Kerwin Young stays on beat at Carolina

Already an accomplished music producer and DJ, Kerwin Young first realized teaching could be in his future in the early 1990s when a group of Columbia University students visited him in a recording studio.

As he finished a mastering session for rap supergroup Public Enemy’s “Apocalypse 91 … The Enemy Strikes Back” album, Young turned the studio into a classroom, seamlessly explaining the how and why of what he was doing.

More than three decades later, Young is still offering music production lessons. He just finished his first semester as a full-time faculty member in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ music department, teaching two sections of MUSC 156: Beat Making Lab as well as MUSC 212, a one-credit-hour class for students participating in the UNC Hip-Hop Ensemble.

Both courses are natural fits for Young. He said his students’ enthusiasm is what stands out the most from the semester. “They’re excited about making beats,” Young said, “and they rise to the occasion and get it done.”

The same can be said about Young in a career characterized by longevity and variety.

Born and raised in Queens, New York, he was a saxophonist in his youth and began DJing in the late 1980s, working at a popular Long Island nightclub as a teenager. Around the same time, Young started hanging out in the studio with Public Enemy and by the summer of 1989 was producing for the Bomb Squad, the group’s in-house production team.

His beats are on multiple Public Enemy projects, and he also produced solo projects by group members Chuck D (a childhood neighbor), Professor Griff and Flavor Flav. Young has worked with legendary acts like Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes, Eric B. & Rakim and Mobb Deep among others. Several movies, including “Sister Act 2 (Back in the Habit)” and Spike Lee’s “He Got Game,” feature his beats, too.

“I worked with everybody,” Young said.

Displeased with the commercialization of rap and changes in lyrical content, Young decided to focus more on music composition in 1994 after working as a composer on the first season of the TV series “New York Undercover.”

“I didn’t get into it for the money. I just love making music,” he said. “Once I started composing, I was like, ‘Man, I want to do more of this.’”

That desire led Young to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music composition. He’s composed several orchestral works and created the world’s first hip-hop concerto, “The Five Elements,” in 2024.

Young also serves as a hip-hop ambassador for Next Level, a U.S. Department of State program run in association with the UNC-Chapel Hill music department that took him to Egypt in 2017 and will send him to Italy next year.

Young directs the UNC Hip-Hop Ensemble Fall Concert at Hill Hall on Nov. 11, 2025. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Inside the classroom

Young teaches students the fundamentals and history of the craft and encourages them to really listen to songs. “Isolate what’s going on, and figure out what sounds are being used,” he said. “Is there a hi-hat? Or what’s keeping the pulse?”

He also challenges students with in-class beat assignments on computer software Ableton. Their creations range from hip-hop and R&B to techno and house music.

Web Allen, a junior business administration major, enjoys the “hands-on” nature of the course. Allen, who sings and beatboxes in a cappella group Psalm 100, also appreciated that Young came to hear his group perform.

“I was like, ‘Heck yeah, thank you!’” Allen said. “It was fun having him.”

Young had a great semester, but he said teaching — like beat making — is trial and error.

“You have to see what sticks and what works,” he said.

“They’re excited about making beats,” Young said about his students, “and they rise to the occasion and get it done.” (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)