Week 7 – Blog Post: Hip Hop Culture and Critical Consciousness

  • How can hip hop be used as a tool to promote social justice and youth activism in the classroom? What is the relationship between hip hop culture and the development of critical consciousness amongst students?

What I appreciated most about this article was the fact that it talks about all five fundamental elements of hip hop: deejaying, break dancing, graffiti art, fashion, and rapping. I appreciated this because a lot of people, myself included, might immediately think only of music when they hear the term hip hop, when in reality it covers a much broader scope. I think there is a big connection between graffiti art and social justice. Many artists use graffiti as a medium to get a message across to the public. Oftentimes graffiti with a powerful message shows up in places where the artist knows it will be seen by the government, or the target audience that is oppressing a group of people or creating a different problem. I think this is a way we can use hip hop as a tool for social justice, by teaching students how to use their creative abilities to enhance their voice in the world, whether that be with art, music or fashion. 

Critical consciousness refers to the ability to recognize and analyze systems of inequality and the commitment to take action against these systems. In the article it discusses how far hip hop culture really dates back to, and in my opinion hip hop style artists have always been the ones to break the glass ceiling, and push barriers with social justice issues. One of many examples I could list off the top of my head would be “F* Tha Police” by N.W.A, in which the lyrics are a direct call out for police brutality against African Americans. The song demonstrates critical consciousness because the lyrics are empowering and have a message that pertains to real peoples lives not fictional situations.  

2 Replies to “Week 7 – Blog Post: Hip Hop Culture and Critical Consciousness”

  1. Hey Nicole! I like that you talked about the large scope the article discussed. I always think go hip hop as just music and not the broad aspects it covers. Do you think in your classroom you will use hip hop in pedagogy? I really like how you chose to talk specifically about graffiti, as it’s a topic I would have not even thought to relate to hip hop.

  2. I agree that hip-hop is much more than just music. I appreciate that you brought this up, there is a lot of culture surrounding hip-hop that could be very beneficial for students. Do you think there are other music genres that also have many aspects to it and could we use them in the classroom? Thank you!

    -Alexis

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