A musician helps middle schoolers find their voice

Author: kare11.com

Published: 10:09 AM CST February 15, 2026

‘Project Amplify’ sparks curiosity and creativity through beat boxing at District 191 elementary schools

Jan 21 2026

Thanks to a partnership with MacPhail Center for Music, District 191 music specialists are able to provide “Spark Experiences” to students through Project Amplify and its artist in residence programming, the Global Music Initiative (GMI). 

Last week, Terrell X’avion visited Vista View and Rahn Elementary Schools to teach students how to make music with their bodies. For three days, students enjoyed learning the sounds, rhythms, beats and techniques of beat boxing. The highlight, however, was when Woods closed out his visit by beat boxing to a song about 6-7, which is an internet meme that emerged from social media in 2025. Every student enthusiastically joined in, singing and motioning 6-7 with their hands!  

“The partnership we have with Terrell has created a powerful and lasting learning experience for students,” said Alyssa Eggersgluss, music specialist. “He not only brings with him a wealth of knowledge about beatboxing, rap, and hip hop music, but he inspires students to be bold, kind, and tenacious. We look forward to his visit all year!” 

Woods has spent almost 30 years making music, motivational speaking, performing live as a one-man band, touring the world and working with both youth and adults from various socio-economic backgrounds. He has spent 16 of those years teaching human beat boxing/vocal percussion, song writing and composing short stage plays – building an impressive artist resume that extends all the way to Europe and Asia.

Project Amplify and GMI bring exciting, culturally relevant, inclusive and free music performances and education opportunities to communities and schools across Minnesota. Teaching artists in residence share their music with students in meaningful experiences outside of traditional approaches to music education, at no cost to schools. 

Learn more about Project Amplify and Terrell Woods’ highly-respected work at https://www.macphail.org/music-education-project-amplify/.

Elementary specialists strengthening Pathways with Spark Experiences

“Sparking curiosity and wonder in each student.” That’s the driving force behind Pathways at the elementary level in District 191. It’s not about having young learners pick their future career, it’s about allowing students to discover a world of possibilities through rich learning experiences. Opportunities for this type of interaction are found throughout the school day, and one example is the district’s specialists coming together to provide amazing experiences for every student. 

Birch Grove School for the Arts hosts guest artist

Fourth and fifth grade students at Birch Grove School for the Arts celebrated the culmination of their first trimester art troupes with a special guest artist visit on December 5 and 10. 

The school applied for and received the opportunity to have a visitor from the Project Amplify Noteworthy guest artist program through the MacPhail Center for Music. 

The artist, Terrell X, is a rapper, beat box and hip hop artist, and he visited with the school’s older students to give them an interactive performance full of student participation, input and enthusiasm. 

Terrell X answered student questions about his career as a performer and art educator, shared about the equipment he uses, taught students different beat box sounds and rhythms and took song requests to create his own unique spin on them. He shared with students that working with others helps him to be the best version of himself as a performer and educator.

“Listening to other musicians and collaborating with people are like the system updates to my app,” he said. “When I go to different places, talk to different people and experience different things, and that allows my programming to get better each time.”

Minnesota Department of Education

Minnesota Department of Education, Culturally Responsive Arts Education (CRAE), Sophia Butler South High/Minneapolis

St. Paul youth find their voices with summer songwriting group

The St. Paul GetDown gives up-and-coming performers space and support to make art.

By Josie Albertson-Grove

The Minnesota Star Tribune

Justin: Minnesota rappers dissect the history — and future — of diss tracks

Terrell “Carnage the Executioner” X’Avion, left, discusses legendary diss tracks last month with rapper Darius “Righteous Emcee” Romaine in the basement of X’Avion’s Shoreview home. (Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Carnage The Executioner transitioning to Terrell X

St. Paul rapper reflects on his career and what’s next

By Jan Willms

Terrell Woods, who goes by the stage name of Carnage, the Executioner, took some time recently to reflect on his career as a beat box artist and rapper.

The Saint Paul musician has built a reputation for himself as a tireless performer who creates his performances around what is happening in the life around him.

