As Hip Hop culture expands into new arenas there will always be tensions as established institutions mold parts of the culture to fit into practices ideologies that have long existed and work for them which may be in sharp contrast to the practices and ideology of its practitioners. To the chagrin of those who feel closer to the culture they see Hip Hop being compromised and diluted. Others see it as par for the course. Hip Hop is like any other tool. It reflects mores and mindset of the people who use it.
This essay below was featured on the website Rise Up Hip Hop Nation where guest blogger Dr Travis Gosa of Cornell University raises an important issue about Hip Hop and education..Is it a hustle or something that is breaking new ground and causing tensions among those who feel left behind?
-Davey D-
Is Hip-Hop Education A Hustle? Getting Serious About Rap Pedagogy
Written by Dr. Travis Gosa
Dr Travis Gosa
Sorry for the hate, but I feel obligated to ether Mr. Duey, the rapping math teacher who’s been “putting some flow to STEM subjects.” At the end of August, the white middle-school-teacher-slash-rapper-slash-party-entertainer (I can’t knock the hustle) dropped his second educational rap CD entitled “Class Dis-Missed 2.”The tracklist features 18 educational rap songs including “Big Ballin’ Planets” (an astronomy tune) and “Dewey Decimal System” (reppin’ library science ya’ll).
My beef is not with Mr. Duey’s flow on “Plate Tectonics” or “Long Division.” In fact, I would compare Mr. Duey’s lyrical ability to be similar to that of Mase, Silk da Shocker, or Sudanese-Australian rapper Bangs (“Take U To Da Movies”). Mr. Duey is no Rakim, and I’ve heard worse.
No, I’m ridin’ on Mr. Duey for doing what has become popular of late: the complete bastardization and misappropriation of hip-hop education for profit. Too often, what is packaged as “hip-hop education” and “rap pedagogy” is nothing more than what Greg Tate calls “the marriage of heaven and hell, of New World African ingenuity and that trick of the devil known as global hyper-capitalism.”
continue reading this column at Rise Up Hip Hop Nation
While reading this column I was reminded of a speech KRS-One gave a few years ago about education and the many flaws we find within the system.. I thought I’d post up this speech to add to the discussion.. You can peep this excellent speech HERE.
-Davey D-
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/63404/
Click HERE to peep KRS's Speech on Education