In these halls, many different characters pass by: dancers, athletes, artists and musicians. This school has seen different forms of musicians: vocalists who amaze us on the stage, teachers who entertain with guitars, mandolins and ukuleles and rockstars like The Waves, who have over 45,000 listens on Spotify. After the last members of The Waves graduated last year, there was a hurricane-sized hole in the hearts of Hoban students and staff. That hole is being sewn back together by a dynamic duo from the class of 2019: Liam “Lil Bake” Baker and Justin “Jay Shay” Chalfant. After their breakout hit “gameday”, recently been removed from soundcloud, the juniors have been in the studio cooking up their new single “Holiday Heat” which dropped Dec. 7.

After coexisting in grade school, Baker and Chalfant became fast friends after Baker transferred from Walsh Jesuit to Hoban for the beginning of his sophomore year. The two have toyed with the idea of collaborating and finally decided to make it happen after positive encouragement from their teammates on the boy’s soccer team. Their “Clout Levels” raised exponentially after the release of “gameday” and their much anticipated Christmas single has had the student body buzzing with excitement. The new single, entitled “Holiday Heat,” has mentions of Santa Claus, CYO Basketball and Jesus Christ.

The tag team is looking forward to making new music and aspires to work with artists Bruh Justice, Ya Boy 03 and Big Shaq.

“We want to connect some of the artists at Hoban, but also want to throw in some star power,” Baker said.

Many different stories are out there about how the guys started their rap careers, yet they shut down any rumors by stating “Our inspiration came from the rap battles that we have in our Honda Civics.” With how close the boys are, it’s only natural that they drive the same car model.

Inquiring minds are dying to know if they’ll be crafting any more heat, to the delight of their fans, they responded: “Of course we’ll be making new music, it’ll drop the second people sleep on us.” Chalfant said.

The student body is looking forward to Lil Bake and Jay Shay’s first album. “It’s going to be more hype than Migos unreleased album, “Culture 2,” Baker said.

This incredibly talented partnership has galvanized not only the Hoban community, but greater Akron area as well. Even though there is an album in the works, a single before the end of the school year could shake up the landscape of the current social spectrum. Yet, no matter what this insanely talented partnership creates for our listening pleasure in the future, they will have etched their names into the Hoban Hall of Fame as the first rappers to walk these halls.