Toby Jenkins, a higher education professor who studies hip-hop culture, writes for The Conversation about the genre’s greatest gifts.
Hip-hop has created many good memories, good music, and good times, but the culture has given society more than just entertainment.
As a researcher specializing in hip-hop culture, I know that one of hip-hop’s greatest gifts is a particular mindset that focuses on freedom of thought, flexibility, and truth-telling. It also includes creativity, authenticity, self-confidence, bragging, free speech, and honesty as it relates to one’s community and culture.
Hip-hop ideas are emerging as a new way of thinking in American society to help educators overcome challenges that politicians are trying to transform into increasingly restrictive educational environments, especially issues of race and racism in American history. I believe it has become relevant. A place of education.
Many educators feel insecure about what they can and cannot say in the classroom. They also want to be true to themselves. Here are her five ways educators can embrace hip-hop thinking to confront the challenges they face.
1. Claim your space
When Run-DMC took the stage in the 1980s, the show would often begin with Run, one half of the pioneering rap duo, taking the stage and saying to the eager crowd, “There were a lot of superstars on this stage tonight,” but I want you to know one thing: This is my home. And when I say, “Whose house is this?” I want everyone to say “Ran’s house.” ”
Through this call and response routine, the group captured every arena in which they performed. Whether you call it attitude, swagger, or swag, hip-hop culture has long rewarded people who are confident and in control of where they work.
Hip-hop’s longevity is due in large part to this boldness, to artists who stand strong and fight back even when attacked.
Strong self-confidence gives artists the courage to be unconventional, speak their truth, and try something new. I believe this practice is beneficial for teachers amidst political efforts to control teacher speech.
2. Form a squad or crew
From their early days to the present day, hip-hop artists have always formed teams or crews to perform as emcees and dancers, often competing to see who has the best lyrics or dance moves.
Early examples include the Rock Steady Crew and the New York City Breakers, who famously faced off against each other in an iconic scene in the 1984 hip-hop film Beat Street.
Your team is more than just personal friends. They are your colleagues and comrades in the struggle. They are your trusted village of truth tellers, potential partners, and strategic thinkers. Educators can rely on their teams to strategize and stay sane.
Squads and crews don’t have to be limited to one school. Although Queen Latifah, Monie Love, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul were solo acts or individual groups, they were all part of a larger artistic community called Native Tongues.
Just as hip-hop artists often belong to larger groups, educators can also build larger communities of support.
Partnering with local nonprofits and community organizations may be more important than ever. These organizations can host and facilitate learning experiences that may be prohibited in the classroom. Through these partnerships, students have free access to community-based programs that allow for more free discussion that may not be allowed within public schools in states where educator voice is restricted. It will be.
3. Remix
One of the most common strategies for creating hip-hop music is remixing. In a remix, a song’s producer creates a new version of a song by borrowing or sampling beats from other songs, changing the pace, or even introducing new lyrics. It wasn’t part of the original.
A classic example is KRS-One’s 1988 song “Still #1.” While the original version had a more relaxed vibe, the “Numero Uno” remix features a sample of an upbeat Latin jazz song, and the opening line is also in Spanish.
Embracing remixing techniques may be a viable way to counter efforts to censor what students can read in school and what educators teach in class.
For example, in districts or states where certain books or topics are banned, educators can use Books Unbanned. This is a program that allows teenagers and young adults to access e-books using their national library card. Educators can create a free guide to resources for families that includes information about similar programs.
Remixes may also help raise funds for schools. Schools at all levels can secure grants and foundational support, giving them the freedom to fund community-based partnerships and establish specialized initiatives.
4. Go digging in crates
Crate digging is an important part of remixing. It’s the process of sifting through old vinyl records, usually stored in old milk crates or cardboard boxes, to find long-forgotten songs to use for remixes.
Similarly, teachers can look to the tactics and strategies employed by educators in different eras to learn how they responded to educational exclusion and erasure in their time. For example, after desegregation, new struggles to make school classes more culturally and racially inclusive emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.
By examining the work of legendary educators like Septima Clark, today’s teachers can discover ideas and opportunities to rethink historic initiatives like the Citizenship Schools concept developed by Clark. can. These mobile his schools, or “rolling schools” as they were called, brought learning into community spaces. These schools later paved the way for programs like Freedom Schools, developed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and still run by the Children’s Defense Fund. Communities across the country partner with Children’s Defense Fund to provide local Freedom Schools.
5. Stay Real
As a teenage fan of hip-hop in the early 1990s, I remember that the phrase “expressing authenticity” was very popular. At the time, it felt like a lot of pressure to keep it real and represent the community. Looking back now, I appreciate that it wasn’t really pressure, but rather permission to be authentic.
Educators don’t have to advocate for new laws or policies that limit what can be taught, they just have to follow them. But there is no limit to “keeping it real” or discussing new laws and policies as civics lessons.
So, if your lesson or class is about current events, students can explore the various laws that have been put in place to limit the teaching of Black history.
Educators may find themselves increasingly challenged by state legislatures due to increased intrusions into classroom space and reductions in what is taught in class. By adopting a hip-hop mindset, educators can learn the lessons necessary to protect truth-telling, authenticity, creativity, and all the other habits of mind that have made hip-hop so rebellious and resilient. I believe you will be better prepared to fight. This is an established culture.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Banner image: Confidence is an important element of hip-hop culture. Manu Vega (via Getty Images)
