A bona fide hip hop superstar, the rapper A$AP Rocky has taken on several professional and personal roles: recording artist and producer, A-list actor, fashion icon, partner to Rihanna, and father of three young children. Now, he’s added another one to the list: educator. Sort of.
Last week, Rocky pulled up to P.S. 125, the Ralph Bunche School in the Harlem neighborhood where he grew up, for an episode of “Celebrity Substitute,” a YouTube series in which celebs step into New York City’s public school classrooms for a day.
“I hope that the kids like me,” Rocky joked in an interview with series host Julian Shapiro-Barnum. “I might be a strict teacher.”
Rocky wasn’t there to warn kids about the pitfalls of fame. Instead, he handed a group of young students the mic. With just two hours on the clock, he challenged them to write lyrics and tap into hip hop as it is meant to be used: a way of telling stories and self-expression.
Dr. Edmund Adjapong, an associate professor at Seton Hall University who studies how hip hop can create positive learning opportunities for students, said incorporating the art form into the classroom helps build students’ confidence.
“In many instances, young people are villainized for having a hip hop identity,” he said. “Bringing that perspective into schools with young people allows them to, in a sense, bring their authentic selves into schools.”
Rapping when you don’t know what to say
Together, Rocky and the kids wrote a song called “IDK,” inspired by Rocky’s new track “Punk Rocky.” He did what all good teachers do: Tap into students’ lived experiences and create a safe space for them to share honestly.
In the school’s newly donated recording studio, one student, Matthew, admitted he didn’t know what to rap about. “I have no idea what I’m doing here!” Matthew shouted into the mic, turning confusion into a hook that had the whole room laughing — and listening.
“In the beginning, I was quiet because I didn’t want to embarrass myself, but then they said it’s OK to be loud,” Matthew later said. “And then I started being louder.”
That spark of confidence is exactly why many educators see hip hop as a tool for helping students learn.
Hip hop pedagogy has deep roots
For more than a decade, scholars and educators have pushed schools to see hip hop as a culturally relevant teaching method. Educators like Chris Emdin, a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and one of the founders of the hip hop education movement, have long argued that the art form’s collaborative traditions — like cyphers and call-and-response — are an asset in learning environments, particularly for Black children.
Teaching with hip hop isn’t just writing raps for the day with a celebrity. Instead, it can look like learning science concepts through rhymes and structuring class time to encourage critical thinking about systemic injustices in society — something hip hop has always done.
In New York City, for example, Cyphers for Justice brings together high school students, incarcerated youth, and educators for a 15-week course to learn to address social issues through the art form.
“A hip hop pedagogy is one that leverages hip hop culture,” said Adjapong, who co-edited a book about hip hop and education with Emdin. “It’s one that encourages young people to address the injustices and oppression that folks experience in the world.”
While Rocky’s time in the classroom only lasted a few hours, the lesson is bigger than a YouTube episode: Students are often more engaged when they see their culture, language, and lived experiences embraced.