Hip-Hop & Youth

Hip-Hop & Youth

            What is Hip-Hop? According to McLeod, “Hip-Hip culture, broadly speaking, incorporates four prominent elements: breaking; tagging or bombing; DJ-ing; and MC-ing” (Mcleod 1999, p. 166). Hip-Hop and its culture educate youth in numerous ways, through lyrics, language, community, lifestyle and others; these influences though have both positive and negative consequences on individuals.

School of Hip-Hop Dedicated to Knowledge

            Language is a powerful form of communication between individuals. Lyrics used in Hip-Hop can hold various meanings and convey many messages. Society, including youth, individually interpret these lyrics and relates to them on a personal level. For this reason, teachers use Hip-Hop to educate and build communication with students and use Hip-Hop and rappers as a model. Words such as, “bitch” and “ho” are controversial terms that are frequently used in within the culture. In addition, the word “nigga” is used in Hop-Hop as well as society. For example, the rap group N.W.A. stands for “Niggaz With Attitude” or Jay-Z and Kanye West’s song “Niggas in Paris” use the word to address a group of individuals. Nevertheless, it is controversial because there are questions of who can or cannot use it or if it should be used at all. This makes it difficult to use certain Hip-Hip in elementary or middle school. “The N-word takes the tensions between teachers and teens, schools and hip-hop to an extreme and thus acts as a “limit-case” for education’s ability to meaningfully engage hip-hop generation youth” (Low 2011, p. 113). It is believed that certain words and phrases used within the Hip-Hop community serve as a roadblock in that education process. However, these terms and phrases being used need to be understood within the context of Hip-Hop.

On the other hand, numerous rappers such as Nas convey a positive message with some of their lyrics like staying in school and off the streets. “Hip-Hop artists, like other popular culture artists in the past, cross cultural and international boarders, are significantly widening Hip-Hop’s circle of influence among youth” (Allender 2005, p. 14). Youth idolize rappers who they feel they can relate to their lives and experiences. Rappers become role models for the youth, because these boys and girls hear similar struggles or issues within the lyrics. “Pressing further, Hip-Hop based education for early learners places emphasis not just on public education, which is one of the bedrocks of democracy in the United States, but on how the youngest learners are influenced by Hip Hop through their caregivers and communities’ music, language, and cultural pastimes” (Love 2015, 108). Most of the youth time is spend with not only family member but the community as well; depending on the area an child is living effects the culture they are surrounded with. Hip-Hop is viewed as “a network of generations tied together by ethnic origin, spiritual orientations, geographic tendencies, kinship norms, and several other community oriented practiced including artistic expressions, communal traditions, philosophies, social values, and imposed social orders” (Wilson 2007, p.6) Hip-Hop is a culture that builds a community, which in turn influences children learning abilities, socially, physically, as well as creatively.
            Though Hip-Hop is viewed as a tool to education middle and high school youth, it is being used with younger generations as well. While Hip-Hop comes with a rough and aggressive connotation, it also has positive messages and gives students a platform to relate. As a culture Hip-Hop serves as a communication and builds skill with younger children as well.

Citations:

Allender, D. (Jan., 2005). “From the Secondary Section: From Totems to Hip-Hop in High School” The English Journal, 94(3), p. 13-14

Love, B. (2015). “What Is Hip-Hop Based Education Doing in Nice Fields Such as Early Childhood and Elementary Education?” Sage Journals, 50(1)

Low, B. (2011). “Slam School: Learning Through Conflict in the Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Classroom” Stanford University Press, p. 113

McLeod, K. (1999). “Authenticity within Hip-Hop and Other Cultures Threatened with Assimilation” Journal of Communication, 49(4), p. 166

Wilson J. A. (2007). “Outkast’d and Claimin’ True: The Langauge of Schooling and Education in the Southern Hip-Hip Community of Practice Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation