[engine humming]
- Right now, we are in the heart of deep East Oakland.
This is where I grew up.
About eight of the nine high school friends
that I was really close with,
six of them are in prison,
and the other two are actually deceased.
[siren whooping]
You know, the drug addiction, the drug abuse,
you know, the neighborhood violence--
just a lot of different challenges
that you may face growing up here,
but honestly, I feel like, almost like
I get thrown into the ocean with no floaties.
Yeah. You just gotta learn how to swim
or paddle your way out.
[funky music]
A lot of kids get trapped into this environment,
and they don't see a way out,
so in terms of like the shootings, the robberies,
the--the--it all stems from each other, right?
One of my parents smoked crack,
and it broke me down as a kid.
I was so embarrassed that my parent could be a crackhead
that it drove me mad.
[funky music]
My mom actually married my stepdad
when I was about 13.
He was really a transition in my life.
My other friends got to stay out till, you know,
2:00, 3:00 in the morning at these house parties,
and I had to be in at 11:00.
When I wasn't in the house, it was a problem.
If I didn't have that guidance and that person
to kind of pull me back,
I feel like either I would be in prison
or probably dead by now.
[upbeat rhythm]
- So this is the Oakland Best Buy Teen Tech Center.
I like to call it an intersection
for all things technology and multimedia.
Youth can come here and they can
either learn the entry-level coding,
get into web design, graphic design.
Our most popular thing, though,
is the recording studio and the music program.
- [rapping] Carl, bro, yeah, he gonna set the play
- Okay. - [rapping] 12 years feelin'
like Django, yes, I whip a slave...
- It hasn't been my experience
working with any other community liaison from Best Buy
to show up in the way that Andre has.
[energetic music]
When I think about the impact that Andre has had
on the youth inside of the Tech Center,
I believe he's inspired youth
to dream bigger than they even...
even could fathom before they met him.
- Even if you make a mistake, that's what makes your
character hip, you know?
- Andre's here every week, and he's working with kids
on beat making, he's working with kids
on homework assignments.
He's just really a genuine friend, I think,
to the students.
- I feel like Teen Tech Center is a tool,
but I'm...I'm kinda the...
the oil for the tool that makes the tool
ultimately work for these kids.
This is their playground.
This is where they can enrich themselves
with technology. When they get home,
they're tired of hearing their parents argue.
They maybe have to go home and actually have to work
in order to provide for their families.
- He has opened my eyes to different perspectives
of Oakland that I would have never known.
For our store, we've hired five kids
from the Teen Tech Center.
- And it's a pick up. - Yes.
- I think he recognizes their talent
and brings it to the store.
- I love it here, and it's just an opportunity
for me to really start my career.
- I-it's about planting that seed.
If you don't and you don't have it,
you're not exposed to that,
you will make the wrong decision.
It's sad, but a lot of these kids
have to make the right decision at 15, 16 years old
when their brain is not fully developed.
I see myself in these kids. I see kids that wanna do good.
- It's not like he's being paid.
He's volunteering.
It does so much for teaching other youth
to wanna be civic-minded
and to want to, like, give back
and to be like a really just-- a good person.
- I feel like some people trade their time for money
and money for time, and honestly,
I'm--I just really wanna trade my time for these kids.
Like if I could give Best Buy my time for an hourly wage,
I can give these kids my time just for,
ultimately, their life growth.
East Oakland, West Oakland, the city of the Bay Area,
it's all about choice and decision.
One decision could change your life,
and it's that fast.
I mean, it doesn't matter if you're here
every single day with them or you just have
a ten-minute conversation-- I truly feel like
kids in the east end of Oakland do need a mentor
or somebody just to be there for them.
- It's a thankless job. Like, the kids
aren't gonna be like, "Yo, Dre, man,
you really changed my life."
No, they're not gonna say that to him,
but, um, he needs to know that.
He really, really needs to know that.
[dramatic music]
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