Introduction Hip Hop Genius by Sam Seidel Lyrics
A TV satellite dish made of tin cans. A tattoo gun crafted out of a ballpoint pen and rubber bands. Turntables and speakers plugged into a streetlamp to power music for a block party. Cueing two records up to the same point and switching back and forth to extend dancers’ favorite segments of songs. A high school dropout, turned graduate, turned drug addict, turned rapper, starting a school out of a recording studio .
These images exemplify Hip Hop Genius—creative resourcefulness in the face of limited resources. Or as it is often said in the hip-hop community: flipping something outta nothing. In the context of a dismal national economy and an education system that abandons millions, particularly Black and Latino students and students from low- and no-income families, this concept holds much-needed solutions
The term Hip Hop Genius was coined in 2005, when Isaac Ewell brought together a group of educators who were all hip-hop lovers concerned about the national dropout epidemic. Ewell had recently been hired as the director of the Black Alliance for Educational Options Small Schools Initiative
In his work to support the formation of a network of secondary schools that provide high-quality choices for Black students, Ewell had learned about a school in St. Paul, Minnesota, with an unusual model that was yielding promising results: the High School for Recording Arts (HSRA). Ewell was inspired by his first experiences at the school and invited several of us to join him on a subsequent trip
“In HSRA I saw a school that could reach and retain the young people that few other schools wanted or knew how to serve,” Ewell reflects on his first visit. Over the last six years, through his work with the Black Alliance for Educational Options, Ewell has stewarded grants to schools that provide highly structured programs for kids from the ’hood, such as the Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, where all students wear uniforms and study Latin, and many participate in extracurricular activities such as choir and a rowing team
Boys’ Latin has shown most every kind of success that can be demonstrated by a new school. But, while thrilled with the school’s accomplishments, Ewell acknowledges that these environments are not the best match for every student. “There’s no one-size-fits-all solution,” Ewell explains, adding that he believes he would have thrived at a school like HSRA
“If we are serious about all kids succeeding, we really need a menu of options. Think about the cats who are really really struggling,” Ewell pushes, “who maybe don’t have anyone at home helping them get that tie on and out the door each morning? Who are having trouble figuring out how to be true to themselves and their community and at the same time be a successful and beneficial member of society?”
The young people Ewell is concerned about serving are not an anomaly in this country. Nationally, 1.23 million high school students are projected to leave school without a diploma this year.i Some are expelled, some more subtly encouraged to disappear, and some depart to pursue jobs, take care of children, or because school has been a painful place. These numbers are far worse for Black, Latino, and Native American students; those whose families are poor; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young people; males; and those in urban schools.ii
Although Time magazine hadn’t yet declared on its cover that we were living in a “dropout nation,” the group Ewell assembled at HSRA in 2005 already knew that our country was in a moment of crisis. He asked the six of us to consider the implications of HSRA’s design in addressing the national education opportunity gap, especially as it affected young Black men
Students led us on a tour of the school, showing us the physical design and explaining how the institution functioned. At the end of the tour, one of the students, Devon Johnson, handed out business cards for his music production company and played us a few beats he had made. Impressed by the quality of Johnson’s production and engineering, and always on the lookout for hot beats, I asked him if I could buy one of the instrumentals
“No,” he replied. “But we could make an arrangement whereby I’d license it to you for specific uses,” he quickly added, explaining why he refused to sell his beats and pulling a two-page licensing contract from his folder. The group was blown away by Johnson’s business savvy and how seamlessly it seemed to be integrated with his musical prowess
Our hosts, HSRA’s founder David “TC” Ellis and director of development Tony Simmons, described the school’s origins and program design and shared stories of successes and challenges they had faced over the years. Fanon Wilkins, a professor of African American history and culture, probed the philosophical underpinnings of the school’s approach and drew connections to Black arts and social movements
Having directed a community-based youth program that was an incubator for young hip-hop artists and leaders, I recognized and highlighted the possibilities that occur when students are engaged not as consumers but as creators. Drawing on his experiences launching after-school tutoring companies, education entrepreneur Jason Green sparked a discussion of the scalability of the school’s programs. Collectively we reflected on the global achievements of hip-hop culture and the devastating irony that the very demographics of young people who created it were being left behind
Each of us had experience bringing hip-hop music and culture into our work as educators and was familiar with hip-hop-related educational approaches being implemented in various schools and programs around the country. We agreed that most of what we had done and seen was too literal and too literary. That is to say, hip-hop education had largely been viewed as classroom lessons focused on the texts of rap music
While we had experienced and witnessed successes doing such work, we recognized its limitations: it often kept teachers in a position of authority—a peculiar position when studying something of which students often have more knowledge than their instructors; it generally occurred within traditional institutions that many young people found alienating; it privileged rap music over all other manifestations of hip-hop culture; and it often kept students in the position of consumers rather than creators of cultural products
We also acknowledged that while we all identified hip-hop as a guiding cultural force in our lives, current students might choose to identify differently. For all of these reasons, we found ourselves drawn not just to the recording studios and overt study of hip-hop occurring at HSRA but to the more metaphorical manners in which the school embodied what we perceived to be hip-hop’s essence
In his essay “Dezyne Klass: Exploring Image-Making through the Visual Culture of Hip Hop,” John Jennings, a friend of Fanon Wilkins and an associate professor of graphic design at the University of Illinois, shares his definition of hip-hop aesthetics. He suggests that due to the stark societal situations from which hip-hop emerged, it was a culture “forged in improvisation, pain, and a hope for better things.”iii Therefore, “Hip hop was about taking nothing and making something. Its creators used what was present in their postmodern and seemingly dystopian environment and created a phenomenon.”iv
Chicagoan emcee Lupe Fiasco perfectly captures this sentiment in one line of a rap song: “I back-flipped on the mattress they slept on me on.”v Here is a young man who feels unnoticed, who has been “slept on” by those who should have recognized his talent. Instead of shuffling off quietly, he takes an object that represents the public’s doubt in him and literally flips on it, committing an act of physical agility, a staple of breakdancing always sure to wow a crowd.vi
In the 1970s, Lupe Fiasco’s hip-hop predecessors in the predominantly Black and Latino community of the South Bronx saw jobs disappear en masse as the area suffered from wounds inflicted by New York City’s government, which had sliced through the borough to insert a highway for suburban commuters. From underfunded schools and social services to the destruction of buildings, parks, and streets for the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, New York City’s government was, at best, neglecting and, at worst, deliberately destroying the neighborhood. Robert Caro—who wrote an exhaustive biography of Robert Moses, the urban planner responsible for the expressway—posits that Moses had a history of racist actions and intentionally sent the road through the South Bronx to damage the community, when there was a more direct route just below the neighborhood.vii
In Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, Jeff Chang breaks down the math on the exodus of jobs from the South Bronx around this time and concludes: “If blues culture had developed under the conditions of oppressive, forced labor, hip-hop culture would arise from the conditions of no work.”viii It was not a coincidence that, in the face of such racially charged economic challenges and alienation from the city’s power structure, young people found the inspiration and ambition to splice wires into streetlamps, tapping the municipal grid to siphon electricity for community celebrations. Or that, in an exercise of similar bravado, young people in the same circumstances took preexisting recordings—some famous and some obscure—and manipulated them to make new music
Artists in all genres have played and modified others’ compositions; but it’s another, bolder thing to chop them up and distort them by literally pulling the record backwards on a turntable to make a totally different sound. In each of these instances, there’s a technical innovation (converting the voltage of a streetlight to the voltage needed for speakers or wiring turntables to fade sound back and forth), but the technical know-how is only useful if you have the imagination, desire, and confidence to do something that’s never been done
