I Shall Proceed: Navigating Contemporary Rap Music's Cross-Curricular Implications in Educational and Clinical Spaces

• In Event: Critical Perspectives in Hip-Hop Theories, Praxis, and Pedagogies

Abstract

This paper extends Elligan’s (2000, 2004) rap therapy model, integrating tenets of Critical Race Praxis (Stovall, 2013; Yamamoto, 1997) and Healing-Centered Engagement (Ginwright, 2018) to explore the relationship between contemporary rap music and healing for Black youth. Data from the study were collected over a one-year period of time in a youth-serving organization in an urban setting. Findings from the study are presented through The (Re)mix—a pedagogical (and clinical) framework by which hip-hop educators and clinicians can create educational and healing contexts using contemporary rap music. The (re) mix uses contemporary hip-hop to (re) tell the experiences of the dispossessed (Fanon, 1963), (re) affirm young peoples’ existence, (re) frame the discourse on pedagogy, and (re) store humanity.

Authors

• Asif Wilson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Daunte Henderson, The MADEMAN Foundation