” by Little Brother, a song about quitting your job and becoming a full-time musician. He had no savings account, no job lined up and no plan for the future.

Fast forward to May 2017: Williams sits at a lunch table at Fishers High School surrounded by 16-year-olds. Tattooed, 31 years old and about to release his tenth hip-hop solo project, he’s one of the coolest teachers in school.

Williams, a.k.a. Mr. Kinetik, teaches in the Resource Department at the high school and is an emcee for the Butler University men’s basketball team, coach of the Fishers High unified track team, DJ, husband and father.

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Special education and hip-hop might seem like a surprising mix, but Williams said his students inspire his music.

“School is boring sometimes. I get that,” Williams said. He had his fair share of detentions, Saturday school sessions and suspensions. “It’s easy to drift. You have to be intentional about being engaged.”

Williams, who is approaching a decade in education in Indianapolis, is definitely known as “cool” around school, according to Alex Pope, who graduated from Fishers in 2017.

“He has this ability to connect with students in a way that teachers usually can’t,” Pope said. “Which I’ve seen him do quite a bit. Like at lunch, he’ll sit with kids that normally don’t have anybody to sit with. It’s really cool.”

A turning point

Williams loves being a teacher. But it was never his plan. Before anything else, he was a musician.

It all started with a plastic saxophone and the Isley Brothers. At a very early age, music became an anchor in his life — at school and in church. He learned how to play violin, trumpet, bass and piano. In middle school, he started to write raps.

“You have all of these things you want to say as a kid,” Williams said, claiming his early influences while growing up were artists such as Wu Tang, Outkast and Snoop Dogg. “It was a little aggressive."

(From left) Rusty Redenbacher and Marc Williams, aka Mr. Kinetik,  issued an album titled "The Professor and the Hustler" in 2011.

Music continued to be the backbone. He graduated from Butler University in 2007 with a degree in Recording Industry Studies.

After college, Williams got a job as a customer training professional for a software company, his first exposure to teaching. However, it was the least important thing in Williams’ life.

“I always say I was like Stanley from 'The Office' in regards to how much I cared about anything,” said Williams. “I was buying time. I’m 100 percent sure my boss knew I wasn’t doing anything.”

After work, Williams would go home, sit down at his recording studio and make music that eventually became his first and second EPs: "Ebony & Ivory" and "Saving All The Good Beats For Myself." After getting fired, he'd work miscellaneous jobs to pay the rent — all the while trying to find a place to meld his passions.

“I never wanted to be a teacher. I told myself I would never do that,” Williams said. . But at 22 years old and tired of working in kitchens Downtown or at Sears selling TVs, he knew it was time to find something substantial. And he really liked kids and wanted to help them.

The reality check

After participating in the Indianapolis Teaching Fellows program, Williams began teaching fifth grade at IPS School 67.

Williams found a special connection to the kids in his classroom. He found them to be insightful and intelligent. He realized early on that their issues were very real: sex, drugs, college, military, divorce.

“I loved every minute of it, because of the kids,” Williams said. “Children are really cool. If you’re humble enough to watch what they’re doing and learn from them, you can learn so much, and then, in turn, become better.”

What began as just a sensible job turned into one of the biggest turning points in Williams' life and creative career.

“My musical focus kind of shifted to be more life-based, and less superficial because of teaching,” Williams said. “Really, I’m there to make people learn. But, at the same time, all this drama that people write about and watch on TV, it happens in the school all day long. You can't help but feed off of it."

Williams said the themes of his music reflect what surrounds him. He understands why a lot of popular music can be vulgar, violent or superficial, if that’s how the artist spends his or her time.

“It doesn’t surprise me that a lot of rap is about being in clubs and hanging out, if that’s where you are,” Williams said. “You might hear me talk about being determined to finish something, that’s a direct reflection of my reality.”

Pope is a fan of Mr. Kinetik's music. And he agrees with what his former teacher says about influences.

“A lot of people may hear rap and think of escapism rap, or the number ones that are all about money and drugs,” Pope said. “But he talks a lot about his past and how it’s gotten him to where he is today. He elaborates on the mistake he’s made so that others can learn from it.”

Plus, Williams' rap music is more poetic, Pope said, and the flow is "like something you would hear in English class versus something you would hear around the music scene.”

Williams loves teaching and doesn't plan on doing anything else. But he still considers himself a musician first. He's currently working on his tenth solo record, due to be released on multiple platforms this summer before school starts. This record, influenced by his students more than any of his other music, is all about perspective.

“I can’t change where you live or who you live with, I can’t tell your friend how to behave, I can’t tell people not to say certain stuff to you,” he said. “But what I can tell you, is that if you change your approach to it, you can always say ‘let me figure out how I can make this work.’ That’s the biggest thread of this album.”

Call IndyStar reporter Emilee Robinson at (317) 444-7756. Follow her on Twitter: @emilee