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.

A Hip Hop Bibliography -- a good list of books and articles.

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

Hip Hop Curriculum -- at the website of Daniel D. Zarazua, materials and links about using hip hop effectively in the classroom.

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

Urban Think Tank -- a site for the "body of thinkers in the hip hop community" -- interesting articles and links.

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.

Hip Hop Education -- an article about Martha Diaz and her efforts to combine hip hop and filmmaking to teach reading, writing, and more.

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.

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."

Some Good Books and Articles
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.

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.

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.