Borrowing from Hip-Hop: Innovating Higher Education

      Are your students disengaged or not interested?
      Don’t know how to foster an engaging and motivational learning environment?
      Or maybe you are just looking for innovative ideas for creating co-curricular               programs?

    
Let me suggest you consider incorporating elements of hip-hop culture in your teaching or co-curricular programs. Yes, hip-hop, you read correctly, and no, I am not kidding. Hip-hop based education (HHBE) refers to the use of hip-hop, especially songs and lyrics, as curricular resources. It has proven to be effective when working with high-school dropouts, disadvantaged youths and students from low-income communities. I want to note that using HHBE as a teaching/learning tool does not mean that 

you will have to stand in front of your class rapping lecture material (although it is possible) while doing break-dance. Educators and student affairs practitioners can use hip-hop as a technique to interest and motivate students, validate their cultural identities as well as develop competencies and skills which are critical in today’s worlds. We will look at possible strategies for using hip-hop in class and outside of the classroom later. First, let’s find out why unconventional educators have great hopes for the use of this particular music-based culture.

      Why Choose Hip-Hop?

Hip hop is the only culture that speaks to educating youth of color on a deep level about issues they are facing. Hip-hop culture is unique because it gives marginalized communities a microphone and a public voice which is heard all over the world. Incorporating hip-hop in higher education can foster a sense of belonging in students of color and help validate their cultural identities. Not only hip-hop is the most popular genre among young people in the United States, but also white people represent a large part of hip-hop audience. This means that different racial and ethnic groups of students are likely to respond to the use of hip-hop in the learning environment.

   

      Hip-hop Vision in Higher Education

Hip-hop is a complex culture which includes music, fashion, language, dance and lifestyle. If you are still hesitant about using hip-hop beyond student organizations and entertainment programs, you should consider looking at hip-hop through a wider lens. As a life style, hip-hop promotes a set of values that, if adopted by institutions of higher education, could help educators and administrators create and maintain inclusive, engaging and motivational learning environment:

·             Ethic of Excellence

In their lyrics, hip-hop artists have always expressed a desire to succeed in life, to be the most skilled, the most talented and the best at their performance.For example, Jay-Z’s drive for excellence let this boy from a struggling working-class family grow up to become one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in America. Our students also need to see such ethic of excellence in the classroom and beyond in order to get motivated to become achievers in every aspect of their lives. As higher education institutions are aimed at preparing students for adult life and responsible citizenship, it is necessary to cultivate this drive for greatness in students so that they could rise to a position of power and make this world a better place to live in.

·             Validation of Students’ Opinions

Hip-hop allows artists to speak out and be sure that everyone is really listening and making sense of what they are hearing. For example, when hip-hoppers are free-styling, they all participate and perform in turns, jumping in to support each other, and hanging on each other’s words. Let’s be honest, an atmosphere where every student knows that his or her words really matter can rarely be found in our classrooms. Therefore, educators have to do their best to ensure that every student participates, feels safe and comfortable to speak out and, more importantly, wants to share his or her opinion. I bet now you are thinking “Right, but how can I do that?” There are many strategies to choose from, depending on the course content, teaching and learning tools and characteristics of students (age, socio-economic background, division, etc.)  Borrowing from hip-hop again, I suggest using the concept of cypher as a way of organizing a discussion or other classroom activities. In hip-hop, those who rap in a cypher stand in a circle (students can sit) and perform one after the other. Interrupting another person will break that cypher unless he or she is next in line and the person behind him/her is falling off. Similar technique can be used when organizing educational process. The other tool for validating students’ opinions is immediate feedback. Hip-hop is a space of immediate reward, where performers are given a positive feedback in the form of hooraying and nodding. Similarly, in higher education, faculty and student affairs practitioners must not forget to use every opportunity they have to reward their students with words, sweets, emails, symbolic gestures or any other creative form of reward that you can think of. 

·             Environment of Activism and Advocacy

From the early years of hip-hop, its lyrics focused on social issues. Hip-hop culture as a way of dealing with the hardships of life as minorities within America gave young African Americans a voice to let their issues be heard. Today’s hip-hop artists continue the tradition; they focus on the issues of social justice and share passion for societal transformation. I suggest that higher education focuses more on promoting activism, advocacy and action among students. Educators and administrators should use their creativity to find new ways to encourage young adults to be more civically active and empower them to make a positive change in their communities.

      Sampling

Another useful idea that can be borrowed from hip hop is sampling. In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion (or sample) of one sound recording and reusing it as a sound recording in a different song or piece. Hip-hop artists often give new sound to old songs, mix old with new, experiment by combining different music genres, thus, giving a fresh sound to their music. I believe that higher education has to adopt the value of sampling and look for creative ways to enrich experiences of students. For example, professors could assign students to create a preferred style poem on a particular topic. Students will have to incorporate concepts from class readings, 

modern media and personal experiences. By doing so, educators not only cultivate creativity and critical thinking skills in their students, but also foster their personal development and caring for the work they do. If an educator also decides to organize a public performance or a slam battle as a part of this assignment, he/she will be able to create a bridge between education and local community. I encourage higher education practitioners to create as many transformative programs for students as possible because many millennium students are becoming less and less responsive to traditional teaching methods (especially lecturing) and often demonstrate a lack of interest and engagement. 

