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Global Awareness Through Hip Hop

By Sean Stubblefield

As a way to address the educational crisis that affects approximately 50% of inner-city students throughout many major urban centers across the nation, Hip Hop enthusiast Sebastien Elkouby created a program called Global Awareness through Hip Hop Culture. Offered as an elective to 7th and 8th grade students, this program helps develop a sense of global awareness and critical thinking skills by using Hip Hop culture and music to analyze pop culture, current events and social issues.

Founder of the Urban Youth Empowerment Foundation, Sebastien has been a part of Hip Hop culture since 1983, growing up with Hip Hop and working in the industry, but he has always wanted to eventually use Hip Hop to educate. After leaving the music industry, he got into social services, where he was able to develop a program which could combine a love of Hip Hop with education, and has been doing it since 2001.

Utilizing his dynamic program for the past two years at The Accelerated School located in South Los Angeles, he is in negotiations with several high schools and community colleges across Los Angeles. There has also been some interest from Atlanta.

Initially contacted by an organization partnered with that school and looking for someone to help them design a Hip Hop based curriculum, Sebastien was presented an opportunity to introduce his alternative education program. After one semester, the school dissolved that partnership to implement Sebatien's curriculum. Two years later, the success and novelty of the program has attracted attention from other schools.

Asked to describe more specifically the way Hip Hop is used to teach youth empowerment, critical thinking and global awareness, Sebastien explains: "Hip Hop culture has a rich history and draws from many areas musically, socially, politically and culturally, through the main elements of Hip Hop which include DJ'ing, Breakdancing, Graffiti and, of course, rapping. Using these artistic elements, I draw parallels to subjects that students are already learning about in English, history, social studies, etc. Students are able to connect to these "academic" subjects through a cultural and age relevant medium. That's what makes it exciting for them. We may listen to a rap song and dissect the lyrics for their social significance and go into a conversation about current events, sexism, or anything else based on that song. There are hundreds of different lessons where Hip Hop becomes the spring board for a variety of great debates, discussions, and activities."

In this program, Hip Hop culture is revealed to be more than what the mainstream media has promoted with images of pimps, ho's, gangstas and thugs. Students become empowered through the multiple lessons that intelligent rap music teaches and the incredible discussions that come from it. Students gain a greater appreciation for the history of Hip Hop culture and its roots in Africa and Jamaica, as well as the 60s civil rights movement that Hip Hop partially springs from. Exposed to a variety of music (such as Reggae, Blues, Jazz, Soul, R&B, rock) that influenced the development of Hip Hop music, they learn about different cultures, because- according to Sebastien- Hip Hop was a means for Black and Latino youth to express themselves.

The success of the program is determined through traditional methods, like tests and essays, as well as debates and discussions.

But perhaps the best measure of its success is the overall transformation that students go through from the beginning of the program to its completion. Progress made shows in their grades, but also in their self esteem, demeanor, and general conversations. Parents have given Sebastien great feedback as they see their children interested in things that they never thought possible.

"I've had parents tell me that their kids now watch the news, listen to a wide range of music, and actually look forward to coming to school."

Here is what some of last year's students had to say about the class:

* I learned to have a high self esteem and trust myself so that I can grow up to be successful.
* It has given me a new perspective on a lot of things.
* We learned about almost every subject.
* It has changed me and the way I think.
* I liked that we learned about stuff that people wouldn't normally teach us.
* I think it made me think more and mature.
* We were able to discuss serious issues and were able to understand them.

Sebastien Elkouby is currently compiling a portfolio to record parent and teacher feedback, documenting the great things people are saying about the program, as well as how and why Hip Hop functions as an effective teaching tool.

http://www.thefoundationonline.net

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