As innovations emerge, societal systems respond to repress and co-opt actions that threaten the status quo. But resourceful creativity continues. Graffiti artists engaged in “reverse colonization,” sneaking into train yards and re-appropriating subway cars as mobile canvases.ix They did not need representation from galleries to have their artwork seen. They painted trains and instantly had audiences all over the city. When the transit authority figured out how to clean paint and marker ink off of trains, artists sought new way to emboss their names and images. A bit of sandpaper only costs a few cents, but when scraped across glass or metal it transforms into a drawing implement that cannot be erased the way spray paint can
At times, innovations in hip-hop culture have been sparked by tensions with laws and law enforcement. Alongside technical ability and creativity, a disregard for rules—whether on political grounds, out of necessity, out of a sense of rebellion, or out of a sense of exceptionalism—can be seen as an essential ingredient of hip-hop innovation. In some instances this has meant hip-hop heads engaging in acts that are considered illegal. Operating outside the law has come at a cost to some artists, as well as to some of those who follow in their footsteps, and others in their communities
While scratch tags are an example of an illegal innovation, hip-hop artists often come up with creative solutions to regulation and repression that do not involve breaking any laws. Hip-hop DJs and producers began by using available resources, such as old records, in inventive ways to create a new style of music. But when the legal system came down on them for using pieces of other artists’ music, producers responded by sampling shorter clips and distorting them, hunting down records that were not copyrighted, and using more sounds and instrumentation that they created on their own
Whether it is metaphorical dances between artists and the legal system or the literal dances of b-boys and b-girls who lay discarded cardboard on the sidewalk to create dance floors, these types of invention do not occur in spite of restrictive circumstances, they occur because of them.x
“Can you teach people to be more creative?” someone once asked the philosopher Nelson Goodman. “Yes,” he answered. When asked how, he replied, “Give them harder problems.” Faced with racism, classism, ageism, and other forms of structural subjugation, many young people have developed the courage to break rules, the audacity to believe they can do things that have never been done, and the creativity to imagine how. This is hip-hop
Hip-hop’s music, culture, and creative resourcefulness originated in low-income, urban, predominantly Black and Latino communities in the United States. While its roots extend around the world, particularly throughout the African diaspora, the sensibility, style, and spirit of hip-hop culture could only have brewed on this country’s concrete.xi
And yet hip-hop was never exclusively an urban thing, a low-income thing, a Black thing, or a United States thing. Since its inception, hip-hop has touched and been touched by people from broader communities. In a matter of years, what started as a splash rippling through neighborhoods of New York City grew into tsunami-size waves rushing over continents, flowing into the biggest venues and markets in the world, and lapping up against individuals’ psyches and souls
Hip-hop is not the first cultural movement to emerge out of oppressive social conditions in the United States and rise to international popularity. Nor is it the first to combine music, dance, visual arts, and an overall aesthetic. The blues, jazz, early R&B, and funk all preceded hip-hop as art forms that emanated out of African American communities enduring the particular blend of racism and economic inequalities endemic to this country’s history. Each of these musical genres was accompanied by specific styles of dance, dress, and speech—a culture. Pulling energy and influence from all of these predecessors, hip-hop has become a lasting means of understanding, existing in, and shaping the surrounding world
A clear manifestation of this is the way in which rappers and hip-hop producers have taken their ability to lyrically and musically flip things into the business arena. Musicians from other genres have used their creativity to go from situations of extremely limited resources to tremendous wealth, but generally their creativity has been their product. They have sold their songs through preexisting systems of commerce, with businessmen—who were often white—reaping the lion’s share of the profits
In some instances, these musicians have also promoted other products, but they generally appeared as hired spokespeople, not business owners. Hip-hop artists have not just created a new kind of music; they have integrated how music is made and linked with other commodities, and altered systems of ownership and distribution in ways not previously considered possible by artists of any race
Like all art forms that achieve popularity in this capitalist economy, hip-hop music has been co-opted and commodified by wealthy white outsiders to the culture. However, unlike any antecedents, hip-hop artists have refused to limit their creativity and swagger to their cultural products. By starting and cross-promoting their own record labels, media companies, clothing brands, lines of fragrances, and beverage companies, hip-hop stars have seamlessly enmeshed a fresh approach to the art of business into the business of art
Hip-hop was forged in resistance to oppression, but hip-hop artists have demonstrated that the culture is no longer synonymous with struggle. Goodman may be right that “harder problems” breed creativity, but hip-hop’s financial success has shown that such problems do not need to have life-or-death consequences for those involved; they can be theoretical, conceptual, strategic
“Does the edge exist because you’re poor, or does the edge exist because you’re willing to challenge your reality in ways others may not?” asks hip-hop artist and activist Rha Goddess.xii She cautions against falling into a paradigm in which struggling and starving are romanticized as prerequisites for creativity. The racism, classism, and ageism that inspired the birth of hip-hop still exist and continue to instigate innovations, but hip-hop cannot and should not be defined by desperation
Ten years ago, if you asked a class full of fourteen-year-olds what they wanted to be when they grew up, a handful would have responded, “a rapper.” Ask the question of current ninth-graders and several of those students will respond, “rapper-entrepreneurs.” This melding of hip-hop art, identity, and industry led a man who grew up in the housing projects of Marcy to have clothing products at Macy’s. Flipping his skills as an emcee to build his own entertainment/lifestyle conglomerate, Brooklyn-born Jay-Z returned to the mic in 2005, a year after becoming president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, to spell it out for anyone who didn’t understand: “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, maaan!”xiii
Although the multibillion-dollar industries that hip-hop has spawned are some of the most visible manifestations of the power and potential of hip-hop, the spirit of hip-hop is not at all limited to the realm of business. Hip-hop does not just concern itself with the content of music, culture, and commerce; its infectious mind-set and irreverent swagger rush into all aspects of society—from graphic design to community organizing to culinary arts. Hip-hop may have begun as a result of young people with limited resources figuring out how to find a power source so they could throw a party, but the same sensibilities have led to building the power of political parties
Some hip-hop icons have built organizations and movements directed toward electoral engagement. Russell Simmons founded and serves as chair of the board of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, a nonprofit organization that does a variety of community engagement and youth development work, including voter education and registration. Leading up to the 2004 elections, Sean “Diddy” Combs founded Citizen Change, a political service group that enlisted celebrities such as Mary J. Blige, Leonardo DiCaprio, and 50 Cent to encourage voting among the hip-hop generation. It’s difficult to determine the precise effect of Diddy’s “Vote or Die!” campaign, but 2004 saw the largest turnout of young voters in over thirty years.xiv
Jim Jones, Capone-N-Noreaga, the Beastie Boys, and many other hip-hop celebrities joined Simmons and Diddy to speak out against New York’s Rockefeller drug laws. By drawing tens of thousands of people to rallies and releasing viral online videos, these artists brought much-needed public attention to the organizing efforts that drug policy reform and prison reform activists had been engaged in for decades against the mandatory sentencing laws. In 2009, after thirty-six years, the Rockefeller drug laws were overhauled to remove their most draconian elements
Other groups like the Hip Hop Caucus and the League of Young Voters bring innovative organizing tactics to work with the hip-hop generation. Over the past six years, the Hip Hop Caucus has blended hip-hop culture, media, and grassroots organizing to build a 700,000-person membership base and launch national campaigns from “Green the Block” to the “Respect My Vote!” national bus tour.xv
