By Jacob Jackard
Dixit
Haslett HS
1st Place Division 3, Yearbook Verbal
Personality Profile
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Clear, relevant, engaging angle that makes story worthy of inclusion
- Solid lead that draws reader into story
- Meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
- Evidence of adequate research
- Story goes beyond superficial coverage to give a total perspective and feel for the subject
- Adheres to rules of good journalism including: short paragraphs, effective transitions and use of active voice, freedom from editorial comment, careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors, correct use of grammar
Everyone has a hobby, but junior Liam Clifford seems to add a new one to his list every week. Whether it’s working the chain gang at football games, his small business, or rapping and producing, Clifford finds something and eventually does it all.
By now everyone knows about Clifford’s involvement on the “Chain Gang” with seniors Nick Donovan and Josh Rhodes. The trio moves the down marker chains at JV football games. But they add a twist to the task.
“We dressed up, we’d run out onto the field to Thunderstruck, kinda like how the MSU football team does,” Clifford said. “[We] hype the crowd up, cause we knew the crowd is there for us not for the football team.”
Like everything Clifford found the fun within something that most people would view as more of a job.
The trio invested in some themes while on the job such as jersey out and a farm out, where Rhodes dressed up as a cow.
But with a lot of Clifford’s antics there was some opposition.
“I don’t think Ferg [athletic director Darin Ferguson] really liked what we were doing,” Clifford said. “I mean he was more about the JV football team, but we all know the fans were out there for us.”
But being that Rhodes and Donovan are seniors this was the last year of the chain gang and Clifford’s influence on the JV football team.
“Unfortunately, the last JV game of this season was the last of the chain gang too,” he said.
Clifford’s small business all started way back in middle school, his 7th grade year. Clifford had tried different strategies to earn money in the past with a dog walking business, a lacrosse business involving stringing people’s sticks and others. But none of them were as successful as his NBA jersey business.
“My business strategy is basically taking some low priced jerseys off an overseas website and reselling them on Ebay,” he said. “It’s all legal because I don’t claim them as authentic.”
Over the course of five years, Clifford has managed to make some money -and lose it.
“It was going pretty good,” he said. “Blew all the money I made; it runs out quickly. And every once in awhile I’ll have a birthday and I’ll reboot it back up, keep going, spend it and the process continues.”
Clifford knows it’s not the smoothest way to run his business, but like anything with him it’s running with the wind and seeing where it takes him.
He said his parents see the benefit in the business, saying it’s a good way to gain simple business experience at a young age. Clifford agrees.
Rap music was something Clifford became interested in at a young age. Like many modern teens, it became his favorite genre of music.
“My mom bought me and my brothers all the clean versions of Eminem’s first albums up to Recovery when we were in second grade, so that was pretty big for us,” Clifford said.
But he didn’t consider trying rap for himself until his brother Brady Clifford, a Haslett High School graduate, got into making music of his own.
“My brother is pretty good at it, so I thought I’d give it a shot,” Clifford exclaimed.
He started off simple, buying a microphone and get some free software on his computer to mix the raps. But he still found complications within making music, and it proved to be more difficult than he thought.
“I’m very bad with technology, so just trying to mix it and get beats and stuff was harder than I expected,” Clifford said.
He had to find a way around his technology handicap, and one day, the solution fell right into his lap.
“I met the guy at a camp and he was always telling people to check out his stuff on SoundCloud,” Clifford said. “We talked a little more and now for my next project I’ll be heading to South Lyon for some extra assistance from him.”
His next project is still a mystery to people and so is the name, but Clifford has some specific things he’d like to key in on and improve for the mixtape.
“Well, ’Paper Planes’ my first album, I kinda went for the simple rhyme schemes, always talking about the same stuff,” he said. “But I’m picking up new rhyme schemes, trying some different things out, going a bit quicker, working on my breathe control, and just making it sound better.”
Listeners will get to hear what Clifford has ready for them and listen to him improve on the platform Soundcloud, this summer.
Although with Clifford, you never know what truly is going on.
“I’m actually one of laziest people I know,” he said. “All that stuff, it takes me a while to get to. I usually put it aside and chill on the couch and get back to it in a month.”
Story by Jacob Jackard