The Critical Cycle of Mixtape Creation: Hip-Hop Spoken Word Therapy and Youth Participatory Action Research

• In Event: 66.065 - "My Cypher Keeps Moving Like a Rolling Stone": Centering Youth Voice in Hip-Hop Education

Abstract

This article explores a model for school counselors to capitalizes on the therapeutic empowerment-oriented nature of hip hop practices to engage in Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). Drawing from research that supports the use of hip hop therapy and YPAR in schools, the authors propose a culturally sensitive group counseling process wherein students use hip hop lyric writing, recording, and performing to critically analyze, research, and report on issues of personal importance to them.

Authors

• Ian Levy, Manhattan College

• Amy Cook, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Christopher Emdin, Teachers College, Columbia University