Morning Ex on Friday did not include the usual speaker.  No PowerPoint presentation. Junior Jalen Benjamin brought down the house by performing his album of original music “Paradox” in front of a cheering, screaming audience of third through twelfth graders.

Benjamin began his performance by projecting a 60 second countdown on the main screen on the stage. The auditorium went wild as the numbers approached zero, and Benjamin walked out amidst clapping and yelling. He began with the song “Bounce.” For the next forty minutes, his audience watched and listened to his range of lyrics and style. One minute he was rapping about police brutality, and another he was standing at the microphone singing about love.

Several songs in, he called junior Noah Jennings (“Free Noah”) onto the stage, and they rapped their song “On My Mind” together.

Last year, Benjamin took part in a few Morning Ex talent shows, but he had never had an entire show to himself. He explained that a lot of planning went into the MX.  “I actually started planning at the end of last year,” Benjamin said, “which was when I decided the set list.”

The set list ended up including about ten songs, including the titular “Paradox” and ending with the hit “Stop at Nothing,” which that he performed last year at a talent show. Before the song began, he ran off the stage, and the audience faced empty space as the first notes of “Stop at Nothing” were heard. Heads turned, trying to catch a glimpse of Benjamin in the darkened auditorium. Suddenly, clapping began as he ran through the aisles of seated students and staff, wearing a Bulls jersey and offering high fives, all the while belting the notes of the song. He took a flying leap onto the stage and continued singing.

The audience went wild, with many screaming the lyrics with him. As he finished, the crowd stood in standing ovation.  

Leaving the auditorium, people buzzed with energy, and snatches of conversation could be heard: “That was the best MX ever!” “Oh my god, that was like a concert!”

Junior Camryn Oliff agrees. “I thought Jalen was absolutely amazing!” Oliff said. “He was not only confident enough to sing in front of the whole school, but he also showcased his songwriting and performance skills. He truly is very talented, and I cannot wait to see where this career takes him!”

Benjamin was pleased after the MX.  “I thought it went well, considering that it wasn’t a professional show,” Benjamin said. “I think that the intro was cool–that went really well, seeing as we hadn’t rehearsed that at all.”

It was not a professional show, but the crowd was as enthused as if it had been.

“In the beginning it was really scary because you’re in front of like 900 people, so obviously your nerves get to you a lot,” Benjamin said. “But I’d say after a while, maybe towards the middle of the show, it just kind of became fluid from all the rehearsal that I did.”