Introduction: Definitions and Hopes
“Hip hop culture, as relevant to the lives of many high school students, can provide a bridge to ideas and tasks that promote critical understanding”
David Stoval, in “We Can Relate: Hip-Hop Culture, Critical Pedagogy, and the Secondary Classroom” (2006)
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ped·a·go·gy [ped-uh-goh-jee, -goj-ee]:
??go?–noun, plural -gies.
| 1. | the function or work of a teacher; teaching. |
| 2. | the art or science of teaching; education; instructional methods. |
[Origin: 1575–85; < Gk paidag?gía office of a child's tutor.]
hip·hop [hip-hop]:
| 1. | “the artistic response to oppression … As a musical art form it is stories of inner-city life, often with a message, spoken over beats of music. The culture includes rap and any other venture spawned from the hip-hop style and culture” (Westbrook, 2002) |
| 2. | hip hop “consists of at least 5 elements: bombing, b-boying, dee-jaying, emceeing, and knowledge (of self and culture)’ (Bambaataa, 2005, p4.) |
[Origin: ??; < ?? many origins.]
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ThePedagogyofHipHop.com is a blog dedicated to the discussion of
1.) What knowledge hip hop music is attempting to spread
2.) How hip hop is attempting to spread this knowledge
3.) How hip hop can be used in the classroom
While I hope that ThePedagogyofHipHop.com will appeal to a broad and diverse audience of hip hop enthusiasts and teachers, I will also be using this blog as a digital record of the development of my own personal study of the intersection of hip hop and education.
In many ways, my dual purposes reflect one of the major themes/questions that hip hop music continually explores: the differences and connections between the development of the individual and the development of her/his society. How does the individual’s standpoint within, and perspective of, society affect his/her subjectivity, or consciousness and individuality? How does the individual become conscious of their own role in society and, perhaps more importantly, become conscious of how society shapes the individual? How does the individual develop a critical perspective of both their self and society? How are consciousnesses and critical perspectives always already socially constructed images of reality?
And amidst all this, how do we “keep it real”?
These are questions that I, as a teacher, need to grapple with. Hip hop doesn’t provide simple answers, but it does give us some ideas.
Although I hope to explore the theoretical perspectives that hip hop espouses, I will always try to focus on the voices and ideas of individual hip hop artists, including those who have influenced my own education, including but not limited to Kanye West, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, KRS-1, Talib Kweli, Nas, Common. I also hope to develop a conversation with those individuals who read and respond to the articles that are posted here. True to the co-laboratory spirit of hip hop, which thrives on the combined efforts of MCs, guest MCs, DJs, producers, musicians, samples, and audiences, this blog and I welcome criticism, support, guest posts, and fresh ideas.
I also hope to expand my own knowledge of global hip hop scenes. Although I might initially offer a relatively America-centric vision of the pedagogy of hip hop, I hope to eventually develop a global perspective of the relationship between hip hop and education–a perspective that will rely on a greater understanding of how hip hop across the globe is uniquely constituted in local settings. Of course, hip hop was a global phenomenon to begin with, originating in the African and West Indian diaspora cultures of the Bronx, so this task will be nothing new, but instead a reflection of hip hop’s origins.
Speaking of beginnings, my first few posts will discuss a song that changed the way that I heard/understood hip hop music. I’m sure this song had a similar impact on many other people, and I’m also sure that the multitude of politically conscious hip hop songs that inspired Kanye West to create this particular song also had an equally momentous impact on thousands of other listeners. With that said, I will offer my own multifaceted interpretation of this song, focusing on what kind of model of self-criticism it proposes.
And afterwards, I will look forward to hearing from you. The one thing that I don’t want to do on this blog is to become a “voyeur,” especially a voyeur of a culture that was forged in the furnace of American imperialism. So let’s not just think about the messages that hip hop holds, but also re-think them and act on them.
–Ed
August 11, 2008