Hip Hop and Education

Websites
The History of Hip Hop -- a brief and useful overview article.

Hip Hop History 101 -- more good articles and links.

Hip Hop: Today's Civil Right's Movement? -- a good radio program about the political nature and power of Hip Hop.

The Hip Hop Classroom -- a website created by Oakland (CA) Unity High School teacher, Daniel Zarazua -- includes lesson plans and ideas, information, and more in support of the effective use of hip hop in the classroom.

Can't Stop Won't Stop -- the website of Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation and Total Chaos: the Art and Aesthetics of Hip Hop -- includes a blog, an archive of Chang's writings, and more.

Educators Use Rap as a Teaching Tool -- a radio broadcast about teachers who are using hip-hop effectively to make connections between contemporary music/poetry and the classics -- scroll to the bottom of the page, click and listen.

H2A - Hip Hop Association -- an organization dedicated to promoting and using hip hop, in all its mediated forms, as a tool for education reform and social change

H2Ed -- the website of this innovative program and organization that "connects educators, social workers, parents, and youth to use Hip-Hop culture as an effective way to inform, educate, and activate youth" -- started by Marth Diaz and Tricia Wing -- soon they will have lesson plans and more at this website.

Hip Hop to Shakespeare: A New Way of Teaching -- an article about using hip hop to teach the classics.

From Hip Hop to Shakespeare -- a report about an arts program that integrates hip hop, history, Shakespeare, Afro-Latin percussion, and more

Hip Hop Education 101 -- an article about different ways to use hip hop in schools and classrooms.

Poetry, Jazz, Rap, and Hip Hop for the Classroom -- a lesson plan.

The Poetics of Hip Hop -- a lesson plan "that can provide students with a greater understanding of rhythm, form, diction, and sound in poetry" using hip hop.

Geeksta Rap Brings Education to Music -- a radio segment about an artist/musician who "aims to get young hip-hop fans interested in engineering."

Bringing Def Poetry Jam to U.S. High Schools -- a radio interview with Russell Simmons about his work to bring Poetry Jams to high schools across the country.

Multiplication Hip Hop -- rapping the times tables.

Flocabulary -- using hip hop in the classroom to teach vocabulary and more.

The Exploitation of Women in Hip Hop Culture -- an article that argues: "Exploitation of women in hip-hop culture has become an accepted part of it for both the artists and audiences alike..." and, "Education is the first step in changing gender relations in the hip-hop community."

Lupe Fiasco -- hip hop with social insight and critique.

Nuttin' But Stringz: Hip Hop Violin -- a radio segment about a pair of Julliard-trained, violin playing African American brothers who are making their own music.

The Hip Hop Violin and String Quartets of Haitian American Composer, Daniel Bernard Roumain -- a radio segment about Roumain and his hip hop compositions -- includes audio clips of his work, as performed by the Lark String Quartet.

Exploring African Hip Hop -- a radio review of CD's by two African hip hop groups whose music "embodies ways that Africans are debating their cultural identity through music."

The Original Hip Hop Lyrics Archive -- a large archive of lyrics to many important hip hop songs.

Some Good Books and Articles
Chang, J. 2005. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. St. Martin's Press.

Chang, J. (Ed.) 2007. Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip Hop. Basic Civitas Books.

Chuck D, and Jah, Y. 1997. Fight the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality. Delta Books.

Costello, Mark and Wallace, David Foster. 1990. Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present. The Ecco Press.

Dimitriades, G. 2004. Performing Identity/Performing Culture: Hip Hop as Text, Pedagogy, and Living Practice. Peter Lang Pub.

Dyson, Michael Eric. 2001. Holler If Your Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur. Basic Civitas Books.

Dyson, M. 1996. Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture. Oxford.

Forman, M. & Neal, M. 2004. That's the Joint! The Hip Hop Studies Reader. Taylor and Francis.

Fricke, J. & Ahearn, C. 2002. Yes Yes Y'all: Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade. Persues Press.

George, Nelson. 1998. Hip-Hop America. Viking.

Ginwright, S. 2004. Black in School: Afrocentric Reform, Urban Youth, and the Promise of Hip-Hop Culture. Teachers College Press.

Hill, M. 2009. Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity. Teachers College Press.

Kitwana, Bakari. 2002. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Black and the Crisis in African American Culture. Basic Civitas Books.

Perkins, W. 1996. Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture. Critical Perspectives on the Past. Temple University Press.

Rose, T. 1994. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Wesleyan University Press.

Runell, M & Diaz, M. (Eds.) 2007. The Hip Hop Education Guidebook: Vol. 1. Hip Hop Association

Sexton, A. (Ed.) 1995. Rap on Rap: Straight talk on Hip-Hop Culture. Delta.

Shomari, H. 1995. From the Underground : Hip Hop Culture as an Agent of Social Change. X-Factor Publications.

Wynne, K. 2000. "This Ain't No B-Boy: Women in Hip-Hop. Clamor, April/May, p. 33-37.