Engaging Students through Hip-Hop Culture! Bringing Hip-Hop to Education in a Meaningful Way! #IamDE

Hip-Hop is really the only sub-culture that unites people from all walks of life, from different backgrounds, from different beliefs. We all form a union to all come together and build skills through the elements (MCing,DJing,BBoying,Graffiti Art) and express ourselves through these crafts. Being a huge advocate of this culture, I am a walking example on how it saved and changed my life for the better. Since the early 2000's I've been working with many different non-profit organizations in the Denver area, empowering youth at risk with the power and confidence, Hip-Hop Culture provides. Teachers coast to coast have be using Hip-Hop to engage Students for years now.At first the students were disengaged until the subject of hip-hop arose and led to a freestyling session., poety, dancing, art murals. After that, the class began to function, and relationships that were made there lasted for years.

One of the best known schools using this approach is the High School for Recording Arts (commonly known as Hip Hop High) in St. Paul, Minn., which was founded in 1996. But nearly 70 percent of educational hip hop programs have been started in the past five years, according to the NYU report. At Hip Hop High, students learn about music production, entrepreneurship, and lyricism, but hip hop has a place in other parts of education, explains Martha Diaz, coauthor of the NYU report. Hip hop education can help engage frustrated African-American and minority students, she says. Just 57 percent of black and Hispanic students graduate from high school, according to a June report by Education Week. There is a non-profit organization here in Denver following a simliar mold of education as Hip-Hop High.

Get intune with Denver's, Youth on the Record, they believe that young people – those who are both at-risk and written-off – have the potential to turn their lives around. They are committed to bringing proven methods of empowerment and behavioral modification through music education to youth in Colorado who need it the most. Youth On Record has been sending Colorado’s most respected, talented and willing musicians into classrooms and treatment centers across Colorado. Ill 7, Babah Fly, Felix Fast4ward, Molina Speaks, DJ A.L., Suzi Q, Bianca Mikahn, currently work with Y.O.T.R. at Lincoln and West H.S. Campus at D.P.S. School. Recently noted some incredible well respected National Hip-Hop MC's have taught some classes at Y.O.T.R. (MC Supernatural, Charli Tuna, J-Live) Check out how they help the hood and how you can help too. http://www.youthonrecord.org/

Educators are teaching the history of Hip Hop, the social justice value of hip hop,. "They know kids are into this type of music, and teachers can use it as a bridge to talk about other subjects.

For example, in class, kids might compare the 1990s East Coast vs. West Coast Hip Hop turf wars between Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls to the American Revolution. It's just like the Loyalists vs. the Patriots. You could have the students do a rap battle—they'd formulate a rap in a group, formulate some main ideas, [and] then perform it in front of the class. It's kind of like a town hall meeting, hip hop style. This is just one example that is being used with in the school system.

Students like being educated by people who are like them, seeing themselves as having a voice. Hip-Hop has and always been about Realness, and the students feel like they can bond with you in a way that others can't, with Hip-Hop Culture being that educational median for advancement.

Peep Out These DOPE Video's of Ways Hip-Hop Culture has Empowered our Youth Today! Knowledge is Power!!! #IamDENT