| The Demetrius Antion Posey School of Music Engineering a.k.a. DAP
ME is the brain child of Mr. Josean M. Posey Sr. At the age of eight, Josean was
already an entrepreneur. Always being an inquisitive child he always wanted to know
how things worked and how they were put together. He would go to the junkyard with
his younger brothers and friends to get bike parts. They would put bikes together
and sell them. At twelve years of age, Josean started to go to recording studios
with his family and would watch his cousin's recording sessions. It was during this
time that he was first exposed to music engineering. All the studio equipment
intrigued him and his desire was to one day acquire his own. In junior high school
Josean's love of music expanded and he joined his school's band and played the
trombone for three years. During his high school years he separated from music and
played football. However, due to a shoulder dislocation in his senior year of high
school he was unable to continue with football and returned to his first love,
music. Josean began to manage different hip-hop and
R artists by booking gigs during
his senior year of high school. |
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Mr. Posey is currently an
accomplished audio engineer. The following are a few of the recording artists he has worked
with:
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3LW |
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Kenny Lattimore |
| |
Babyface |
|
Norman
Brown |
| |
Ginuwine |
|
Third Storee |
| |
Karen
Clark |
|
B2K |
| |
Luther
Vandross |
|
CoCo Lee |
| |
Sisqó |
|
Jon B |
| |
Al
Jarreau |
|
Kevon Edmonds |
| |
Blu
Cantrell |
|
Play |
| |
John Stoddart |
|
Whitney Houston |
Being in the music business for over ten years,
Mr. Posey saw that there were problems with the music industry, it was lacking in certain
areas. As he researched and further studied he concluded with that there were very few
minorities in engineering positions, and even fewer women. Mr. Posey having three children of
his own and saw how quickly they were able to pick up on new information. He envisioned that
a music engineering school would be a perfect place to begin to fix these problems, and bring
about a necessary change. This vision allowed him to birth the idea for DAP ME.
The DAP ME program was established to honor Mr. Posey’s brother,
(Demetrius Antion Posey) and to also provide an opportunity for students to be exposed to music
engineering. DAP ME is designed to bring the world of music to students who may not be offered the
opportunity otherwise. The DAP ME program promotes a positive environment where students learn to
mentor their peers through positive motivation. One of the mottos of DAP ME is, specifically, "when
you are doing something you love you tend to excel in everything else you do" and another is "to
treat people the way you want to be treated".
Mr. Posey has been quoted as saying; "I want to expose our kids,
living in the so-called ghetto, to the other side of the music business and encourage them to stay
in school." DAP ME is accomplishing that by focusing on at-risk students. Those students who drop
out because they feel they do not need school anymore. Those students who feel gangs and drugs are
the only way to survival. DAP ME is here to let them know that they are dead wrong and to give
these students hope when they feel everyone else has left them out there in the streets to die. Mr.
Posey has always felt that if children were exposed to different opportunities and given more
direction this exposure would allow them to experience different things and ultimately motivate
them to try new things. DAP ME is focused on terminating the ghetto mentality and helping students
understand there is much more that life has to offer.
The DAP ME logo is unique because Mr. Posey was inspired and
motivated to use his brother’s favorite number 8 turned sideways, which is infinity, to represent
eternity in life through music. The two hands represented the students giving each other dap which
is a symbol of bonding and trust between two people. The message portrayed is to bring at- risk
students together forever through music.
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