The League of Young Voters—which was initiated with the name “League of Hip Hop Voters”—has created a year-round, multipronged approach to voter organizing and education.xvi League chapters across the country register voters, put out voter guides to provide young voters with accessible information on all the candidates, and work to keep pressure on politicians once they are elected
Hip-hop heads infuse the culture and sensibilities into their lives and work, no matter what they do. As a chef, author, and food-justice activist, Bryant Terry merges politics, culinary arts, and hip-hop. The section titles of his cookbook, Vegan Soul Kitchen, make reference to Kanye West, Outkast, and Method Man lyrics and each recipe is accompanied by a soundtrack. Leading up to the release of the book, Bryant borrowed a move from contemporary emcees. Like rappers releasing mixtapes to build hype for coming albums, Terry released free recipes over the Internet
His publisher was concerned he was saturating the market with his material and that potential customers might not feel the need to buy the book when it came out. Terry, who had recently seen Lil Wayne’s album The Carter III debut at number one on the charts after Wayne had flooded the streets and Internet with mixtapes, held his ground and his book is now the top-selling soul food cookbook and within the top twenty vegan cookbooks on the popular online book retailer Amazon.com.xvii
The above examples involve bringing fresh approaches to entrenched arenas. Multiple definitions of the word “fresh” apply here—fresh in the conventional sense of the word, meaning newly made or obtained, but also hip-hop fresh, which fits somewhere between “dope” and “hot” in the long list of words that hip-hop heads use to describe something favorably. And, of course, in Bryant Terry’s instance, fresh has a third meaning, referring to the ingredients with which he is encouraging people to cook! What is most significant though, what makes each of these endeavors hip-hop beyond overt references to the culture, is the way in which their architects have pioneered new approaches to old fields
To some, then, “Hip Hop Genius”—the phrase that Ewell, Ellis, Simmons, Green, Wilkins, and I came up with during our 2005 meeting to describe the creative resourcefulness intrinsic to hip-hop—may sound redundant.xviii If the term “hip-hop” in and of itself implies such brilliance, why even add the word “genius”?
The English word “genius” was derived from the Latin root “gignere,” meaning “to produce.” It also had early ties to the Arabic word “jinn,” which was used to describe individual spirits with supernatural powers. Prior to the late eighteenth century, genius was used to describe the magical force of an individual or a nation. In the decades leading up to the nineteenth century, European scholars began shifting the meaning of the word, using it to convey “the godlike power of invention, of creation, of making what never was before,” which they used to describe the brilliant works of artists such as Homer and Michelangelo.xix
Explaining why physicist Richard Feynman was considered the genius of his generation, biographer James Gleick concludes, “Those who tried to take Feynman’s measure always came back to originality. . . . The generation coming up behind him, with the advantage of hindsight, still found nothing predictable in the paths of his thinking. He seemed perversely and dangerously bent on disregarding standard methods.”xx
This explanation suggests that anything dubbed genius must be innovative not only in its results but also in its approach. It implies that a paradigm shift has occurred; someone has flipped or altered a deep-seated understanding of how things work
More recently, in introducing Black Genius: African American Solutions to African American Problems, one of the volume’s editors, Walter Mosley, returns to the early notion of genius as something that characterizes a populace. “We understand genius to be that quality which crystallizes the hopes and talents and character of a people,” Mosley writes. “This kind of genius is something we all share. It is a presence where absence once reigned. It is the possibility for a people to look into their hearts and to see a life worth living.”xxi
From supernatural abilities to collective solutions, from disregarding standard methods to the power of invention, the word genius carries multiple connotations. All of these meanings are relevant to the concept of Hip Hop Genius
Given that people have diverse, expansive, and conflicting perspectives of hip-hop, the addition of the word genius focuses attention on its majestic, creative, resourceful spirit. For people who view hip-hop as nothing more than a celebration of violence, sexism, homophobia, curse words, and a flagrant disregard for grammatical rules, just looking at these two phrases in conjunction with one another is a healthy exercise. Hip Hop . . . Genius . . . Hip Hop. Genius. HipHopGenius
Young people who feel connected to hip-hop culture and are being slept on by society can benefit from considering the phrase Hip Hop Genius. The greater the potential for their culture and actions to be accorded respect, the more self-confidence and hope can flourish
Researchers have found that when students of color are asked to indicate their race at the beginning of a standardized test, on average they receive lower scores than control groups who are given the same test without being asked to identify their race. Social psychologists believe this stems out of a fear that their race is or may be perceived to be a disadvantage; they refer to this phenomenon as “stereotype threat.”xxii In direct contrast then, the concept of Hip Hop Genius has the potential to create stereotype promise.
Given that hip-hop is commonly associated with young people of color in urban environments, and given that this population has been perpetually portrayed by media outlets as “superpredators,”xxiii the concept of Hip Hop Genius serves to challenge the typecasting of boys and girls in the ’hood.xxiv By subverting the preconceptions of people who view inner-city children of color as criminals and charity cases, the possibility of those people acting as allies across race and class lines increases
For those interested in dismantling systems of oppression and building a more just society, Hip Hop Genius is an essential ingredient. As Brazilian educator Paolo Freire writes, “The oppressed can overcome the contradiction in which they are caught only when this perception enlists them in the struggle to free themselves.”xxv The more intentional everyone is in honoring and cultivating young peoples’ creativity and sense of empowerment, the more profound the changes young people will be able to enact both to their personal circumstances and to biased social structures
Hip Hop Genius holds the potential to play an important role in seeking solutions to global challenges. Our planet, as a whole, is facing a variety of situations defined by limited resources—most notably, the impending global energy crisis
Wealthy people, companies, and countries all possess money and access to state-of-the-art equipment, but they have not necessarily cultivated the sensibilities needed to be resourceful. Identifying and honoring a form of genius that is sometimes noticed, but commonly ignored, trivialized, co-opted, and commodified, lends this raw brilliance the traction, recognition, and respect needed for it to spread like Wild Style.xxvi
Discovery, development, and original thought are at the core of Hip Hop Genius. This focus on artistic, intellectual, and technical innovation makes education a natural starting point when considering how to foster and support this brand of brilliance. Learning and teaching are fundamental to the well-being and growth of young people and our society, yet our education system abysmally fails so many
As the statistics and stories in chapter 4 of this book demonstrate, this failure has been most egregious when it comes to the exact demographic of young people who have been at the forefront of hip-hop’s creation and evolution. This is a powerful indication of the impact that the Hip Hop Genius meme could have on the education system
Much of hip-hop education thus far has been thought about within the context of classrooms in fairly conventional schools and out-of-school programs. Most often hip-hop is seen as a set of materials and skills that can replace the content of previous lesson plans. Instead of studying the novels of Joseph Conrad, classes study the lyrics of Joe Budden; instead of learning to write sonnets and haikus, they learn to write sixteens and hooks
Embodying Hip Hop Genius in an educational setting is deeper and more complex than bringing a rap song into an English class, painting a graffiti mural in a hallway, or inviting a breakdance troupe to a school assembly. It involves rethinking the very ways in which learning occurs. This is what the phrase “hip-hop pedagogy” should mean: an approach to teaching and learning that is specific to hip-hop
But while “hip-hop pedagogy” has become an increasingly popular term in the last few years, little has been written about what might constitute the unique qualities of a hip-hop style of teaching and learning. The number of school principals who are members of the hip-hop generation is rapidly increasing, yet there has been little public dialogue about hip-hop leadership traits or the possibilities of hip-hop schools
In many large cities, fewer than half of the Black males who enter ninth grade graduate four years later. How might things change for these young men and others if schools could truly personify the spirit of Hip Hop Genius, breaking with conventions to provide something fresh, functional, and fly? What would it look like to transform the education industrial complex in the same kinds of ways that hip-hoppers have freaked the music industry?
