Brenden Anderson

Hard Knock Radio: 04-08-14 We speak with local community activist and educator Brenden Anderson about Black Male achievement, effective teaching methods, the school to prison pipeline and the upcoming Black male Achievement Man Up Conference. We talk about the obstacles that are in the way preventing effective methods from being implemented in schools. We talk about the way economic incentives around mass incarceration and private prisons. play a role in keeping education underfunded. We talk about how the programs Brenden is involved in have become a model currently being looked at by the Obama administration for their My Brother’s Keeper program.

Mazi Mutafa

Later on in the show we talk with educator Mazi Mutafa about his Washington DC based organization Words, Beats and Life. We talk about Hip Hop in the academy and how its grown over the years and the various approaches many are taking to enhance their teaching and excite students. We talk about their peer reviewed magazine and the significance of having scholars directly interact with practioners, artists and pioneers vs being detached and ‘studying them’.

We talk about the on going One Mic Festival in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center in which WBL is participating . We talk about How Hip Hop has spread globally and the steps folks here in the US must take to become a better participant in Hip Hop’s global conversation.