In a surging Boston nightclub, Keenan Cooks learned the rhythm of hip-hop as a 5-year-old. “Dance was all I knew,” said Cooks, now 17, whose mother would sneak him into the clubs where she worked.
But turning his inner beat into bucks has not been easy. In a slow economy and a city full of young people, Cooks took the only job he could find last year: scooping ice cream.
This summer, two major city businesses are helping the Roxbury teenager return to his passion. He will be teaching hip-hop classes to young people as part of a citywide jobs effort to employ youths in offices and with nonprofit organizations.
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