This book exists to bust open these conversations
Chapter 1 introduces an innovative school, the High School for Recording Arts. Throughout its twelve years of operation in St. Paul, Minnesota, the school has avoided the limitations of traditional educational practices by blending elements of a variety of alternative educational techniques with original flavor. Through inventive and sometimes unusual approaches, the school has found unique ways to honor the brilliance of young people who have been ignored, shunned, and feared by the institutions charged with educating them. By giving readers a tour through the halls of the school and a description of the pedagogy, curriculum, and philosophy employed by the school, this chapter suggests a set of creative and promising educational practices that could be reproduced and remixed in other schools or used as inspiration for innovation in other sectors
Because HSRA is so different from traditional schools, it can be hard to picture how the pedagogy, curriculum, and philosophy play out on a day-to-day basis. Chapter 2 follows a student through one full school day, demonstrating how the ideas described in the previous chapter manifest in the daily reality of a school community. Though it is only a description of one day of one student’s experience, this chapter tethers theory to practice and provides a snapshot of how the school’s philosophies, values, and methodologies affect individual students
To understand HSRA, you have to understand how it came to exist. Chapter 3 shares stories of the school’s creation and evolution by offering an intimate introduction to its founder, David “TC” Ellis. Tying stories from TC’s childhood and his experiences recording with superstars such as Prince and George Clinton to challenges he has faced running the school, chapter 3 teases out unconventional yet essential qualities of TC’s leadership style. From repurposing gangsta rappers’ recording equipment to working with gang leaders to help squash beefs at the school, TC’s trajectory holds tangible examples of the bold, unorthodox actions that exemplify Hip Hop Genius. Without proposing that anyone should or could follow directly in TC’s footsteps, these stories can provoke readers, both in and outside the field of education, to reconsider what is possible and to hustle hard
Describing problems that plague public education in this country, chapter 4 contextualizes the struggles and successes of HSRA’s students and the school itself. By presenting obstacles that HSRA has encountered in the past few years, this chapter introduces common challenges that inevitably have an impact on educators attempting to create schools that effectively serve low- and no-income students of color
Such challenges can be especially harsh for educators who incorporate hip-hop into their practice. Yet the field of hip-hop education is growing. Chapter 5 surveys the current hip-hop education landscape, identifying how HSRA fits into several trends in the field and proposing Hip Hop Genius as a new iteration of hip-hop education that is more radical in its approach and better positioned to fully honor the creativity and ingenuity of urban young people
Chapter 6 suggests specific strategic possibilities for spreading the school’s work and the ethos of Hip Hop Genius. From replicating the school’s design in new sites to turning the program in Minnesota into an open source laboratory for other educators and hip-hop heads to visit and learn from, this chapter explores how HSRA can be most effective in influencing ideas and infusing inspiration into the hip-hop and education communities
There is so much potential for beauty and creation, and yet violence and destruction dominate headlines and minds. Children—full of energy and ideas—are neglected, punished because of how much melanin they have in their skin and how little money they have in their pockets. Personal greed, contempt, and contentment too often triumph over asking hard questions, striving for equality, and making meaningful change
Society has been sleeping for too long. It’s time to back-flip on that mattress
Notes
I. Christopher B. Swanson and Amy M. Hightower, “Diplomas Count 2008: School to College” PowerPoint slide 4, http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/dc/2008/DC08_Presentation_FINAL.pdf (accessed December 16, 2010)
Ii. Further statistics on the demographics of students who are not graduating from high school are provided in chapter 4
Iii. John Jennings, “Dezyne Klass: Exploring Image-Making through the Visual Culture of Hip Hop,” in Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design, ed. Audrey Bennett. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), 241
Iv. Jennings, “Dezyne Klass,” 242
V. Wasalu Muhammad Jaco aka Lupe Fiasco, “Just Might Be Okay,” Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, 1st and 15th/Atlantic, 2005, compact disc
Vi. I have chosen to use the term “breakdancing” rather than “b-boying,” which is considered by many the more authentic term for hip-hop dance. This decision was made because the inclusion of the word “dance” clarifies what I am referring to and because it does not carry the same gender privileging that “b-boying” implies
Vii. Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (New York: Knopf, 1974)
Viii. Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: Picador, 2005), 13
Ix. Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 118
X. B-boys and b-girls are hip-hop dancers
Xi. For a more comprehensive explanation of hip-hop as Black American music, see Imani Perry, Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2004)
Xii. Rha Goddess, “Scarcity and Exploitation: The Myth and Reality of the Struggling Hip-Hop Artist,” in Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop, ed. Jeff Chang (New York: Basic Civitas, 2006), 346
Xiii. Shawn C. Carter aka Jay-Z, “Diamonds from Sierra Leone Remix,” on Late Registration, by Kanye West, Roc-A-Fella/Island Def Jam, 2005, compact disc
Xiv. Jose Antonio Vargas, “Vote or Die? Well, They Did Vote,” Washington Post, November 9, 2004, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35290–2004Nov8.html (accessed June 12, 2010)
Xv. For more information about the Hip Hop Caucus, see http://www.hiphopcaucus.org/ (accessed December 16, 2010)
Xvi. The League of Young Voters has also been known as the League of Pissed-Off Voters. For more information, see http://www.theleague.com (accessed December 16, 2010)
Xvii. Amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Soul-Kitchen-Bryant-Terry/dp/0738212288 (accessed June 18, 2010)
Xviii. The term “hip-hop” can be spelled several different ways, with and without hyphen or space and with varying capitalization. Throughout this book it will be spelled, “hip-hop” with the exception of when it appears in direct quotes, titles, and in the phrase “Hip Hop Genius.”
