Photo: Making Tracks: Main Street is a group effort; Bradley Birnbaum III raps his rap.

With a name like Bradley Birnbaum III, one might imagine an ascot-wearing, polo-shirt clad golf player with daddy''s bank card and a snooty attitude. But Bradley, or Young Bubb as he likes to be called, is actually a 17-year-old Seaside native now living in Salinas, and a budding hip-hop artist.

As part of CSUMB''s Reclamation Project, Bradley, a high school senior, is taking part in the Main Street project--a collaboration between CSUMB students, the school''s Reciprocal University Arts Program, the Second Chance Youth Project in Salinas and two artists from the San Francisco Bay area. What they''re doing is ambitious and edgy--recording several hip-hop tracks, mixing and perfecting them, then going out in front of the Steinbeck Center in Salinas and playing them live on the radio on four different FM frequencies, with audience participation dictating how the mix sounds. It''s a complicated process, but those involved have high hopes for its success.

"We''re not necessarily trying to make squeaky-clean, Evangelistic music," says CSUMB alumnus and project coordinator Alison Clifford. "We want it to be realistic, but not negative. They can talk about their lives, but there has to be a positive message to it as well."

The objective of RUAP and the Reclamation Project is to get the community involved in university projects that then turn around and help the community. By grouping university students with artists with kids in crisis, everyone is learning, growing and sharing their talents.

Bradley, who has been working with the Second Chance program for six months, has a bit of an illicit past, something he wants very much to make up for. "Recording is fun, and I''m helping the community out at the same time. It''s something I love doing. It relaxes me. It''s like a natural high."

Eric, who got involved in the project through Bradley and has also laid down some vocals under the name E the Gambllah, shares Bradley''s thoughts, saying, "There''s nothing better."

Clifford also seems inspired by how this project is touching people''s lives. Having no real knowledge of hip-hop music, she''s had to bring in help in the form of two San Francisco musicians: Chris Brown, head of the music department at Mills College; and Guillermo Galindo, a classically trained musician who also has a background in mixing recorded tracks. Both men are experienced and interested in experimental and electronic music.

The recording sessions themselves are loose gatherings, with young men wandering in and out of the room and getting inspired to lay down one more vocal track, go through their rap one more time, freestyle. The CSUMB music students acting as facilitators are more than accommodating to these random moments of inspiration: In the space of an hour, four or five young men come into the recording booth, waiting for a turn or appreciating the rhymes of the others. Bradley sticks around through most of it, sitting pensively and listening to the tracks being laid down when he himself is not recording. Though it is not said in so many words, this is clearly a project that centers on him, on his music and his redemption from the life he used to lead.

He very clearly places his heart into the poetry he raps, with lyrics like "I pray for peace but it won''t be/ because money rules everything." He seems to have a real creativity and intelligence, and it comes through in the way he speaks and performs. Along with his obvious love for the music he makes, he seems to want to make amends for the harm he did at so young an age. Asked about being involved in the project, Bradley says, "It keeps me out of trouble."

The public is invited to help create Transmissions: Main Street, April 13 from 3pm-5pm in front of the National Steinbeck Center, One Main St., Salinas. Bring an FM radio. Call 582-3130 for information.