By Rob Hochschild

November 21, 2011

Photo by Phil Farnsworth

Da'Rayia is a close-knit band of Berklee students and alumni that play a variety of genres, including hip-hop, jazz, soul, funk, rock, and reggae. The leader of the group—Da'Rayia Wilson—was the first winner of the Berklee and Essence magazine hip-hop songwriting contest. She subsequently was awarded a full scholarship to attend Berklee, where she is a dual major in music business/management and contemporary writing and production.

Da'Rayia's cover of Gang of Four's "Not Great Men" is one of several innovative covers on the latest disc, Under the Influence, from Berklee's student-run Heavy Rotation Records.