Xix. James Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (New York: Pantheon Books, 1992), 313
Xx. Gleick, Genius, 323
Xxi. Walter Mosley, introduction, Black Genius: African American Solutions to African American Problems, ed. Walter Mosley et al. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1999), 12
Xxii. Claude M. Steele and Joshua Aronson, “Stereotype Threat and the Test Performance of Academically Successful African Americans,” in The Black-White Test Score Gap, ed. Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1998), 401
Xxiii. Elaine Brown, The Condemnation of Little B (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002), 108–11
This refers to the title of Charlie Ahearn’s 1983 film depicting early hip-hop legends engaging in hip-hop arts. It is considered by many to be the first hip-hop motion picture
Xxiv. This refers to the title of John Singleton’s 1991 film portraying urban youth in south central Los Angeles
Xxv. Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Herder and Herder, 1971), 34
These images exemplify Hip Hop Genius—creative resourcefulness in the face of limited resources. Or as it is often said in the hip-hop community: flipping something outta nothing. In the context of a dismal national economy and an education system that abandons millions, particularly Black and Latino students and students from low- and no-income families, this concept holds much-needed solutions
The term Hip Hop Genius was coined in 2005, when Isaac Ewell brought together a group of educators who were all hip-hop lovers concerned about the national dropout epidemic. Ewell had recently been hired as the director of the Black Alliance for Educational Options Small Schools Initiative
In his work to support the formation of a network of secondary schools that provide high-quality choices for Black students, Ewell had learned about a school in St. Paul, Minnesota, with an unusual model that was yielding promising results: the High School for Recording Arts (HSRA). Ewell was inspired by his first experiences at the school and invited several of us to join him on a subsequent trip
“In HSRA I saw a school that could reach and retain the young people that few other schools wanted or knew how to serve,” Ewell reflects on his first visit. Over the last six years, through his work with the Black Alliance for Educational Options, Ewell has stewarded grants to schools that provide highly structured programs for kids from the ’hood, such as the Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, where all students wear uniforms and study Latin, and many participate in extracurricular activities such as choir and a rowing team
Boys’ Latin has shown most every kind of success that can be demonstrated by a new school. But, while thrilled with the school’s accomplishments, Ewell acknowledges that these environments are not the best match for every student. “There’s no one-size-fits-all solution,” Ewell explains, adding that he believes he would have thrived at a school like HSRA
“If we are serious about all kids succeeding, we really need a menu of options. Think about the cats who are really really struggling,” Ewell pushes, “who maybe don’t have anyone at home helping them get that tie on and out the door each morning? Who are having trouble figuring out how to be true to themselves and their community and at the same time be a successful and beneficial member of society?”
The young people Ewell is concerned about serving are not an anomaly in this country. Nationally, 1.23 million high school students are projected to leave school without a diploma this year.i Some are expelled, some more subtly encouraged to disappear, and some depart to pursue jobs, take care of children, or because school has been a painful place. These numbers are far worse for Black, Latino, and Native American students; those whose families are poor; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young people; males; and those in urban schools.ii
Although Time magazine hadn’t yet declared on its cover that we were living in a “dropout nation,” the group Ewell assembled at HSRA in 2005 already knew that our country was in a moment of crisis. He asked the six of us to consider the implications of HSRA’s design in addressing the national education opportunity gap, especially as it affected young Black men
Students led us on a tour of the school, showing us the physical design and explaining how the institution functioned. At the end of the tour, one of the students, Devon Johnson, handed out business cards for his music production company and played us a few beats he had made. Impressed by the quality of Johnson’s production and engineering, and always on the lookout for hot beats, I asked him if I could buy one of the instrumentals
“No,” he replied. “But we could make an arrangement whereby I’d license it to you for specific uses,” he quickly added, explaining why he refused to sell his beats and pulling a two-page licensing contract from his folder. The group was blown away by Johnson’s business savvy and how seamlessly it seemed to be integrated with his musical prowess
Our hosts, HSRA’s founder David “TC” Ellis and director of development Tony Simmons, described the school’s origins and program design and shared stories of successes and challenges they had faced over the years. Fanon Wilkins, a professor of African American history and culture, probed the philosophical underpinnings of the school’s approach and drew connections to Black arts and social movements
Having directed a community-based youth program that was an incubator for young hip-hop artists and leaders, I recognized and highlighted the possibilities that occur when students are engaged not as consumers but as creators. Drawing on his experiences launching after-school tutoring companies, education entrepreneur Jason Green sparked a discussion of the scalability of the school’s programs. Collectively we reflected on the global achievements of hip-hop culture and the devastating irony that the very demographics of young people who created it were being left behind
Each of us had experience bringing hip-hop music and culture into our work as educators and was familiar with hip-hop-related educational approaches being implemented in various schools and programs around the country. We agreed that most of what we had done and seen was too literal and too literary. That is to say, hip-hop education had largely been viewed as classroom lessons focused on the texts of rap music
While we had experienced and witnessed successes doing such work, we recognized its limitations: it often kept teachers in a position of authority—a peculiar position when studying something of which students often have more knowledge than their instructors; it generally occurred within traditional institutions that many young people found alienating; it privileged rap music over all other manifestations of hip-hop culture; and it often kept students in the position of consumers rather than creators of cultural products
We also acknowledged that while we all identified hip-hop as a guiding cultural force in our lives, current students might choose to identify differently. For all of these reasons, we found ourselves drawn not just to the recording studios and overt study of hip-hop occurring at HSRA but to the more metaphorical manners in which the school embodied what we perceived to be hip-hop’s essence
In his essay “Dezyne Klass: Exploring Image-Making through the Visual Culture of Hip Hop,” John Jennings, a friend of Fanon Wilkins and an associate professor of graphic design at the University of Illinois, shares his definition of hip-hop aesthetics. He suggests that due to the stark societal situations from which hip-hop emerged, it was a culture “forged in improvisation, pain, and a hope for better things.”iii Therefore, “Hip hop was about taking nothing and making something. Its creators used what was present in their postmodern and seemingly dystopian environment and created a phenomenon.”iv
Chicagoan emcee Lupe Fiasco perfectly captures this sentiment in one line of a rap song: “I back-flipped on the mattress they slept on me on.”v Here is a young man who feels unnoticed, who has been “slept on” by those who should have recognized his talent. Instead of shuffling off quietly, he takes an object that represents the public’s doubt in him and literally flips on it, committing an act of physical agility, a staple of breakdancing always sure to wow a crowd.vi
In the 1970s, Lupe Fiasco’s hip-hop predecessors in the predominantly Black and Latino community of the South Bronx saw jobs disappear en masse as the area suffered from wounds inflicted by New York City’s government, which had sliced through the borough to insert a highway for suburban commuters. From underfunded schools and social services to the destruction of buildings, parks, and streets for the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, New York City’s government was, at best, neglecting and, at worst, deliberately destroying the neighborhood. Robert Caro—who wrote an exhaustive biography of Robert Moses, the urban planner responsible for the expressway—posits that Moses had a history of racist actions and intentionally sent the road through the South Bronx to damage the community, when there was a more direct route just below the neighborhood.vii
In Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, Jeff Chang breaks down the math on the exodus of jobs from the South Bronx around this time and concludes: “If blues culture had developed under the conditions of oppressive, forced labor, hip-hop culture would arise from the conditions of no work.”viii It was not a coincidence that, in the face of such racially charged economic challenges and alienation from the city’s power structure, young people found the inspiration and ambition to splice wires into streetlamps, tapping the municipal grid to siphon electricity for community celebrations. Or that, in an exercise of similar bravado, young people in the same circumstances took preexisting recordings—some famous and some obscure—and manipulated them to make new music
