Country singer pledges aid to Providence High after seeing school’s hit rap video

A viral rap video produced by Providence High students is continuing to draw attention from around the world, including a plug Thursday from a country singer who is set to appear Saturday at Coyote Joe’s in west Charlotte.

Denny Strickland shared the students’ video “Canz 7.0” on his Facebook page, and made no secret of what he thought about it.

“Love the video!” wrote the singer. “I'm going to donate Saturday night’s proceeds from the show at Coyote Joe’s in Charlotte to your high school in support of your project... Keep dreaming big!”

Strickland is appearing at Coyote Joe’s as part of a 7 p.m. show with singer Frank Foster.

The students’ video is a parody of rapper Waka Flocka’s song “No Hands,” and it’s part of a push to publicize a good cause: The Carolinas Student Hunger Drive. The drive is a national campaign that promotes volunteerism and recruits high school students to help feed the hungry.

Providence High seniors took a unique approach to supporting the campaign by creating the video, which has racked up nearly 90,000 views, most of them in the past three days.

In the video, students are seen rapping about various types of canned goods, with with guest appearances by school staff and the Charlotte skyline. The rappers include seniors Kelly Berenfield, Ethan Scheper, Aniketh Dumpala, Elliott Schultz and Bryce Desai. Student Patrick Meehan worked on the other side of the camera, helping the team with filming, production and directing.

Hundreds of people have posted YouTube comments on the video, the bulk of them from Russian kids. They were made aware of the video when when it was posted on the Polina Sladkova lifestyle channel on YouTube, which caters to Russians.

Strickland, who is based in Nashville, was recently named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 10 new country artists you need to know. “He writes party-friendly anthems and doesn't try to hide his affinity for Lana del Rey and Timbaland on songs that bear heavy pop and electronic influences,” write Rolling Stone.

The Canz video is a seven-year senior tradition, put together by Providence High’s Executive Board. It took about a month to create, with “a zero dollar budget” and donated film equipment, said one of the students.

To donate to the Providence High food drive, go to bit.ly/provshd

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Country singer pledges aid to Providence High after seeing school’s hit rap video."