VENTURA : Youth Excels in Anti-Smoking Songwriting

Ventura resident Tannon Seneca Brown writes rap songs about love, violence--and smoking.

His latest musical creation won him a spot as finalist in the “Music’s Hot, Smoking’s Not” contest, the first annual anti-smoking musical competition sponsored by state health officials.

Officials decided to try the contest as a non-traditional strategy to encourage youths to avoid smoking, said Colleen Stevens, a media specialist with the tobacco control section of the Department of Health Services. “Ideally, we want kids to tell each other that it’s not cool to smoke,” she said.

Brown, 19, who is studying criminology at Ventura College and hopes to become a police officer, said he was happy to help.

“I want to have a positive impact on society, and I like this kind of music,” Brown said. “So when I heard about this contest, it seemed like the perfect thing to do.” Lyrics to his song--which shares the same name as the contest--include:

You smoke a cigarette because you

have some time to kill. Now spend

a little time filling out your will.

Music is an art form with rhythm--

let it flow. Tobacco’s like a bullet

penetrating real slow.

You say you can’t quit, at least give

it a shot. Because music’s hot and

smoking’s not.

Brown will compete later this month against five finalists for the state championship. The winner will receive a professional studio recording session.

Meanwhile, Brown is practicing the song on a karaoke machine he won in the semifinals. Brown also won a two-night stay at a hotel in San Diego, but his mother has hinted that she’d like the prize for herself and her husband.

“He doesn’t have a steady girlfriend, and it’s our 25th anniversary,” she said.