Yucaipa's S1 Competes on MTV's Top Pop Group

Every time I read about MTV I feel oh so old. I can remember when the station launched, back when I was in high school. I didn't see it much, because we didn't have cable. But I did see it occasionally at a friend's house, and believe it or not, all that it showed back in those days was music videos. As far as I can tell, music videos are rare these days, and most of MTV's broadcast hours are filled with "reality" shows. At least one of those shows is music related: MTV'S Top Pop Group.

What's particularly cool is that one of the nine groups competing for the $100,000 prize comes from right here in Yucaipa. The members of the hip-hop/R&B group S1 are Keith "Kjae" Kelsaw, Christian "Traxx" Williams and Shapan "ShayDot" Thomas, and they've been making music together for the past five years. The Press Enterprise did a profile of the band:

"I'm a little nervous about it, but I feel they're going to do great," said Keith Kelsaw Sr., Kjae's father who also manages the group with wife Sonia.

He said the group has evolved over the years from a New Edition type of straight-up R&B to the urban pop sound it has today.

"We've gone through a lot of changes," Kelsaw said.

Kjae sings and Traxx and ShayDot rap. All three write the songs.

S1 got their first taste of fame a couple of years ago when their song "I Found a Girl on MySpace" brought them to the attention of MySpace who featured the group. According to their Top Pop Group bio, their "look" is part of what sets them apart.

On any given day, Traxx, Kjae and Shay Dot can be found sporting their signature collared shirts, ties and sweaters, which they say are a huge hit with the ladies. The boys believe their threads complement their edgy sound, which is a blend of R&B, hip-hop and rap.

So far S1 has survived the first round of elimination. You can watch last week's performance. You can listen to S1's original music on their Myspace profile.

MTV's Top Pop Group airs Thursday nights at 10pm. Watch it and give them your vote.

Tags: Yucaipa, S1, MTV's Top Pop Group

Now and Then

Congratulations to 13-year-old Yucaipan Paris Edlyn Deesing, who won the Center for Science in the Public Interest's Junk-Free Schools video contest. Her video, titled "Here and Now" focuses on getting junk food out of schools. From the article in the News Mirror:

Her winning movie shows a mother of yesteryear giving her daughter a well-rounded meal, then the movie flashes forward in time to show how this same busy mother may require her child to eat food from the school's vending machine. The surprise ending is quite entertaining.

In 2006 Paris won the National Electronic Music Composition Talent Search for her composition "Cirque du Chats". She used her compositional skills to score the video herself. I'll confess I don't understand the recurring "London Bridges" theme, but overall the music complements the video nicely.

Watch the video below:


(Yes, the mom in the film is played by Paris' mom, who hopefully isn't feeding her junk food.)

Tags: Yucaipa, Now and Then, Junk Free Schools