Hip Hop Curriculum

The Educational Power of Hip-Hop

A few innovative artists will use the words of Mos Def to lay down the ins and out of water conservation to about 40 Washington, D.C., students Thursday at Arlington's Artisphere.

Through hip-hop and multimedia art, the students will explore three social justice issues using the Hip-Hop Educational Literacy Program (H.E.L.P.), developed by artist and educator Gabriel Benn.

"This is learning through the lens of hip-hop," Benn said. "It's another way for them to find out information and showing them things."

Students will participate in discussions, listen to music and watch video footage, and create multimedia art with the help of Benn and other Artisphere artists. 

"Artists are natural teachers," Benn said. "They're passionate about what they do, and whatever their art is, they want to show people. They can teach the same concepts in a different way."

Benn, known as Asheru in the hip-hop world, was an educator in D.C. schools for 14 years before becoming a full-time educator of educators. He gives teachers the tools to teach kids in new, culturally responsive ways.

His lessons for teachers, along with the after-school classes he leads at Ballou High School and Cesar Chavez Middle School in the district, were born of frustration with traditional textbook teaching methods over his 10 years in front of the classroom.

"A lot of times, in the classroom, it's redundant, it's not exciting," he said.

Over the course of his career, Benn said he tried to find out what his students were interested in, and to use those interests to relate to the curriculum.

Now, through his community service organization Guerilla Arts Ink , and educational-material publisher Educational Lyrics , Benn writes workbooks based on H.E.L.P., each using a song to highlight a social issue. The workbooks are suitable for a range of ages and reading levels, and comply with educational standards.

"You have to modify your lessons to meet (the students') needs," Benn said. "Look at kids as humans, with their own culture and identity."

Hip-hop culture is a big part of youth culture, Benn said, and he hopes to educate and inspire through that lens.

"I'm excited to see what they'll be more conscious of when they walk out of here," Benn said. "I'm hoping that some of them walk away and want to become active and change things."

The class will be offered again in August to students ages 10 to 17, in two three-day sessions covering different social issues.

Capital Outlook » Can hip-hop music in the curriculum influence ...

Ronald W. Holmes, Ph.D.

Education Editor/Vice President

In Dr. Morris Massey’s training video, “What you are is where you were when,” he describes three major periods an individual goes through in developing a value system. From birth to age 7, the imprinted period, Massey notes that an individual is like a sponge absorbing everything and accepting things to be factual when learned especially from parents.  From ages 8 to 13, the modeling period, an individual begins to copy what other people do like trying on “suits of clothes” so to speak, particularly, those of parents. Between ages 13 to 21, an individual tries to escape the earlier developmental periods, becomes largely influenced by their peers and by the media.

Considering these developmental periods, children are significantly influenced by what they see and what they hear.  Children between the ages of 8 and 18 spend an average of 53 hours a week using Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, playing video games and listening to music on iPods. With a generation of children being galvanized by societal influences that impacts how they think, communicate and associate with others, the questions to be asked are: Can hip-hop music in the curriculum influence African-American students to learn? How should African-American students and particularly males be taught?

Hip-hop music is defined by “four key stylistic elements such as rapping, DJing/scratching, sampling and beatboxing” according to Wikipedia. Hip-hop started in New York’s South Bronx African-American community. This type of music originally described the challenges of poverty and injustice faced in the ghettos. Hip-hop is popular with today’s urban youth in the U.S. and abroad.

In fact, many youths are “infatuated with hip-hop music which is sometimes displayed in bizarre dressing and clothing styles, flashy jewelry, earrings, cornrows, brash language, body piercing and tattoos” according to US-China Education Review.  Many youths of inner city schools have continuous challenges in their classrooms with “hip-hop culture, thoughts, debates, or acts that have huge potential for classroom disruptions,” reported US-China Education Review.

With the serious threats of hip-hop music and culture negatively impacting the instructional day in inner city schools, US-China Education Review suggested that hip-hop music be integrated into the curriculum to teach African-American students. The recommendation is based on a study of middle school students at Dorchester County Public Schools in Cambridge, Md. where students participated in experiential learning and active classroom interaction utilizing hip-hop music, videos, CDs, lyrics and instrumentals. While the findings of this study were noted to be successful in fostering a positive behavior in students, teachers must consistently use innovative instructional techniques to motivate their students to learn.

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