WATERLOO --- Getting preteens and teenagers interested in honing their creative writing skills on Saturday mornings through the summer seems like a tough task.

For Lamont Muhammad, known in the local music community as "The Original Man," it's about finding what kids are interested in and tailoring a program around it.

His Uplift the Crowd Hip Hop Edu-tainment Summer Program will be the first in the area to provide youth age 10 to 18 a step-by-step primer on all things hip-hop, from crafting lyrics to recording in a studio to promoting the final product.

"I thought that hip-hop is something youth are real familiar with," Muhammad said. "This could really be a way used to educate students, heighten skills and learn rhythm and rhyme."

His eight-week program, an hour each Saturday morning beginning Saturday at 9 a.m., will cost each student $30. Some scholarships are available. The program will take place at KBOL radio's studio in the Black's Building in downtown Waterloo.