Orchestra students spend hours practicing their instruments.

For some, it’s too much.

Joel Gallagher, freshman, had been playing the cello since elementary school.

“I spent most of middle school going through the same daily grind: study, play the cello, study, play the cello. I wanted to find an abstract way to express my love of this instrument without being mainstream about it.”

He said that he started questioning orchestra after a friend told him about SoundCloud.

“I just started hearing all these phenomenal artists that spoke to me, you know, so I decided to start taking action.”

Under the alias  “Cell-O,“ he has garnered eight followers since he began in September.

His cites his main influences as Joji, Eminem, Gucci Mane, 2Pac and Lil Pump.

“All these great musicians have shown me what’s real, and what life is all about.”

While his followers have overwhelmingly positive opinions on the teenage rapper’s work, other students are more mixed.

One fellow student believes that his music is among the best he’s ever heard. Another student said it was the worst.

“This hardly qualifies as music,” Bert Gilliam, sophomore, said about Gallagher’s music. “Every song, and I mean every song, is him just mumbling while playing his cello. He can’t rap, he can’t play, he can’t do anything.”

Gallagher is aware of the negative feedback. For these individuals, he has only one thing to say.

“I created my account to express my art, and if you can’t appreciate real music, go back to your Katy Perry crap. Actually I like Katy Perry, please don’t include that quote.”