Many people today mock how the rap genre, and consequently the worldwide music scene it shapes, has evolved from the days when you might hear that type of song on the radio to less socially conscious music. Since there is more innovative, educational, and inspirational rap music now than ever before, I would contend that a large portion of this reflects an ancient, generational rite of passage. However, when the genre became fully marketed, minority voices did lose a channel for disseminating expertise, something that did not occur when, for example, Bob Dylan went electric.
Credit: Participated
Credit: Participated
These arguments, however, obscure the true breakthrough that KRS-One tapped into—hip-hop aspedagogy—which has since expanded rapidly and goes much beyond the conventional understanding of hip-hop.
When hip-hop is used in the classroom, it has a transforming effect. Hip-hop pedagogy has demonstrated notable benefits in enhancing pupils’ learning efficiency, according to a 2024 study that analyzed dozens of peer-reviewed studies on the topic.
Hip-hop pedagogy, also known as hip-hop-based education, emerged in the 1990s and early 2000s when educators realized that combining the same forces that impact entertainment, youth culture, fashion, and advertising may increase student involvement. In 1991, Howard University students organized the first hip-hop academic conference. Gloria Ladson-Billings established the sociological groundwork with her 1994 book The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, which introduced culturally sustaining pedagogy, a framework that uses cultural referents to teach knowledge, skills, and attitudes while empowering students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically.
Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity by Marc Lamont Hill, published in 2009, and numerous other works afterward have been made possible by these efforts.
As diverse and inventive as hip-hop culture itself is what this developed into. One well-known program, Science Genius, pairs teachers with rappers to help students write and perform songs that are inspired by their studies. This promotes subject mastery while also helping kids develop transferable life skills like confidence, presence, and presentation.
With chapters on fostering classroom community, examining metaphor and allegory, and utilizing hip-hop references to connect history, geography, and culture, Lauren Leigh Kelly’s 2024 book Teaching With Hip Hop in the 7-12 Grade Classroom offers educators practical teaching strategies.
These concepts are not limited to the classroom. By converting offices into recording studios, school counselors like Ian Levy provide young people with a creative place to address trauma that has been repressed in ways that traditional methods frequently fall short of.
Teenage teenagers learn computer programming through beat-making in a ground-breaking workshop called Breakbeat Code, which takes place outside of schools. Instead of utilizing drag-and-drop tools, the students use Python to code music files.
With recent additions like a new minor program at Howard and the growing Hip-Hop Studies Consortium at Georgia State University, hip-hop’s presence in higher education is already well-established and only becomes stronger.
I’ve discussed hundreds of comparable instances in my book and on my podcast that make learning more approachable, enjoyable, and successful—and in almost every instance, more rewarding for both teachers and students.
Crucially, these initiatives have aided in avoiding and reversing long-standing structural injustices that communities of color, in particular, have to contend with. However, these innovations are becoming more and more threatened in the current political environment, where nationalist agendas are aiming to undermine forward-thinking programs and culturally sensitive curriculum.
That’s precisely why they’re more important than ever.
Both for the historically targeted neighborhoods and the millions of pupils from all demographic groups who continue to be underserved by a public education system that is insufficient.
Hip-hop-based teaching is effective for all students because it appeals to a universal human experience in addition to uplifting the underprivileged. Every young individual desires attention. Every student experiences feelings of alienation at some point. They all yearn for empowerment, expression, and agency.
These are not hypotheses. The study has been completed. The books have been released. The conferences are taking place. Graduate classes are currently in session. There are the tools. There are the receipts.
The sole query is whether education is at last prepared to fulfill its obligations.
Study up.
Award-winning journalist and cultural strategist Michael Manny Faces Conforti hails from Douglas County and focuses on the relationship between hip-hop and social effect. His book, Hip Hop Can Save America, was written by him. The Hip Hop Institute for Social Innovation’s founding director and inspiration for the country from an innovative culture.