Artists in all genres have played and modified others’ compositions; but it’s another, bolder thing to chop them up and distort them by literally pulling the record backwards on a turntable to make a totally different sound. In each of these instances, there’s a technical innovation (converting the voltage of a streetlight to the voltage needed for speakers or wiring turntables to fade sound back and forth), but the technical know-how is only useful if you have the imagination, desire, and confidence to do something that’s never been done
As innovations emerge, societal systems respond to repress and co-opt actions that threaten the status quo. But resourceful creativity continues. Graffiti artists engaged in “reverse colonization,” sneaking into train yards and re-appropriating subway cars as mobile canvases.ix They did not need representation from galleries to have their artwork seen. They painted trains and instantly had audiences all over the city. When the transit authority figured out how to clean paint and marker ink off of trains, artists sought new way to emboss their names and images. A bit of sandpaper only costs a few cents, but when scraped across glass or metal it transforms into a drawing implement that cannot be erased the way spray paint can
At times, innovations in hip-hop culture have been sparked by tensions with laws and law enforcement. Alongside technical ability and creativity, a disregard for rules—whether on political grounds, out of necessity, out of a sense of rebellion, or out of a sense of exceptionalism—can be seen as an essential ingredient of hip-hop innovation. In some instances this has meant hip-hop heads engaging in acts that are considered illegal. Operating outside the law has come at a cost to some artists, as well as to some of those who follow in their footsteps, and others in their communities
While scratch tags are an example of an illegal innovation, hip-hop artists often come up with creative solutions to regulation and repression that do not involve breaking any laws. Hip-hop DJs and producers began by using available resources, such as old records, in inventive ways to create a new style of music. But when the legal system came down on them for using pieces of other artists’ music, producers responded by sampling shorter clips and distorting them, hunting down records that were not copyrighted, and using more sounds and instrumentation that they created on their own
Whether it is metaphorical dances between artists and the legal system or the literal dances of b-boys and b-girls who lay discarded cardboard on the sidewalk to create dance floors, these types of invention do not occur in spite of restrictive circumstances, they occur because of them.x
“Can you teach people to be more creative?” someone once asked the philosopher Nelson Goodman. “Yes,” he answered. When asked how, he replied, “Give them harder problems.” Faced with racism, classism, ageism, and other forms of structural subjugation, many young people have developed the courage to break rules, the audacity to believe they can do things that have never been done, and the creativity to imagine how. This is hip-hop
Hip-hop’s music, culture, and creative resourcefulness originated in low-income, urban, predominantly Black and Latino communities in the United States. While its roots extend around the world, particularly throughout the African diaspora, the sensibility, style, and spirit of hip-hop culture could only have brewed on this country’s concrete.xi
And yet hip-hop was never exclusively an urban thing, a low-income thing, a Black thing, or a United States thing. Since its inception, hip-hop has touched and been touched by people from broader communities. In a matter of years, what started as a splash rippling through neighborhoods of New York City grew into tsunami-size waves rushing over continents, flowing into the biggest venues and markets in the world, and lapping up against individuals’ psyches and souls
Hip-hop is not the first cultural movement to emerge out of oppressive social conditions in the United States and rise to international popularity. Nor is it the first to combine music, dance, visual arts, and an overall aesthetic. The blues, jazz, early R&B, and funk all preceded hip-hop as art forms that emanated out of African American communities enduring the particular blend of racism and economic inequalities endemic to this country’s history. Each of these musical genres was accompanied by specific styles of dance, dress, and speech—a culture. Pulling energy and influence from all of these predecessors, hip-hop has become a lasting means of understanding, existing in, and shaping the surrounding world
A clear manifestation of this is the way in which rappers and hip-hop producers have taken their ability to lyrically and musically flip things into the business arena. Musicians from other genres have used their creativity to go from situations of extremely limited resources to tremendous wealth, but generally their creativity has been their product. They have sold their songs through preexisting systems of commerce, with businessmen—who were often white—reaping the lion’s share of the profits
In some instances, these musicians have also promoted other products, but they generally appeared as hired spokespeople, not business owners. Hip-hop artists have not just created a new kind of music; they have integrated how music is made and linked with other commodities, and altered systems of ownership and distribution in ways not previously considered possible by artists of any race
Like all art forms that achieve popularity in this capitalist economy, hip-hop music has been co-opted and commodified by wealthy white outsiders to the culture. However, unlike any antecedents, hip-hop artists have refused to limit their creativity and swagger to their cultural products. By starting and cross-promoting their own record labels, media companies, clothing brands, lines of fragrances, and beverage companies, hip-hop stars have seamlessly enmeshed a fresh approach to the art of business into the business of art
Hip-hop was forged in resistance to oppression, but hip-hop artists have demonstrated that the culture is no longer synonymous with struggle. Goodman may be right that “harder problems” breed creativity, but hip-hop’s financial success has shown that such problems do not need to have life-or-death consequences for those involved; they can be theoretical, conceptual, strategic
“Does the edge exist because you’re poor, or does the edge exist because you’re willing to challenge your reality in ways others may not?” asks hip-hop artist and activist Rha Goddess.xii She cautions against falling into a paradigm in which struggling and starving are romanticized as prerequisites for creativity. The racism, classism, and ageism that inspired the birth of hip-hop still exist and continue to instigate innovations, but hip-hop cannot and should not be defined by desperation
Ten years ago, if you asked a class full of fourteen-year-olds what they wanted to be when they grew up, a handful would have responded, “a rapper.” Ask the question of current ninth-graders and several of those students will respond, “rapper-entrepreneurs.” This melding of hip-hop art, identity, and industry led a man who grew up in the housing projects of Marcy to have clothing products at Macy’s. Flipping his skills as an emcee to build his own entertainment/lifestyle conglomerate, Brooklyn-born Jay-Z returned to the mic in 2005, a year after becoming president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, to spell it out for anyone who didn’t understand: “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, maaan!”xiii
Although the multibillion-dollar industries that hip-hop has spawned are some of the most visible manifestations of the power and potential of hip-hop, the spirit of hip-hop is not at all limited to the realm of business. Hip-hop does not just concern itself with the content of music, culture, and commerce; its infectious mind-set and irreverent swagger rush into all aspects of society—from graphic design to community organizing to culinary arts. Hip-hop may have begun as a result of young people with limited resources figuring out how to find a power source so they could throw a party, but the same sensibilities have led to building the power of political parties
Some hip-hop icons have built organizations and movements directed toward electoral engagement. Russell Simmons founded and serves as chair of the board of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, a nonprofit organization that does a variety of community engagement and youth development work, including voter education and registration. Leading up to the 2004 elections, Sean “Diddy” Combs founded Citizen Change, a political service group that enlisted celebrities such as Mary J. Blige, Leonardo DiCaprio, and 50 Cent to encourage voting among the hip-hop generation. It’s difficult to determine the precise effect of Diddy’s “Vote or Die!” campaign, but 2004 saw the largest turnout of young voters in over thirty years.xiv
Jim Jones, Capone-N-Noreaga, the Beastie Boys, and many other hip-hop celebrities joined Simmons and Diddy to speak out against New York’s Rockefeller drug laws. By drawing tens of thousands of people to rallies and releasing viral online videos, these artists brought much-needed public attention to the organizing efforts that drug policy reform and prison reform activists had been engaged in for decades against the mandatory sentencing laws. In 2009, after thirty-six years, the Rockefeller drug laws were overhauled to remove their most draconian elements
Other groups like the Hip Hop Caucus and the League of Young Voters bring innovative organizing tactics to work with the hip-hop generation. Over the past six years, the Hip Hop Caucus has blended hip-hop culture, media, and grassroots organizing to build a 700,000-person membership base and launch national campaigns from “Green the Block” to the “Respect My Vote!” national bus tour.xv
