Education changes everyday, there is always something new and new forms of pedagogy that will help students as well as (future) teachers in learning and educating. CHHP, or Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy is the focus of the article called “Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy as a Form of Liberatory Praxis” written by Akom. This article focuses on how CHHP can be implemented into teaching and the pros that come along with it and how Hip Hop can be used as a tool to promote social justice and youth activism in the classroom.
“CHHP starts from the premise that hip hop is an important lense for socio-political analysis and representation of marginalized communities” (Akom, 2009). The idea of physically taking hip hop surrounds its pedagogy in allowing students to take music and use it as an umbrella or how Akom puts it, a “vehicle” for exploring themes of social justice. It notes that not all hip hop music can be used for these important teachings, but there are songs that speak on the importance of police brutality, racism, self confidence, political issues, and much more. There is a lyric that stands out to me that I knew growing up from “Keep Ya Head Up” by Tupac “I wonder why we take from our women/ why we r*pe our women/ why do we hate our women”. If songs like these were used to teach, students would feel connected as rap is very popular amongst the teenage age group. Using songs that challenge the common mind-set can help students of colour and oppressed marginalized groups of students to feel as if what is important in their lives is heard, and used to make a connection.
Using the CHHP can help allow the students to take control of their education and feel as if they are not going through the “Banking Method of Education” which allows for the opposite of ‘critical consciousness”. Teachers who use this method do not allow for two way dialogue in conversation regarding certain lessons, as well as students view schooling as “key mechanisms in the reproduction of inequality” (Akom, 2009), allowing the students to not see school as a place of freedom to express their culture, prior knowledge, or to talk about heavy (but important) aspect of reality. If students can feel safe using what makes them feel comfortable to talk about things such as race, racism, police brutality, oppression whether that be through proper education or using hip hop as a vehicle to drive the interest of the students. It is important that our students learn these aspects of life and and how to directly challenge the common mind set of them and set your students up for becoming more well-rounded, caring, and socially-aware students.
