Developing Civic Empowerment for Black Youth Through Student-Driven Hip-Hop Music Production in the Classroom

In this study, I draw on ethnographic data (interviews and focus groups) to explore an in-school Hip-Hop Music Education pilot program within an urban school district to explore the link between civic development and hip-hop artistic practice. Results of this study indicate that the program participants thought the program provided them with culturally responsive pedagogy that also acted as an agent in developing civic imagination within the emerging media makers. Three primary themes that emerged within the data were: (a)
supporting student enthusiasm for hip-hop, (b) promoting hip-hop song making as an agent for social change,
and (c) legitimizing the hip-hop ethos as useful to a meaningful career pathway. These findings suggest that
participants engaged in connected learning through hip-hop in ways that indicate an ability to leverage their
music-oriented identity projects for their civic engagement into adulthood. These findings also suggest that
adolescence is an important time frame in which children are developing hip-hop social identities, but in ways
that are tied to realistic planning and skill development. To conclude, I suggest that urban schools should use
Hip-Hop Music Education as a resource for helping students of color to connect lived experiences to their
academic lives and future career aspirations.