Running head: HIP-HOP CLASSROOM INTEGRATION

Integrating Hip-Hop Music and Dance into the Classroom

Amanda Lockwood
University of La Verne

A Paper Prepared for EDUC 349

In Partial Fulfillment of
The Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts
December 2013

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ABSTRACT
Hip-hop music and dance can prove of great use as a tool to reach students through a type of
popular culture that is relevant to the world today. A brief history and description of the
evolution of hip-hop music and dance is included to show its global importance to the youth of
today. The purpose of this paper is to explain the many benefits of integrating hip-hop music
and dance as an art form, along with suggestions on incorporating hip-hop music and dance into
elementary and secondary classrooms. As times change it is important that educators evolve to
adapt to those changes in order to ensure that the youth is motivated to learn the necessary
curriculum.

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Integrating Hip-Hop Music and Dance into the Classroom

Hip-hop music and dance are a dominant part youth and urban culture in the United
States and can therefore provide educators with a new and exciting set of tools for arts
integration with a focus on reaching students in a way they are familiar and comfortable with. As
times change it is important that educators do the same and find new ways in which they can
communicate and help students learn. This paper will help explain the history and cultural
importance of hip-hop music and culture, the possible benefits for their integration, as well as
methods in which this can be accomplished.
Hip-Hop is more than just a dance or a style of music. It encompasses a culture and
lifestyle that is common to many of those living in urban settings in the United States and many
other cultures worldwide. Although its roots began in New York and Los Angeles, it has
expanded to reach almost every culture and is now known by youth all over the globe (Pabon,
1999). Hip-hop music and dance have also become prevalent in many suburban settings
throughout the world. This means that more students are familiar with hip-hop music and dance
styles than ever before, opening up a new area of interest that can be utilized for classroom
learning and arts integration.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the unnamed culture known today as hip-hop was
forming in New York Citys ghettos (Pabon, 1999). With influences from James Brown, salsa,
Afro-Cuban and various African and Native American dances (Pabon, 1999), one of the earliest
forms of hip-hop dance know as breaking (or b-boying/b-girling) was created, combining the
beats that were being spliced together by early DJs. At the same time, Los Angeles was
experiencing a similar movement which lead to the birth of popping and locking, nourished by
soul, R&B and funk music (Pabon, 1999). As these movements gained momentum and

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popularity and began to be seen on various television shows and discussed in the news, new
forms of music and dance began to take flight from these original styles and spread across the
United States. By the 1980s, hip-hop music and dance had started its commercial transformation
in which many of the styles previously separated were enmeshed into one umbrella known now
as hip-hop.
People today, and specifically youth, are exposed to hip-hop music and dance on a
regular basis. In 1998, hip-hop artists sold over 81 million records, more than any other genre of
music, and these numbers have continued to grow since. Additionally, most of these albums are
purchased by whites and other non-African-American groups (Morrell & Duncan-Andrade,
2002). Because of its popularity, many advertisers now use hip-hop music and dance to
showcase their products, further exposing Americans to the culture.
Tapping into this resource and connecting to students through hip-hop music, dance, and
culture is the next logical step for educators. Finding ways in which this can be accomplished
while still conforming to the content standards must be the key objective. Although hip-hop as a
whole is often considered controversial due to many of the negative connotations in the media
and elsewhere, working around such issues as cursing and sexism can be avoided as necessary in
younger classrooms, or used for a starting point for further exploration on the culture, political
and social statements made through rhyme and movement for older students.
There are many benefits to integrating art forms such as music and dance into the
classroom no matter what the genre or style being focused on. Robelen (2010) states that the art
of dance uses movement to create meaning about the human experience. Other key benefits
include physical fitness, improved balance, and increased flexibility as well as other less obvious
benefits such as improved cognitive development, higher self-esteem, problem-solving skills,