The League of Young Voters—which was initiated with the name “League of Hip Hop Voters”—has created a year-round, multipronged approach to voter organizing and education.xvi League chapters across the country register voters, put out voter guides to provide young voters with accessible information on all the candidates, and work to keep pressure on politicians once they are elected
Hip-hop heads infuse the culture and sensibilities into their lives and work, no matter what they do. As a chef, author, and food-justice activist, Bryant Terry merges politics, culinary arts, and hip-hop. The section titles of his cookbook, Vegan Soul Kitchen, make reference to Kanye West, Outkast, and Method Man lyrics and each recipe is accompanied by a soundtrack. Leading up to the release of the book, Bryant borrowed a move from contemporary emcees. Like rappers releasing mixtapes to build hype for coming albums, Terry released free recipes over the Internet
His publisher was concerned he was saturating the market with his material and that potential customers might not feel the need to buy the book when it came out. Terry, who had recently seen Lil Wayne’s album The Carter III debut at number one on the charts after Wayne had flooded the streets and Internet with mixtapes, held his ground and his book is now the top-selling soul food cookbook and within the top twenty vegan cookbooks on the popular online book retailer Amazon.com.xvii
The above examples involve bringing fresh approaches to entrenched arenas. Multiple definitions of the word “fresh” apply here—fresh in the conventional sense of the word, meaning newly made or obtained, but also hip-hop fresh, which fits somewhere between “dope” and “hot” in the long list of words that hip-hop heads use to describe something favorably. And, of course, in Bryant Terry’s instance, fresh has a third meaning, referring to the ingredients with which he is encouraging people to cook! What is most significant though, what makes each of these endeavors hip-hop beyond overt references to the culture, is the way in which their architects have pioneered new approaches to old fields
To some, then, “Hip Hop Genius”—the phrase that Ewell, Ellis, Simmons, Green, Wilkins, and I came up with during our 2005 meeting to describe the creative resourcefulness intrinsic to hip-hop—may sound redundant.xviii If the term “hip-hop” in and of itself implies such brilliance, why even add the word “genius”?
The English word “genius” was derived from the Latin root “gignere,” meaning “to produce.” It also had early ties to the Arabic word “jinn,” which was used to describe individual spirits with supernatural powers. Prior to the late eighteenth century, genius was used to describe the magical force of an individual or a nation. In the decades leading up to the nineteenth century, European scholars began shifting the meaning of the word, using it to convey “the godlike power of invention, of creation, of making what never was before,” which they used to describe the brilliant works of artists such as Homer and Michelangelo.xix
Explaining why physicist Richard Feynman was considered the genius of his generation, biographer James Gleick concludes, “Those who tried to take Feynman’s measure always came back to originality. . . . The generation coming up behind him, with the advantage of hindsight, still found nothing predictable in the paths of his thinking. He seemed perversely and dangerously bent on disregarding standard methods.”xx
This explanation suggests that anything dubbed genius must be innovative not only in its results but also in its approach. It implies that a paradigm shift has occurred; someone has flipped or altered a deep-seated understanding of how things work
More recently, in introducing Black Genius: African American Solutions to African American Problems, one of the volume’s editors, Walter Mosley, returns to the early notion of genius as something that characterizes a populace. “We understand genius to be that quality which crystallizes the hopes and talents and character of a people,” Mosley writes. “This kind of genius is something we all share. It is a presence where absence once reigned. It is the possibility for a people to look into their hearts and to see a life worth living.”xxi
From supernatural abilities to collective solutions, from disregarding standard methods to the power of invention, the word genius carries multiple connotations. All of these meanings are relevant to the concept of Hip Hop Genius
Given that people have diverse, expansive, and conflicting perspectives of hip-hop, the addition of the word genius focuses attention on its majestic, creative, resourceful spirit. For people who view hip-hop as nothing more than a celebration of violence, sexism, homophobia, curse words, and a flagrant disregard for grammatical rules, just looking at these two phrases in conjunction with one another is a healthy exercise. Hip Hop . . . Genius . . . Hip Hop. Genius. HipHopGenius
Young people who feel connected to hip-hop culture and are being slept on by society can benefit from considering the phrase Hip Hop Genius. The greater the potential for their culture and actions to be accorded respect, the more self-confidence and hope can flourish
Researchers have found that when students of color are asked to indicate their race at the beginning of a standardized test, on average they receive lower scores than control groups who are given the same test without being asked to identify their race. Social psychologists believe this stems out of a fear that their race is or may be perceived to be a disadvantage; they refer to this phenomenon as “stereotype threat.”xxii In direct contrast then, the concept of Hip Hop Genius has the potential to create stereotype promise.
Given that hip-hop is commonly associated with young people of color in urban environments, and given that this population has been perpetually portrayed by media outlets as “superpredators,”xxiii the concept of Hip Hop Genius serves to challenge the typecasting of boys and girls in the ’hood.xxiv By subverting the preconceptions of people who view inner-city children of color as criminals and charity cases, the possibility of those people acting as allies across race and class lines increases
For those interested in dismantling systems of oppression and building a more just society, Hip Hop Genius is an essential ingredient. As Brazilian educator Paolo Freire writes, “The oppressed can overcome the contradiction in which they are caught only when this perception enlists them in the struggle to free themselves.”xxv The more intentional everyone is in honoring and cultivating young peoples’ creativity and sense of empowerment, the more profound the changes young people will be able to enact both to their personal circumstances and to biased social structures
Hip Hop Genius holds the potential to play an important role in seeking solutions to global challenges. Our planet, as a whole, is facing a variety of situations defined by limited resources—most notably, the impending global energy crisis
Wealthy people, companies, and countries all possess money and access to state-of-the-art equipment, but they have not necessarily cultivated the sensibilities needed to be resourceful. Identifying and honoring a form of genius that is sometimes noticed, but commonly ignored, trivialized, co-opted, and commodified, lends this raw brilliance the traction, recognition, and respect needed for it to spread like Wild Style.xxvi
Discovery, development, and original thought are at the core of Hip Hop Genius. This focus on artistic, intellectual, and technical innovation makes education a natural starting point when considering how to foster and support this brand of brilliance. Learning and teaching are fundamental to the well-being and growth of young people and our society, yet our education system abysmally fails so many
As the statistics and stories in chapter 4 of this book demonstrate, this failure has been most egregious when it comes to the exact demographic of young people who have been at the forefront of hip-hop’s creation and evolution. This is a powerful indication of the impact that the Hip Hop Genius meme could have on the education system
Much of hip-hop education thus far has been thought about within the context of classrooms in fairly conventional schools and out-of-school programs. Most often hip-hop is seen as a set of materials and skills that can replace the content of previous lesson plans. Instead of studying the novels of Joseph Conrad, classes study the lyrics of Joe Budden; instead of learning to write sonnets and haikus, they learn to write sixteens and hooks
Embodying Hip Hop Genius in an educational setting is deeper and more complex than bringing a rap song into an English class, painting a graffiti mural in a hallway, or inviting a breakdance troupe to a school assembly. It involves rethinking the very ways in which learning occurs. This is what the phrase “hip-hop pedagogy” should mean: an approach to teaching and learning that is specific to hip-hop
But while “hip-hop pedagogy” has become an increasingly popular term in the last few years, little has been written about what might constitute the unique qualities of a hip-hop style of teaching and learning. The number of school principals who are members of the hip-hop generation is rapidly increasing, yet there has been little public dialogue about hip-hop leadership traits or the possibilities of hip-hop schools
In many large cities, fewer than half of the Black males who enter ninth grade graduate four years later. How might things change for these young men and others if schools could truly personify the spirit of Hip Hop Genius, breaking with conventions to provide something fresh, functional, and fly? What would it look like to transform the education industrial complex in the same kinds of ways that hip-hoppers have freaked the music industry?
