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Exploring History, Geography, & Culture Through Hip Hop Literature

Lauren Leigh Kelly, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Rutgers University

Nasir Jones Hip Hop Fellow, Harvard University

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Who am I?

  • Critical Consciousness

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  • Youth Epistemologies

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  • Hip Hop Education

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  • Secondary Educator
  • Professor of Urban Education
  • Researcher
  • Youth Organizer

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*art

*history

*culture

*community

*literacy

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USEFUL TERMINOLOGY

  • Hip Hop Culture- includes language, fashion, dance, and values often reflected in Hip Hop music.
  • Hip Hop Practice- an action or structure grounded in Hip Hop culture (i.e. cypher, sampling, tag)
  • Hip Hop Music- a genre of music that includes rap, R&B, and reggae crossovers.
  • Hip Hop Text- any artifact of or related to Hip Hop culture that can be “read,” including lyrics, articles, narratives, videos, etc.
  • Hip Hop Identities- ways in which individuals engage with, practice, and or connect to Hip Hop culture.

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“Constructed knowledge of self emerges from the struggle to replace controlling images with self-defined knowledge deemed personally important, usually knowledge essential to… survival”

(Collins, 2009, p. 111).

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Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy

Understanding

the ethos, values, sensibilities of (historically marginalized) students.

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Responding

to the needs and identities of students through classroom culture and pedagogical practices.

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Exposing

students to the histories, narratives, cultures, and contributions of communities that have been historically excluded from classroom curriculum and discourse

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Useful Resources

Books

  • Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Jeff Chang
  • Hip Hop Wars, Tricia Rose
  • The Hip Hop Generation, Bakari Kitwana
  • Check it While I Wreck it, Gwendolyn Pough
  • Decoded, Jay-Z

Documentary Films

  • Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Byron Hurt
  • Rhyme & Reason, Peter Spirer
  • Blacking Up, Robert Clift
  • Nas: Time Is Illmatic, One9, Erik Parker, Anthony Saleh
  • Fresh Dressed, Sacha Jenkins
  • Stretch and Bobbito: Radio that Changed Lives, Bobbito Garcia

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EFLY01 at

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Critical Hip Hop Literacy in Action! (25 min)

Your group will receive a song to examine and a set of guiding questions.

Create partnerships in your group to determine who will take on which tasks and questions.

STEP ONE:

Read and annotate the lyrics. Look up the lyrics on Genius.com to get more context.

STEP TWO:

Use whatever resources you can, including the internet and your group members to explore the selected text through the lenses of history, culture, and geography.

Feel free to ask for help from me and others outside of your group.

STEP THREE:

Share your findings with the group by preparing a 3-5 minute presentation. Use slides 19-23 for your presentation. (Feel free to add slides as needed.)

Presentations should include the following:

    • A brief summary of the text
    • A map of the location(s) mentioned in the text
    • The most salient/notable of your findings

STEP FOUR:

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When the breakout rooms open, choose a group to join based on your song choice and access the Google folder that corresponds with your group. Groups cap at 5 people. If there are already 5 people, then choose another group.

Beyoncé

Heavy D & the Boyz

Kendrick Lamar

Baby Cham, Alicia Keys, Akon

Jay Eazy

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Texas Hold ‘Em - Beyonce

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  • The song was created in early 2024.
  • Socio-politically, the song focuses on the racial injustices of the time.
  • The lyrics embrace individuality.
  • One theme potentially could be to slow down, connect with others, and experience the world around you.
  • Beyonce is validating what can be scary around the world - weather, climate change, etc. In order to be free, one must let go of problems.

Texas is located in Tornado Alley, the area between the Rocky and Appalachian mountain ranges. Even though, Beyonce is from Houston, which is not typically hit with tornadoes, the fear is always still there.

Beyonce crosses several genres. This song has a country vibe to it. The album focuses on the roots of country.

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Ghetto Story - Baby Cham featuring Alicia Keys, Akon

Technology: Facebook & Twitter,YouTube, Motorola Razr

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Hell’s Kitchen: 1980s-1990s

  • notorious for crime, gangs, violence, drugs, and prostitution
  • beginning of gentrification.

Jamaica in the 1980’s:

A culture of gun crime and violence

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Group Slide

Every Ghetto, Every City

  • Song from the ‘90s
  • The song is about Lauryn Hill’s recollection of her childhood in New Jersey, specifically South Orange and Newark.
  • neighborhood locations of where to get snacks
  • Mentions childhood games “Kill the Guy” (like the game of tag) and riding a “mongoose” (type of bike), as well as watching cartoons.

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Group Slide

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Group Slide

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Group Slide

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Unpacking�

  • What was the experience like for you?
    • What felt familiar?
    • What felt difficult, challenging, uncomfortable?
    • What was new, enlightening?
    • What did you learn?
    • What connections did you make?

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Questions and Ideas

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Additional Geography Tracks

  • “Midwest Swing” Saint Lunatics ft. Nelly (2001)
  • Jermaine Dupri f. Ludacris “Welcome to Atlanta” (2002)
  • Common f. Kanye West “Southside” (2007)
  • Meek Mill “Philadelphia Born and Raised” (2010)
  • K’naan- “Somalia” (2010)
  • Rapsody “Chrome (Like Ooh)” (2017)
  • Leikeli47 “Hoyt And Schermerhorn” (2018)
  • DJ Khaled f. Nipsey Hussle and John Legend “Higher” (2019)

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  • KRS-One “South Bronx” (1987)
  • Nice N Smooth “Sometimes I Rhyme Slow” (1991)
  • Warren G. f. Nate Dogg “Regulate” (1994)
  • Outkast “Elevators” (1996)
  • Lost Boyz “Renee” (1996)
  • De La Soul “Long Island Degrees” (1996)
  • Black Star f. Common “Respiration” (1998)
  • Foxy Brown “BK Anthem” (2001)

Extended Activity/Assessment: Create your own track inspired by your town/city/neighborhood/community. This can include specific locations that are meaningful to you and your cultural identities; localized language and references; inclusion of the history (economic, social, anthropological, etc) of this area.

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Money Earnin’ Mt. Vernon - Heavy D

Socio-historical context: 1989

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George H.W. Bush inaugurated

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Exxon Valdez oil spill

World Wide Web developed

Game Boy first released

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Geography

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Community

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Text Analysis

  • What themes are presented in this narrative?
    • Pride and strength of the community
    • Putting your city on the map (Westchester having to distinguish from the city as credible in hip hop)
  • What do the allusions/references in this text signal about the author or the audience?
    • The community, his people who grew up in Mt. Vernon wanting to reflect their power and relevance
    • Heavy D wanting to do the same
  • How does the author’s history/context influence this text?
  • What ideologies does this story support/uphold or challenge?
  • What ideas from this song do you see present in society or in Hip Hop today?
  • What ideas seem outdated or non-representative?

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Email

laurenleighkelly@gmail.com

Twitter

@djdutchesss

Website

laurenleighkelly.com

Thank You!