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and an increase in memory, order, and sequencing skills (Becker, 2013). When putting this in the
context of hip-hop dance in which one of the main focuses is to dance on the beat, students can
also receive the added benefits of improved rhythm and coordination, as well as a sense of
freedom from being creative alongside a lack of need for specific technical form.
Some possible elementary classroom activities involving hip-hop include creating rap and
coordinating dance moves to remember specific math concepts such as adding in multiples or
remembering the order of operations (PEMDAS). In subjects such as science, classes can use
hip-hop dance and movement to express concepts such as gravity, energy, inertia, light waves,
electricity and magnetism. Additionally, other concepts in social studies and language arts can be
addressed in a similar fashion to help reinforce political concepts and key topics such as the five
Ws. Placing students in small groups and allowing time to create poetry theyll set to a beat and
then furthering that task by having them create motions to accompany their raps, students are
using their language arts skills, problem-solving skills by working as a group, creative thinking
skills, as well as their coordination. Assignments such as these appeal not only to
visual/linguistic learners, but also to students with interpersonal, musical, and bodily-kinesthetic
intelligences.
Although it is ideal to think that educators could have a hip-hop specialist come into the
classroom to assist with its integration, it is not always possible nor is it necessary. With the
plethora of resources available online and in dance and educational journals today, educators
have more than ample information, videos, and suggestions available to them. On YouTube and
TeacherTube alone there are numerous examples of student projects done with hip-hop music
and dance as well as lessons on learning and teaching hip-hop.

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Integration doesnt always have to include larger projects such as creating poems to rap
alongside dances. Music and dance can be used separately, or by simply creating something as a
class that can be done in a matter of seconds each time a specific word or concept is mentioned.
Performing a movement to mimic a wavelength as seen in many hip-hop dances today is a great
example of something short and quick that students can use to associate with wavelengths when
discussing light and energy. In using hip-hop as the basis for moves such as this, students should
be reminded that being unique and putting their own style into the motions are not only
acceptable but encouraged as it is in hip-hop dance today. This can further embolden students to
explore their own body control while boosting self-esteem, all while accomplishing the goal of
teaching from the content standards.
As with other forms of lyrics, raps are another form of poetry which allows for the
natural progression of thought that hip-hop music and lyrics can be used as a teaching tool in
secondary classroom as well as in high schools. Morrell & Duncan-Andrade (2002) discuss that
hip-hop texts are rich in imagery and metaphor and can be used to teach irony, tone, diction,
and point of view. Often times rappers choose to tell a story in rhyme, allowing for deep
analyzation of such things as plot and theme while also allowing us to review the deeper political
connotations and messages given by artists like Public Enemy and Nas. In an experiment by
Morrell and Duncan-Andrade (2002), they incorporated hip-hop music as part of a literary unit
as post-industrial poetry along with literature from several other historical periods. As a result of
incorporating this additional genre, they saw that students were engaged and excited about their
learning, but also able to translate what they learned to make powerful connections to canonical
texts (Morrell & Duncan-Andrade, 2002) as well as helping to develop college-level expository
writing skills.

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There are numerous ways in which hip-hop music and dance can be integrated into
elementary and secondary classrooms. From using dance and movement as the main focus to
help drive key science concepts home for students, to allowing the lyrics in raps to be the starting
point for discussions on current political and social issues, finding a way to connect to students
in a way they are familiar and comfortable with while teaching the necessary curriculum is
paramount in order to pull as much from a students learning experience as possible. Tapping in
to popular culture and therefore tapping into hip-hop music and dance is a natural choice due to
its global prevalence today.

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8
References

Becker, K. M. (2013). Dancing through the school day: How dance catapults learning in
elementary education. JOPERD: The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation &
Dance, 84(3), 6-8.
Morrell, E., & Duncan-Andrade, J. (2002). Promoting academic literacy with urban youth
through engaging hip-hop culture. English Journal, 91(6), 88-92.
Pabon, J. (1999). Physical Graffitti.. the History of Hip Hop Dance by Popmaster Fabel. Physical
Graffitti.. the History of Hip Hop Dance by Popmaster Fabel. Retrieved November 30,
2013, from http://www.daveyd.com/historyphysicalgrafittifabel.html
Robelen, E. W. (2010). Schools integrate dance into lessons. Education Week, 30(12), 1,.