Juanita Ridge has never considered herself a professional singer. But when she has something she wants young people to hear, sometimes saying it isn’t enough.
So she puts it to music.
Ridge will release her newest song, “Drug Free Generation,” Oct. 3 during an event from 1 to 4 p.m. at Fairmount Coffee Co., 3815 E. 17th St. in Wichita.
The song grew out of a simple anti-drug message Ridge began repeating years ago while working with students at Stucky Middle School.
As a cafeteria monitor, Ridge would move from table to table encouraging students to repeat the declaration with her, sometimes turning it into a contest to see which table could say it with the most enthusiasm.
“I don’t do drugs. I won’t. I don’t do drugs. I can’t. Why? Because I love myself,” Ridge recalled.
Now that cafeteria chant has become the foundation for a professionally produced song with a fuller musical arrangement and singing.
Its chorus builds on the same idea Ridge shared with students: loving yourself means protecting your future.
“When you love yourself, you won’t destroy your dreams,” the song says before declaring, “Drug Free Generation, let it be.”
The song also encourages young people to “love your mind” and “love your soul” while lifting each other higher.
For Ridge, the anti-drug message is not theoretical. She said she has seen the effects of substance abuse within her own family and understands how drug use can damage not only an individual but the people around them.
Her goal is to reach children early — before they are faced with the decision to use drugs.
“It just comes from the experiences,” Ridge said of her music, “and wanting a social impact.”
From Sagging Pants to a Rap
“Drug Free Generation” isn’t Ridge’s first attempt to turn a concern into a song.
In 2017, while working at Stucky, she noticed repeated conflicts over boys wearing sagging pants. Adults would tell students to pull their pants up, often with little success.
Ridge took a different approach.
“What’s it going to take to get these boys to pull their pants up?” she asks at the beginning of what eventually became “Boy, Pull Your Pants Up.”
The song developed into a rap, with Ridge taking the lead over a strong beat and repeating a hook calling on teachers, preachers, parents and grandparents to tell young men to pull their pants up.
Students began joining in with her message before the idea ever became a recording.
Ridge eventually worked with Wichita producer S.E. TRILL, who created the beat and helped develop the record.
That experience showed Ridge that music could be another way to communicate with young people — particularly when a catchy beat or repeated phrase could make a message easier to remember.
She later recorded “It’s Your Day to Be Amazing,” with a beat by South Carolina jazz artist Benjamin Johnson, and “We Rise,” involving Wzrd Mac, Kilo Kapone and Nikia Studios. Those two recordings have not been publicly released.
For “Drug Free Generation,” Ridge has worked with Wichita-based Dutch the Producer and Really Filthy Beats on production and distribution. She said the new song, along with “Boy, Pull Your Pants Up,” can be heard on major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, Pandora and TikTok.
She is also planning a “Drug Free Generation” video that will involve young people.
Music is only one piece of Ridge’s decades of work with Wichita youth. She spent 27 years working in Wichita schools and has developed mentoring and youth programs over the years.
But the songs give her another way to deliver the same message.
“We have to find them where they are,” Ridge said, “engage them where they are and bring them to where we are.”
