When R.C. Lehman was in seventh grade, he got in trouble for being a “heathen” because he took off his shirt on the school bus and was kicked off.

He had to walk home from school every day and on the way home, he would rap freestyle to the beats of his music.

“‘8 Mile’ was really popular at the time, and I was really impressed that Eminem … could come up with this poetry off the top of his head,” Lehman said. “I thought … there’s no way you can spit off the dome like that.”

He remembers being frustrated because he couldn’t put syllables together and keep a constant rhythm, he said.

On Saturday, Lehman, a senior English major, rapped at Live at the Apollo. It was his first time performing at a talent show since fifth grade, he said.

“I (had) never performed my music live before,” Lehman said. “This (was) a first-time thing for me. … As a musician, you always dream of (performing live) – you always dream about the crowd’s perception and being cheered and applauded for your work.”

Lehman placed third in Individual Artistic Interpretation. 

“(The crowd) was way more than I anticipated,” Lehman said. “I loved how they were getting into the song and swaying around. … It was awesome how much the crowd helped my act because with every verse I felt the intensity faced with the the response I was getting from the crowd.”

Lehman said he was surprised he had placed at all and the other rappers were great, as well.

Kacheyta McClellan, assistant director of the Multicultural Center, said when Lehman went into the office to submit an application for Live at the Apollo, he asked Lehman if he was good, which he asks all the acts.

Lehman had replied, “Well, yeah.”

McClellan said after he listened to Lehman’s song he could tell it wasn’t what most people considered rap – it was hip-hop because it had more substance, which was “cool.”

McClellan said he liked seeing Lehman perform because he got into the performance and he could tell Lehman was enjoying what he was doing. McClellen said it was great providing students an outlet to perform.

“I thought (Lehman’s performance) was really interesting,” said Nick Sims, or “Nero,” junior psychology major and fellow rapper in Live at the Apollo. “I saw him moving with the crowd and everything and getting everybody energized, which is really what it takes ‘cause sometimes, you know, the crowd will be kinda iffy. You gotta wake them up.”

Elijaih Tiggs, junior public relations and advertising major and rapper at Live at the Apollo, said he works in the Multicultural Center and he had heard that Lehman had a couple of swear words in his song, but he cleaned up his song for Apollo. Tiggs said Lehman could still express himself and get his point across.

Tiggs said Lehman’s song had a good beat and message.

Lehman said he wants to break the rules in rapping.

“I secretly hate telling people that I rap because you automatically get the stigma that I’m talking about bitches and hoes and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s more poetic with me. … I like to rap about struggle because rap, to me, is a form of the blues. It’s a spoken word.”

Lehman said he can sing as well as rap.

“I just prefer the verbalization, the conversational style of rap that feels like someone is almost talking to you,” Lehman said. “You get to listen to someone’s story, like reading … around a campfire with passion.”

Lehman said at 12 years old, he began rapping with his friend Billy. Together they made about 20 songs.

But Billy died when he was a senior in high school.

“I remember taking all my writings from my desk, everything, and putting them in a shoebox and throwing it away in a dumpster – all my tapes,” he said. “I threw it away and I was done with it.”

Then Jeff, another friend of Lehman’s who also rapped, pushed Lehman to rap more, Lehman said.

“(Jeff) appreciated that I could do it, but I was much more shy about it than he was,” he said. “Jeff was a social butterfly – he was the cool kid.”

Jeff started to make beats, and Lehman and Jeff finished a mixtape Lehman’s freshman year of college.

“Then Jeff died in a car wreck when I was 20. At that point again, I was like, ‘F**k rap – I quit,'” Lehman said. “I was heartbroken. That was my best friend. I carried his coffin. I was just done with it.”

Lehman quit again, but he never stopped writing, he said.

When Lehman is bored, he still writes on the side of his notebooks – trying to rhyme words, he said.

Last year, Lehman formed a friendship with Dan, Jeff’s neighbor, through Jeff’s death. Dan introduced Lehman to Joe, who makes “pretty dope beats,” Lehman said.

Joe and Dan make beats and Lehman raps to them, Lehman said.

“We record in a closet with memory foam padded on the walls,” Lehman said. “We call it the sweatbox. I get in there and sweat and it stinks when I’m done.”

This summer, Lehman released a mixtape called “Melody,” featuring 10 tracks.

He said in some ways, he considers himself Jeff’s melody because his poetry and music is always about him.

“(With the song ‘Melody’), instead of me making it a cliché – oh I’m sad you’re dead – I took it a step further,” he said. “I literally was his melody. I spoke through him. He is the first-person speaking, and it has a really interesting effect. I hope the audience understands that.”

His parents are supportive of his music, though he has never played it for his dad and has only allowed his mom to hear a few tracks, Lehman said.

“I assume there is a gap there that I’m not going to bridge, so I just leave it be,” he said.

Lehman is working on his second mixtape and has two songs done already.

“As long as there are beats and a microphone, I’ll be making music,” he said. “I’m going to college and my degree is in literature, which isn’t guaranteeing me a job. My degree basically says I can read.”