The cultural art form known as hip hop has been in existence for several years now. While the musical aspect of hip hop is the most widely known element, the four elements of hip hop (graffiti, breaking/dance, djing, knowledge) are equally important in understanding the culture. From its humble roots in the battles and block parties in the South Bronx to the multi million-dollar, international, pop cultural phenomenon of present day, hip hop culture continues to evolve and grow. As educators, we cannot ignore the influence of this art form on our students. Our students, born of the post hip hop generation are influenced by hip hop’s language, style of dress, movements and for a lack of a better term, swagger.
In his article entitled, “Starting with Style, Toward a Second Wave of Hip Hop Education, Research and Practice”, Emery Petchauer calls upon educational practitioners to make the shift from using hip hop lyrics as critical texts in educational contexts to infusing their educational practices with a hip hop aesthetics. While engaging in critical and anti-racist examination of hip hop texts in language and social studies classrooms is certainly important and engaging work, what Petchauer proposes demands a more comprehensive understanding of hip hop culture. One of the examples of this cited in the Petchauer article was the HSRA (High School for the Recording Arts) in St. Paul, Minnesota. The school serves many children who come from impoverished backgrounds and therefore live in very stressful home environments. The school the idea of rupture/flow is embedded into the very culture of the school by offering students a silent meditation period prior to classes. By anticipating the rupture in behaviour that often occurs within children who live under constant stress, the school uses an element of hip hop culture to act proactively rather than reactively to student discipline. As a teacher of elementary and middle school students who often experience behavioural challenges that disrupt their learning, I found this idea truly inspiring. In addition to this, hip hop aesthetics can show up in science, technology, math and virtually all areas of the curriculum. How does hip hop culture inform your pedagogy and instructional practice?
References: Emery Petchauer, “Starting With Style: Toward a Second Wave of Hip-Hop Education Research and Practice,” Urban Education 2015, Vol. 50(1), pp. 78–105.