YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The students of Youngstown Rayen Early College Middle School had a special surprise to kick off state testing.

LV8 Studios, located in downtown Youngstown, held a concert for the kids Wednesday. 

“I think it’s gonna give them all the motivation in the world, not just for state testing, but how often do you see a major rapper, hip hop star going through a school in our town?” said Charles Colvin, owner of LV8 Studios. 

The students were dancing, singing and having fun before the special guest came out.

National rap artist Kap G performed for the kids. He was in town recording a music video when Colvin presented the idea of making a stop to see the kids.

“We was like, ‘look, man, while you’re here, we wanna touch the town as much as possible,’” Colvin said. “He was all about it. He’s a young kid from Atlanta, Georgia you know dealing with the same thing as kids here and so he understands.”  

Kap G has songs with other famous artists such as Chris Brown, Lil Baby, J Balvin and more. The students also got to see a performance by artist Ace 500 who is from the area.

Colvin says the concert was a part of the Level Up music program that was started last year for the kids. 

“We bring junior high students to learn audio engineering, songwriting, podcasting, videography, photography, they learn how to do production, make beats,” he said. 

Colvin says other students can sign up to be a part of the free program. You can find out more at LV8studios.com.