·       
        Keeping it Real and Relevant 

Hip hop culture values being true to oneself and one’s beliefs and the idea of creating something relevant to people from the communities hip-hop is speaking to. From the educational perspective this means that higher education should create more programs based on the concept of project-based learning. There are numerous benefits of using this teaching tool: a greater depth of understanding of material, improved interpersonal skills, enhanced leadership skills, increased creativity, improved writing skills, to name just a few. For example, for an environmental protection class students can be asked to create a hip-hop (or any other music genre) CD about environmental problems and their prevention. Working in groups, students will write lyrics, choose music, record songs, design a CD cover, etc. Then they will distribute CDs at a campus event and in their local communities, thus, educating people about environmental issues. Such projects are aimed at holistic development of students and cultivate a wide range of competences. They also keep students motivated and interested, give them a public voice, make them feel acknowledged and help them value impact they make. Such projects are fun, relevant and real – exactly what our students need today.

      Excited?
Personally, I am very excited about using hip-of hop culture and its values in higher education. The opportunity of making fun, relevant and creative assignments for students challenges my own creativity and inspires me to constantly seek new ideas and ways of using arts in curriculum and co-curricula. Many previous generation educators grew tired of using the same teaching methods again and again and gradually lost their own interest and engagement. With the opportunity to use hip-hop and other arts in education, I can be sure that I will never grow tired of doing my job. As a student affairs practitioner, I believe that future of higher education is in joint programs created by collaboration of faculty and student affairs personnel. They can create project-based and service learning programs aimed at holistic development of students, including their professional and personal growth. And hip-hop, which is the most popular music genre among young adults today, can be used as an educational tool in transformative programs that would be beneficial not only for students but for communities in general. What excites me the most is the opportunity of merging education, entertainment and arts together. This power blend, if based on hip-hop culture, will speak to marginalized populations and, hopefully, cultivate a sense of belonging to the campus community and empower them to become agents of change. Besides, hip-hop based education is an opportunity for students to engage in creating and sharing knowledge instead of simply consuming it.

We already discussed ways to use hip-hop in curricular and co-curricular programs. Now it is time to look at some limitations which come with using hip-hop in higher education.

Limitations:

• Hip-hop based learning might not work with certain populations of students. For example, graduate students/international students/non-traditional students might not be familiar with or very interested in hip-hop culture and might lose motivation and drive for excellence if asked to do a hip-hop based assignment. Also, hip-hop based learning might not work with students from certain communities which consider hip-hop music to be rude or offensive (for example, some religious groups).              
• Professors who cannot relate to hip-hop culture or are not very familiar with it as well as more conservative educators might be hesitant to use hip-hop in their teaching. They will have to do research in order to learn more about hip-hop culture and the ways of using it in education, or student affairs practitioners will have to organize workshops and training for faculty, which might turn out less successful than hoped.
  

  
• Although hip-hop based projects do relate to all learning styles, hip-hop based assignments which do not require working in groups might resonate only with students who are good at creative writing.
• Some hip-hop based projects can require costly or hard-to-get resources and facilities. Of course, not every hip-hop project is like that but some of them are. For example, recording an educational CD or organizing a concert for the community.
• Many hip-hop lyrics, even though they carry meaningful educational content with them, have a lot of swearing. Work ethics does not allow 
  
  educators use such lyrics as they can send a wrong message to students. Even if bad words are taken out of the lyrics or replaced with more polite synonyms, students can still find the lyrics online. 

Some of the Ideas for the Use of Hip-Hop in Higher Education:

• Student affairs collaborate with College of Arts and other divisions
  
  in the attempt to create educational graffiti for the local community. Students work together on choosing topics, doing research, brainstorming graffiti ideas, painting graffiti, preparing a presentation, etc.
• Student affairs practitioners collaborate with faculty from various departments to organize a hip-hop concert based on material from a certain course or courses. Working in teams, students write educational lyrics, choose music, logistics (can be done by students from business courses) decorations (art and design students) and prepare a concert for the public. 
• For example, the topic of the concert could be environmental protection, or women’s studies, or critical race theory, or social justice, or basic chemistry, etc. 
  
• Faculty assign students to create educational hip-hop videos or educational songs which students record and distribute at a campus event organized by student affairs personnel. This "Go Green!" video is a good example of a hip-hop educational video : 

• Faculty assign students to write educational poetry on the course material in groups. Each group choses a person who will read a poem in a hip-hop style at an Open Mic event organized by student affairs division.
• Faculty can collaborate across the disciplines and assign students to create an educational hip-hop poetry website. Web design students would create the website, while students from other departments would work on the content.
• Educators can write a short rap piece with main concepts of the class meeting and deliver it in front of the students at the beginning of the class. Here is an example: 

• Educators can record and distribute hip-hop songs to help students remember material which they have to memorize, such as important facts, dates rules or formulas.

These are just a few examples of how hip-hop culture can me used in higher education. I hope you are inspired and have your own ideas for creative transformative educational programs. 

I want to end this post with some show-case examples of using hip-hop in education:

• One of more than 30 educational videos created by two history teachers who record their own versions of popular songs and design music videos to make history courses more fun and meaningful for their students. This video tells a story of Cleopatra ("Fergilicious" by Fergie):

• This talented graduate student creates hip-hip music videos which help him in teaching chemistry:

Finally, I suggest you look at the Flocabulary, a website created by a high school teacher that includes lesson plans and ideas, and other information on effective use of hip-hop in the classroom. Although the website’s audience mostly consists of K-12 educators, many ideas can be used in higher education as well:

http://www.flocabulary.com/?cat=1