“I started touring a lot from 2016 to 2019,” he said. “I was pushing to get out of Minnesota with a project I called ‘Minnesota Mean.’ In a nutshell, I was frustrated with the way I felt I was being received in Minnesota. I felt like I wasn’t getting my just due. I had done a lot of building of quality music and collaborating with people, and I thought I wasn’t getting the opportunities I should have gotten,” he said.

“When I look back at that time some years later, I think I was being a whiny little punk.” He said there are some barriers for an artist like him in Minnesota, and quite a few have to do with race. “But I think complaining about it doesn’t make the problem go away. I was always willing to do the work anyway, so why not do the work instead of complaining about obstacles?”

However, in 2016, he felt it was time to go and explore other places and see what people would say in other areas. He had toured before on the West Coast, the Midwest and even in France. This time he started with Wisconsin and the Dakotas. He did movements 1-5 of the “Minnesota Mean” show. 

“‘Minnesota Mean’ was about addressing issues we had as Minnesotans   expressing ourselves to one another,” Woods explained. “There are things being said that can hold artists like me back, and we weren’t talking about what is happening. I thought we should put things on the table and talk about what is happening. That was kind of the beginning of it.”

Woods said that before he went into the whole concept, he did some research. “I asked transplants and people who lived here for years about their thoughts. I checked the whole spectrum of Black and White and the concept of Minnesota Nice. A lot of people said it was on the surface and passive-aggressive.”

According to Woods, “Minnesota Mean” is being honest and sincere, a project in which he did specific music that addressed what he saw as disparities. “I challenged what the hierarchy was,” he stated. “It did not seem like there were opportunities for artists of color or acceptance for what we brought.”

Woods described his “Minnesota Mean” show as more of a rant, an examination of things, and of asking his audience: ‘What do you all think? If I’m wrong, prove me wrong.’ Nobody could.

Woods said all but one person had encouraged him to do this tour, and he was glad he did.“It allowed me to have a concept, and all my tours after that were conceptual. I brought something to the table that was original, a live show with a theme. It worked well.”

He did other theme performances, like “Show Stealer.” “I established myself as a force to be reckoned with, and I would steal the show.”

Then he chose to go vegan: ”That decision made me realize what a destructive relationship I had with food. It led me to think about over-consumption in general.” His next show was “Ravenous.” 

“It was me looking at myself and at what I don’t want to be,” Woods said. 

The demand for him to tour grew, and he booked 61 dates. Woods said that earlier in his career, he had been booked as an opening act. “That’s what people did for me, and I thought I needed to give back. So, I usually took another performer with me.” He chose performers who were not heavy drinkers or in day jobs they couldn’t leave and had strong enough relationships they could go on the road. “By the end of the touring, I was doing it by myself,” he said.

In 2018, Woods toured Vietnam. He said he had seen videos of the war and the jungles, but when he was there it was one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. “Water as far as you could see, buildings and green trees. I was very impressed.

“I felt like I cracked the touring code on my own terms,” Woods continued. “When 2020 hit, I was poised to keep the movement going by doing some East Coast stuff. I was in New England when COVID hit. We had started planning to come back out there and do another two weeks. I remember being on the road when flights were being canceled. As soon as I got home, I had to start canceling because of COVID. I had to restructure how I did things to make money.

 “I started teaching beats more, doing online teaching. I began teaching all the time and doing live streams. I would do a show in a room. I stayed really busy during COVID.” 

Minnesota mean racism

Woods was in Minnesota when George Floyd was killed. “That really hit me hard,” he recalled. “I was not really surprised. I was starting to be aware of how nasty our police department was. Everybody’s so nice in Minnesota, it’s so clean and everybody gets along. But it kind of went along with what I did with Minnesota Mean: the underground racism, stuff you don’t see outright all the time.”

Woods said he did a lot of streaming and live panel discussions on police brutality after the George Floyd tragedy. “There’s this veil we have over our eyes about the police department being there to help us. They are here to protect White property and capitalism.”

What’s ahead for woods

Whatever is happening in Woods’ life, he said he can figure out how to conceptualize it and do a project around it. “It has to be more than just me being a bad-ass rapper.”

Woods said with the help of Johnny Pain and DJ Maddox, two friends from Nebraska, he put out his first album in 2021, right after the Jan. 6 insurrection. It featured “Minnesota Mean” and “Attack of the Show Stealer Live.” He recently received a grant from Springboard for the Arts to build a mobile stage. “It is a trailer that can be towed to whatever location I am at. It folds open, and I can perform on it as a stage,” Woods said.  Readygoart.com built the stage.

