UNC Professor Pierce Freelon and beat battle champion Stephen Levitin co-teach the Beat Making Lab – an innovative course offered in the Music Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Co-founded by Levitin and Dr. Mark Katz, the Beat Making Lab teaches sample-based music production, history and entrepreneurship to musicians and non-musicians.

On May 13th, Shuffle  Magazine and ARTVSM released the Beat Making Lab’s FREE debut album, Tar Heel Tracks. The 13-song collection, organized by Pierce Freelon and Stephen Levitin, features original Hip Hop, Dance and Electronica, produced by UNC undergraduate students. All production on Tar Heel Tracks samples from other artists based in North Carolina including the Avett Brothers, Lee Fields, The Foreign 

Exchange, The Old Ceremony, and Nnenna Freelon. In addition to co-teaching the Beat Making Lab, Pierce Freelon and Levitin are founders of ARTVSM (pronounced Artivism) – a company that merges art and activism by any medium necessary. ARTVSM will bring the Beat Making Lab curriculum to 16 Congolese youth in Goma this summer through Yole! Africa.  Read more in TRIBES magazine Summer 2012 issue! 

Download TAR HEEL TRACKS FREE at beatmakinglab.com