While many students focus on club involvement or academics, others use their talents to create musical achievements. Certain students enhance their talents like Senior Jordan Saroukhan, who uses his talent as a passion that has stemmed from his friends rap music and his love for the drums and music. 

Saroukhan’s rap page on SoundCloud is called Coarrupt. When he works on a duet with former revere student Josh Devera, they call themselves Five Percent. They decided to name their collaboration Five Percent based on their first project together. Now, they create music individually and together on occasions.

In 2016, Saroukhan’s sophomore year, he created and named his page Coarrupt.  To start his page, he first created music, filmed audio, practiced on a scheduled time with his partner, and prepared for his music to be streamed on the app. Before he was interested in rapping, Saroukhan invested his time playing the drums and being involved in the band. Now, he spends his time into his found rap talent. Saroukhan talks about who helped him start rapping and the progression of his music with inspiration from Devera. 

“I wanted to produce for Josh originally. . . he was starting to rap when I first met him, and since then we just have always worked together with music and shared our individual work with each other for constructive criticism improvements,” Saroukhan said.

Saoukhan produces his own beats for his rap songs and uses them in his SoundCloud page. The app Soundcloud gives new rappers like Saroukhan and Devera a platform for people to stream free music like theirs. Saroukhan takes time to work and create his own music and comments on how he produces the beats to his music and how this has helped him improve his music quality over time. 

“I make the beat and then [record] and [mix] different instrumental and vocal tracks. . . I started to realize a few months into it that I was getting good, because every day I would spend hours making beats and learning each time as I go. There was a turning point where they went from being cheap beats that you’d find online to beats that would normally come from a studio,” Saroukhan said. 

When Saroukhan creates a project with Devera, he usually sets up a schedule where they can meet and work. When the collaboration first came to be, their were together daily. Since Devera went to college, they focus on their individual pages but meet when they can for Five Percent. Saroukhan commented on when and how often they meet to produce music on their pages and the work ethic they both put into their pages. 

“When we were focusing on making our first mixtape together, we were with each other almost daily to keep working on beats or lyrics. We both put an equal amount of effort when we work together . . . I was only making beats and [Josh] was only rapping , but we started doing both and improving in both aspects of it, which has helped our music improve,” Saroukhan said.

Saroukhan’s individual rap page has given him a close friendship with Devera and an interest into a college career choice. He identifies himself with his talent for music. Saroukhan spoke about how creating a rap page has defined and influenced him as a person. 

  “[Rapping] has given me a good experience and a different perspective towards my music. It has changed me because it’s something I spend all of my free time doing and [gives] me something to work on besides school. Now, I’m actually able to create my own music and it’s something I’m proud of. Music is a huge part of my life, I would be a different person without it,” Saroukhan said.

Revere graduate Josh Devera Saroukhan’s duo partner in Five Percent. Devera writes his own music individually on his soundcloud page,Ohmyjosh. When Devera works with Saroukhan, they both collaborate to produce music for their page and help agree on ideas for the page. Devera spoke about what roles Saroukhan and he share and why he participates in a collaboration with Saroukhan. 

“Jordan and I make  music because we love it and are passionate. Anytime either of us suggest a new idea, we counter each other. Even if Jordan says something I agree with, I will argue with him till the end of time. Ensuring we see our work from all possible perspectives. . .to choose the most effective path to follow,” Devera said.

Devera and Saroukhan see their duo rap page as a leisure activity, similar to their individual pages as well. Five Percent is connected with another artist group for certain collaborations and to help surface Five Percent’s name. Devera commented about the future of their band and what is in store for the progression of their music with a certain group. 

“We are connected with another group which includes other artists who we are planning to collaborate with. . . we have already collaborated with another artist who goes by Inshaned. He shares our Five Percent values,” Devera said.

Saroukhan, with his knowledge of apps like GarageBand and FL studio, has learned to mix and create rap songs with the help of his friend Devera. Saroukhan and Devera will continue to create both individually and together as a leisure activity. After high school, Saroukhan plans to study music technology.