“I also received a $10,000 grant from the Minnesota Arts Board to present a show at the Grey Theater in St. Cloud,” Woods added. “Carnage the Executioner Presents Transformation to Terrell X” is the show.

“My name is Maynard Terrell Woods,” he said. “My first name is from my dad and my last name from my mother. Terrell is the only name I have that is my own. I am getting rid of baggage and all the things I have gone through as a young boy that were not my fault, and that I hold my parents responsible for. It is important for me to restructure myself. The X is for X’Avion, which means intelligent, spiritual, warrior and survivor. This project will have me exploring the aspects around Terrell X that were always there. I am taking my identity back.”

Besides his other projects, Woods does a monthly series at the White Squirrel Bar in Saint Paul. He will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hechatomb, his record label, in February. 

Woods said that he hopes his work will be an inspiration to others. He was a social worker when he graduated from Hamline University. “I am still a social worker, just in a different form,” he noted. “I still work with people, and try to deliver a positive message that allows people to see their strengths. I just do it on my own terms now.”  

Osseo students learn from artist-in-residence

Osseo Area Learning Center students recently were able to experience a professional hip hop artist-in-residence to earn elective credits.

The District 279 Foundation funded a grant for students to learn about the music industry, what’s involved with being a musical entrepreneur, and how to utilize low-cost musical equipment to create their own beats.

Carnage the Executioner shared his life-long musical entrepreneurship journey, taught the students about songwriting and music creation, and encouraged students to pursue their own musical journeys.

Carnage The Executioner Q&A

Carnage the Executioner is your favorite rapper's favorite rapper.

“I was told by a few people that music should be free and that rare and creative merchandise was more valuable. This prompted me to look at making music that had a theme to it. I figured I could then present well-designed, thoughtfully conceived images that created a brand that people could relate to — leading to an increase in how much music I was able to sell. I connected with an incredible graphic artist named Pat Jensen in 2015, and we had a mutual respect for each other’s work from years before. He’s a master at cartoon-ish designing, and Carnage The Executioner is a character that he was able to bring into somewhat of a comic book world. So I became obsessed with seeing how many cool things I could put my new brands on. Once I set out to put my brand on things I had never seen from any other musician, I knew there was no turning back. This opened up a great lane for me, and now people mention me as the artist with the ‘best hustle and merch game — which feels great to hear. I often ask my followers on social media if they’d purchase particular items I’m considering making available, as a means of testing the waters. Good responses lead to the availability of those items. Asking the people what they want is an important component to my marketing.”

You’ve switched to a plant-based diet and dropped more than 150 pounds. How has this lifestyle change influenced your music?

The actual drop since my biggest weight is about 120 pounds. But the lifestyle has given me more confidence: not only in my writing and content, but as a performer. I feel like my onstage execution is more accurate, and my attitude about how my music is received is a lot more positive. I also believe I have a responsibility to speak on the growth I’ve enabled myself to experience, as a means of encouraging others to find their own unique paths of success. Losing weight and eating better is something that just about anybody can relate to — if it’s spoken about in ways that are not judgmental or preachy. This realization and change has caused me to test out more universal concepts, thus making my music less intimidating and more inclusive. I have more layers to peel back and more to talk about now. I also have a clearer mind, and I know how much of a role diet plays in positive thinking. People are definitely noticing and appreciating my improved approach. The attention I’m receiving now seems deserved and not contrived.

You’ve spoken about how early on in your career you were writing a lot of music with bravado but lately you’ve been exploring other themes. Does it seem more natural to you to perform from this different perspective?

This is a great question for a battle rapper. I find it more of a welcoming, artistic challenge to say something of meaning that will carry more weight to a wider range of listeners. But now it does come quite naturally compared to when I had to try speaking with these new themes. New themes come to me as naturally as bravado rap once came to me. And consequently, it’s now actually more of a challenge for me to do bravado rap. I definitely feel better about the newer themes I’m tackling, and I plan to continue pushing myself past my own limits from here on.

