The crowd rose from its seats this spring as the beat dropped and Clark D burst on stage. 

Clark “Clark D” Lacossade is a 17-year-old rapper from Boston Latin Academy who traces his budding career back to several years ago when his ELA teacher assigned a creative assignment involving complex sentences. 

Clark D produced a poem and recited it to a composed beat. 

“I felt like a king,” he says. 

Now he’s hitting major venues like the Middle East Downstairs. 

Inspired by J. Cole, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and others, Clark D says he tries to set himself apart by rapping, producing, and engineering his own music while writing lyrics that express the drive and determination to become successful. 

In 10 years, he says, “I imagine myself being an international superstar, entrepreneur, humanitarian…[and], most of all, very happy.” 

“Oh, Alexander Hamilton 

“When America sings for you 

“Will they know what you overcame? 

“Will they know you rewrote the game? 

“The world will never be the same, oh” 

Jennifer Browne, a senior at Boston Latin School, says that she’s not really a fan of rap music but she likes the “Hamilton”soundtrack. 

“ ‘Hamilton’ brings a different sort of life to that style of music by using it to explain something that normally isn’t explained [through music]: American history, Colonial American history,” says Browne. “It makes history come alive in it’s own new way that’s more relatable to the people of our generation.” 

Long-considered the domain of older audiences, musical theatre has become very popular recently -- among all age groups -- since the hip-hop hit musical “Hamilton” debuted on Broadway in August of 2015. 

The story about Alexander Hamilton’s life as one of America’s founding fathers will be touring nationally in 2017-2018 and is expected to make its way to Boston. 

The play’s impact is being felt not only on stage but also in the classroom. 

Mary Whelan, a freshman at BLS, says that her US history teacher incorporated “Hamilton” into a few of her lessons. 

“She showed us more of the educational songs about the battles and stuff,” Whelan says. 

Erica Jurus, a junior at BLS, says “Hamilton” has brought people together in a variety of venues. 

“We have a Facebook group for Broadway,” Jurus says, “and there are a lot of “Hamilton” fans on there.” 

Instead of a team of ghost-catching funny men fighting against paranormal activity in New York City, this summer’s remake of the 1984 original features a team of ghost-catching funny women. 

As soon as the reboot appeared, there was intense backlash on social media -- mainly from men. Early reviews showed the average rating from men was a 3.5 out of 10 while women graded it a 7.5 out of 10, according to usatoday.com. 

The movie’s trailer had started an instant outburst by males, revealing the double standard of female-led movies. 

In fact, both films share the same concepts. If the first one received better reviews, many women are now concluding that it can only be due to gender bias. 

While the new “Ghostbusters” is not a classic piece of art by any means, neither was the first. 

A mediocre movie is a mediocre movie whether it is led by women or men. 

Show choir is a performing ensemble of students who sing and dance, both of which I love. For the past six years, I’ve been working on my triple threat: singing, dancing, and acting. So when I saw the poster for “Pizazz” show choir auditions, I instantly knew I wanted to be part of the group. 

On the day of the audition, I was nervous but also excited. There were some people I had met before in the school’s spring musical. They reassured me that as long as I smiled, I would be fine. 

The vocal audition didn’t faze me because I’d had lessons for two years plus experience singing in my church choir and neighborhood theatre group. 

On the other hand, I was absolutely terrified during the dance portion. During the group audition, I completely forgot the ending. However, I took the advice I had been given by my friends and put on the brightest smile I could. It was this strategy, in addition to the vocal tryout, that got me into show choir. 

Joining show choir was one of the best things I did in my freshman year of high school. 

It helped shape me into more of a leader. In the second half of the year, I taught myself the music on my own time and then helped others during rehearsals. I also urged the importance of a mezzo-soprano section, which is often overlooked. 

I opened up and made many new friends, too. 

Everyone there feels like family and has their own pizazz that they bring to the group. 

I admit that I am an introvert and enjoy being by myself, in the quiet. But there’s something about being on a stage that helps me step up and let my voice be heard. 

Filled with extreme passion, 16-year-old Jocelina Depina speaks about her fondness for the color pink. 

“Pink represents the power within every woman,” says Depina, from New Mission High School. 

They say that pink attains an aura of intensive love from the color red set off by a sense of purity and openness from the color white. 

Although lots of men wear pink, for many the color symbolizes the potential in every woman and brings out her capacity to rise above. 

However, Gabriela Pires, 15, from New Mission, puts on a facial expression of great disgust as she says: 

“The color just doesn’t fit me as a person.” 

Pires feels as if her strong personality is not a match to that hue. To her, pink represents being girly and she sees it as a sign of weakness. 

As 17-year-old Tatiana Lopes walks down the street recently, she is captivated by a shimmering pink rose. 

“There’s just something about the color that fascinates me,” says Lopes, from New Mission. “It’s bright and has a certain sparkle.” 

Lopes is drawn to pink, she says, because it appeals to her eyes and she is able to connect with it -- as do many others. 

She says: “It contributes in building up a delightful sense of happiness.”