This book exists to bust open these conversations
Chapter 1 introduces an innovative school, the High School for Recording Arts. Throughout its twelve years of operation in St. Paul, Minnesota, the school has avoided the limitations of traditional educational practices by blending elements of a variety of alternative educational techniques with original flavor. Through inventive and sometimes unusual approaches, the school has found unique ways to honor the brilliance of young people who have been ignored, shunned, and feared by the institutions charged with educating them. By giving readers a tour through the halls of the school and a description of the pedagogy, curriculum, and philosophy employed by the school, this chapter suggests a set of creative and promising educational practices that could be reproduced and remixed in other schools or used as inspiration for innovation in other sectors
Because HSRA is so different from traditional schools, it can be hard to picture how the pedagogy, curriculum, and philosophy play out on a day-to-day basis. Chapter 2 follows a student through one full school day, demonstrating how the ideas described in the previous chapter manifest in the daily reality of a school community. Though it is only a description of one day of one student’s experience, this chapter tethers theory to practice and provides a snapshot of how the school’s philosophies, values, and methodologies affect individual students
To understand HSRA, you have to understand how it came to exist. Chapter 3 shares stories of the school’s creation and evolution by offering an intimate introduction to its founder, David “TC” Ellis. Tying stories from TC’s childhood and his experiences recording with superstars such as Prince and George Clinton to challenges he has faced running the school, chapter 3 teases out unconventional yet essential qualities of TC’s leadership style. From repurposing gangsta rappers’ recording equipment to working with gang leaders to help squash beefs at the school, TC’s trajectory holds tangible examples of the bold, unorthodox actions that exemplify Hip Hop Genius. Without proposing that anyone should or could follow directly in TC’s footsteps, these stories can provoke readers, both in and outside the field of education, to reconsider what is possible and to hustle hard
Describing problems that plague public education in this country, chapter 4 contextualizes the struggles and successes of HSRA’s students and the school itself. By presenting obstacles that HSRA has encountered in the past few years, this chapter introduces common challenges that inevitably have an impact on educators attempting to create schools that effectively serve low- and no-income students of color
Such challenges can be especially harsh for educators who incorporate hip-hop into their practice. Yet the field of hip-hop education is growing. Chapter 5 surveys the current hip-hop education landscape, identifying how HSRA fits into several trends in the field and proposing Hip Hop Genius as a new iteration of hip-hop education that is more radical in its approach and better positioned to fully honor the creativity and ingenuity of urban young people
Chapter 6 suggests specific strategic possibilities for spreading the school’s work and the ethos of Hip Hop Genius. From replicating the school’s design in new sites to turning the program in Minnesota into an open source laboratory for other educators and hip-hop heads to visit and learn from, this chapter explores how HSRA can be most effective in influencing ideas and infusing inspiration into the hip-hop and education communities
There is so much potential for beauty and creation, and yet violence and destruction dominate headlines and minds. Children—full of energy and ideas—are neglected, punished because of how much melanin they have in their skin and how little money they have in their pockets. Personal greed, contempt, and contentment too often triumph over asking hard questions, striving for equality, and making meaningful change
Society has been sleeping for too long. It’s time to back-flip on that mattress
Notes
I. Christopher B. Swanson and Amy M. Hightower, “Diplomas Count 2008: School to College” PowerPoint slide 4, http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/dc/2008/DC08_Presentation_FINAL.pdf (accessed December 16, 2010)
Ii. Further statistics on the demographics of students who are not graduating from high school are provided in chapter 4
Iii. John Jennings, “Dezyne Klass: Exploring Image-Making through the Visual Culture of Hip Hop,” in Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design, ed. Audrey Bennett. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), 241
Iv. Jennings, “Dezyne Klass,” 242
V. Wasalu Muhammad Jaco aka Lupe Fiasco, “Just Might Be Okay,” Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, 1st and 15th/Atlantic, 2005, compact disc
Vi. I have chosen to use the term “breakdancing” rather than “b-boying,” which is considered by many the more authentic term for hip-hop dance. This decision was made because the inclusion of the word “dance” clarifies what I am referring to and because it does not carry the same gender privileging that “b-boying” implies
Vii. Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (New York: Knopf, 1974)
Viii. Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: Picador, 2005), 13
Ix. Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 118
X. B-boys and b-girls are hip-hop dancers
Xi. For a more comprehensive explanation of hip-hop as Black American music, see Imani Perry, Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2004)
Xii. Rha Goddess, “Scarcity and Exploitation: The Myth and Reality of the Struggling Hip-Hop Artist,” in Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop, ed. Jeff Chang (New York: Basic Civitas, 2006), 346
Xiii. Shawn C. Carter aka Jay-Z, “Diamonds from Sierra Leone Remix,” on Late Registration, by Kanye West, Roc-A-Fella/Island Def Jam, 2005, compact disc
Xiv. Jose Antonio Vargas, “Vote or Die? Well, They Did Vote,” Washington Post, November 9, 2004, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35290–2004Nov8.html (accessed June 12, 2010)
Xv. For more information about the Hip Hop Caucus, see http://www.hiphopcaucus.org/ (accessed December 16, 2010)
Xvi. The League of Young Voters has also been known as the League of Pissed-Off Voters. For more information, see http://www.theleague.com (accessed December 16, 2010)
Xvii. Amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Soul-Kitchen-Bryant-Terry/dp/0738212288 (accessed June 18, 2010)
Xviii. The term “hip-hop” can be spelled several different ways, with and without hyphen or space and with varying capitalization. Throughout this book it will be spelled, “hip-hop” with the exception of when it appears in direct quotes, titles, and in the phrase “Hip Hop Genius.”
Xix. James Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (New York: Pantheon Books, 1992), 313
Xx. Gleick, Genius, 323
Xxi. Walter Mosley, introduction, Black Genius: African American Solutions to African American Problems, ed. Walter Mosley et al. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1999), 12
Xxii. Claude M. Steele and Joshua Aronson, “Stereotype Threat and the Test Performance of Academically Successful African Americans,” in The Black-White Test Score Gap, ed. Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1998), 401
Xxiii. Elaine Brown, The Condemnation of Little B (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002), 108–11
This refers to the title of Charlie Ahearn’s 1983 film depicting early hip-hop legends engaging in hip-hop arts. It is considered by many to be the first hip-hop motion picture
Xxiv. This refers to the title of John Singleton’s 1991 film portraying urban youth in south central Los Angeles
Xxv. Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Herder and Herder, 1971), 34