Youth Culture Power A #HipHopEd Guide

In our schools, hip-hop culture is the dominant culture among the students. In Youth Culture Power: A #HipHopEd Guide to Building Teacher-Student Relationships and Increasing Student Engagement, Jason D. Rawls and John Robinson, educators and hip-hop artists with experience in the urban classrooms, focus their efforts through Hip-Hop Based Education (HHBE). They argue that hip-hop culture could be useful in building relationships and building student engagement.

The approach to achieve this is Youth Culture Pedagogy (YCP). YCP is based in a foundation of reality pedagogy (Emdin, 2014), culturally responsive pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995), and HHBE (Hill, 2009; Petchauer, 2009). In this volume, the authors lay the groundwork for YCP and how they envision its use within the classroom.

In Youth Culture Power, the authors put forth their C.A.R.E. Model of youth pedagogy to help teachers create a positive learning environment by building relationships and lessons around students’ own culture. Instead of forcing students to give up the things they frequent, Rawls and Robinson feel teachers should discuss them and when possible, use them in lessons. The purpose of this book is to present a fresh take on why educators should not discount the culture of youth within the classroom.

Jason Rawls is an Assistant Professor of Hip Hop in the School of Music at The Ohio State University. Known as a producer and DJ (previously known as J Rawls), he first gained prominence on the national scene after his work with Black Star, a hip hop group comprised of Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Rawls contributed production on “Brown Skin Lady” and “Yo, Yeah,” which placed him on the map among independent hip hop producers. The album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star was critically acclaimed as one of the best albums of 1998, and was a major force in the late-1990s underground hip hop explosion. Rawls has also worked with artists such as Del tha Funky Homosapien, Domo Genesis (Odd Future), Capital Steez (Pro Era), Beastie Boys, Slum Village, El Da Sensei, Sadat X, Count Bass D, Grand Agent, 9th Wonder, J-Live, Us3, John Robinson (JayARE) and King Combs (the son of Sean “P Diddy” Combs). He has released three solo albums and contributed to the NEO-SOUL movement producing the likes of Aloe Blacc, Eric Roberson, Dudley Perkins, and many others. Fusing jazz and hip hop (coining the term “jazz-hop”), Rawls' 2006 work with The Liquid Crystal Project led to national acclaim. His Columbus-based production company and record label continues to make an impact on the national hip hop scene, and he is in demand as a DJ for top clubs and private functions around the country.