Key Components of Hip-Hop Pedagogy for Black Youth: Critical Consciousness and Liberation

• In Event: Hip-Hop-Based Pedagogy as Culturally Responsive Curriculum: Whose Culture Is It Really?

Abstract

It is clear that hip-hop is important to many Black youth, especially in urban areas. In academia, hip-hop pedagogy has emerged as a viable teaching strategy for Black youth. Many well-known scholars and universities have developed programs to teach teachers how to use hip-hop pedagogy to reach Black youth. The use of hip-hop pedagogy has mainly focused on curriculum and pedagogical strategies that teachers use to engage Black and “at-risk” youth. A central focus of hip-hop pedagogy has been on using rap lyrics, videos and music to teach Black youth educational content. The focus on hip-hop pedagogy is not enough and must include efforts to raise Black youth consciousness to get them to critically examine every facet of hip-hop culture and their lived realities, schooling and mathematics education in urban centers. Using hip-hop pedagogy as a tool for liberation and developing urban Black youth critical consciousness has not been salient in iterations of hip-hop pedagogy. In this paper, I argue that any effort to use hip-hop as a pedagogical tool must use it as a tool for liberation and development of Black youth critical consciousness. I situate my arguments of hip-hop pedagogy in an urban community called Chester Heights in Baltimore where I conducted research of Black students’ lived realities, schooling and mathematics education. I provide examples of how Black youth in this community embraced hip-hop culture by what I call cultural agency. I use this community context and Black youth cultural agency to posit how hip-hop pedagogy that focus on liberation and critical consciousness can be used to improve their community condition.

Author

• Julius Davis, Bowie State University