Your beatboxing skills are outrageous. You’ve said that finding it early was a way for you to afford to make music, when guitars and drums weren’t affordable to your family. Do you teach young people how to get started beatboxing?

Beat boxing is super fun to do and I love the reaction it gets from onlookers. I do teach beat boxing — on a regular basis. I have been fortunate enough to teach both youth and adults. I get a great response from my students and it is a great way of getting those who are unfamiliar with hip-hop into it, with less force than trying to sell them the art of rapping. It’s even more fun when my students play instruments. Getting them playing instruments and beat boxing along with it is quite rewarding. My students now know that anyone can beat box, and that beat boxing goes with every genre of music. Playing an instrument is now the bonus to beat boxing for many of my students — when it was the other way around for me growing up.

Your branding presence has always been savvy, distinctive in the marketplace, and on point. How did you develop your marketing instincts early on?

In 2014, I started to see that it was becoming somewhat difficult to sell a CD to people. It seemed as though they wanted more — and that music was being viewed as disposable. I was told by a few people that music should be free and that rare and creative merchandise was more valuable. This prompted me to look at making music that had a theme to it. I figured I could then present well-designed, thoughtfully conceived images that created a brand that people could relate to — leading to an increase in how much music I was able to sell. My notion was correct. I connected with an incredible graphic artist named Pat Jensen in 2015, and we had a mutual respect for each other’s work from years before. He’s a master at cartoon-ish designing, and Carnage The Executioner is a character that he was able to bring into somewhat of a comic book world. So I became obsessed with seeing how many cool things I could put my new brands on. Once I set out to put my brand on things I had never seen from any other musician, I knew there was no turning back. This opened up a great lane for me, and now people mention me as the artist with the best hustle and merch game — which feels great to hear. I often ask my followers on social media if they’d purchase particular items I’m considering making available, as a means of testing the waters. Good responses lead to the availability of those items. Asking the people what they want is an important component to my marketing.

You once told me your idea of developing a cover act where you’d rap the hits from the and 90s in the suburbs. I thought that was a huge idea. Are you still mulling that over?  

Man … I’ll be honest with you: I tried that cover act out with the group of guys who originated the idea. We performed one show at a festival. It was the only event we played. It was an absolute disaster. Embarrassing beyond words. I’ll just leave it at that. It is something I’d try doing again, but only with the right artists. Maybe a live band would work better than what I had before. But it is in no way an easy project to execute correctly. I’m glad you weren’t there to see that first and only show, though.

How are you managing during the pandemic? Do you miss performing? 

I think I’ve hit a decent stride during these crazy times. I’ve done well with occasional live streaming, written quite a bit of new music and collaborated with a bunch of artists. My guest features (artists paying me to make beats for them and write songs with them) have gone up exponentially. I’ve even started building my own studio, so I now have the capability of recording my own songs in my own space. I don’t think I’d be this far into self-sufficient music production had it not been for Covid. Live performance is my favorite part of being a musician, so I do miss the stage. I’m also a touring machine! So it has been a bit weird being home for so long. But I’ve adapted well to the change. Once we can travel again and play in front of people, I’m gonna be ready to rock. Zoom has allowed me to build great relationships with different artists and organizations. I have done some live shows with social distance requirements that have gone very well. I’ve also been teaching a lot more online. So these times have not been slow for me. They have just changed the ways in which I create and do business. The learning experience has been a good one overall. 

You’ve spoken about the abuse you faced while growing up. Have you been able to transfer that pain into your art in?

I’ve been adding my experiences with abuse and a tumultuous upbringing to my music a bit since 2010. I took a turn back to bravado in 2014-16 when I felt I was being overlooked. It was a growing point for me that I was more aware of once I went plant-based in 2017. I noticed the void I needed to fill, so my upcoming material is going to highlight even more of my background. I have an abundance of stories and points of view — old and new — to present to listeners. This year has brought about a huge need for me to get into politics and world history, so I feel refueled and energized to explore even newer territory than I’ve traveled in my past music. I’m excited to release new music in 2021. I’m hoping people will notice a sharp growth in my writing.

I loved your collaborations with Eyedea. Did you two have instant music chemistry?

Yes, Eyedea and I had an instant chemistry — no doubt. He and I are both into stylistic, high-speed rapping, crazy drums in our beats and we’re well-studied in traditional hip-hop from the 80s and 90s. Not only that: we had a mutual respect for each other’s skills well before we met. He knew of me and I knew of him. So when we connected in-person, our collaboration basically hit the ground running. We’ve never had fights or arguments. We push each other to be better, and are never afraid to bounce ideas off one another. If these sentences read oddly to you, it’s because I am still influenced by what he and I share. I’m extremely lucky to have been such good friends with a creative, untamed force who is both kind and challenging. I’m sure he’s proud of what I’ve been doing with my art.

What’s next for you?

I plan to keep on promoting my most recent release, “Ravenous.” It seems to be hitting home with my supporters, and has maintained a steady stream of attention since its release date. Being it’s my best material to date, I will continue dedicating efforts to marketing Ravenous to people.  I am in the process of finishing up a project called AntiFaux — which focuses direct and in-your-face energy on anti-fascism. This project is a partnership with my brother-in-brutal-rhyme Johnny Pain from Omaha. I still have the super-group Saltee (guitar: Mike Michel; cello: Jacqueline Utan: beat box: myself) that I plan to do more live streaming with. It’s a project that could definitely use some more promotion.  I’m even working on a possible podcast which features vegan cooking, interviews with local businesses and live performances. This would take off in either February or April 2021. I’m scheduled to play the Lean On Me International Music Festival in Isla Mujeres, MX in March, but I’ll be in Isla for a month and a half! It’ll be a mixture of vacation and work which I’m excited about! And last but not least, a new Carnage The Executioner album will likely be released in October 2021. I’m hoping to drop this with a tour — provided Covid restrictions are lifted.  Whatever happens — Covid or no Covid — I don’t have a shortage of projects or ideas to present. I’m hoping people don’t get sick of me, because I’m not going away anytime soon.

Underground Rapper of the Week: Carnage The Executioner

Underground Rapper of the Week is a new feature designed to raise awareness of rappers from all over the world who, if that world were a perfect place, would be more famous than they are. It will be updated every Tuesday before the sun goes down. Feel free to email suggestions of slept-on rappers from your city or wherever to: ezra.stead@gmail.com

Making rap music is often as simple as one guy behind the turntables and one guy on the mic, but Minneapolis-based musician Carnage the Executioner has simplified things a step further than most. Using various loop pedals and often more than one microphone, Carnage (also known as Terrell Woods) is known to create entire musical symphonies in his live performances, one layer at a time, usually with nothing more than his mouth. In addition to his incomparable human beatboxing skills, Carnage is also a ridiculously talented emcee, spitting unpredictable, machine gun fire flows with incredible speed and versatility. The man is a true virtuoso on the microphone, and undoubtedly one of the most deadly emcees in the Twin Cities.

Amazingly, despite his unparalleled ability to rock a stage all by himself without even the normally required presence of a deejay – not to mention his aggressive, battle-ready sound – Carnage is known at least as well for his work with other emcees and musicians. Perhaps his most famous collaborative endeavors are his works both live and on record with the late, great Twin Cities Hip-Hop hero Eyedea, who was always one of Carnage’s most vocal and respected champions. Their back and forth beat-murder on tracks like “Coaches” and “Star Destroyer” (not to mention Carnage’s posthumous tribute remix of the latter) are among the finest rap music ever to come out of Minneapolis.

More recently, Carnage has toured internationally as half of the uniquely funky duo Ill Chemistry, for which fellow Twin Cities veteran Desdamona rhymes and sings, while Carnage and his loop pedals provide the beats. Having performed together for years on stages all around the Twin Cities, the duo have now been official for quite some time, amassing a respectable following in France as well as the United States. You can also hear them rapping together on Carnage’s latest album, Worth the Wait, where they explain to you why “You Should Not Emcee.”

Over the years, Carnage the Executioner has been affiliated with numerous crews, including Hecatomb and Fill in the Breaks, and once famously battled one of Minnesota’s most revered emcees, Brother Ali. He was recently chosen as one of City Pages’ Top 10 Best Minnesota Rappers, and is widely known, loved, and still more than a little feared by up-and-coming emcees in the Land of Lakes and beyond. He is premiering a new music video, “Respect the Name,” on June 15th at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, and has a brand-new album dropping in September.