Hip-Hop Elements: Vehicles 4 Ministry

In my last post I talked about the innovative work of Dr. Christopher Emdin of Columbia University. I had the opportunity to hear him lecture about utilizing the elements of Hip-Hop as vehicles for science education.  The lecture was a part of the Ohio State University Hip-Hop Literacies Conference.  The entire conference seeks to explore the dynamism of Hip-Hop as a (literacy) teaching tool. His lecture explored the power of tapping into the pain of urban youth that is expressed in the music and to utilize that pain as a tool for motivating them toward purposeful growth and development.  He calls it Reality Pedagogy. You can read the entire post here.

The more I listened, the more I was convinced that what this guy was saying was so deeply relevant for so many sectors as well as the church and evangelism.  It was almost like he could've been speaking to a room full ministers and church administrators. In his speech, he gave five keys to effective use of Hip-Hop culture as a teaching tool.  He calls them the "5 Cs of Reality Pedagogy."  

The 5 Cs are as follows:

1. Cogens - Cyphers/Cyphas
2. Co-teaching - Crews
3. Cosmopolitanism - City/Gang Imagery
4. Context - Culturally Relevant Imagery
5. Content - Truth

1. Cogens/Cyphers - Cyphers happen when when rappers/hip-hoppers encircle themselves in an informal creative "brainstorming" or "freestyle" session. One person carries the beat while others in the circle keep the rhymes going with unscripted rhymes and lyrics. Often times these cyphers are the sort of environment where rap battles can take place.

2. Co-teaching/Crews -  Closely related to the cyphers are crews. A crew is like a cypher with a long-term commitment. No Hip-Hop artist performs alone. They all have crews/teams where they collaborate to make music and develop meaning and identity. 

3. Cosmopolitanism - This is the glue that holds the community together. It's the unspoken rules of city/street life that are utilized for survival and engagement. Secret handshakes and other non-verbal cues, and even dress are specific-context specific details that let those on the inside know who's in and who's out.

4. Context - Closely related to cosmopolitanism is the significance of context. The city/street/ghetto is the primary prevalent frame of reference. One must intentionally utilize imagery that can be easily identified and interpreted from the urban perspective.

5. Content - Simply put, this is correct teaching, accurate information, truth. Hip-Hop, from it's inception has always put a premium on gathering and sharing important information.  Even in cases where the information may promote illegal activity or immoral action it is always shared and collected for the sake of survival and prosperity in the given context.

Is it possible that the church can utilize these same vehicles to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ in a vibrant, refreshing, and authentic manner? Could our crews be small groups, and cogens the study/discussion sessions? Could cosmopolitanism suggest that we dispense with three-piece suits for worship? Could our sermons and songs regularly invoke the challenges and issues of everyday urban life in a way that sheds new light on life? And could we engage those issues in a way with the word of God that Hip-Hoppers might be able to see that God is indeed speaking words of life directly to and for them?

I think it's possible. All things are possible to him who believes right?

Science In the Language of Hip-Hop

Dr. Chris Emdin is Assoc. Professor
at Columbia Univ. Teacher's College.

Tonight I spent a few hours listening to a keynote speech by an amazingly gifted young scholar. Dr. Christopher Emdin is a sort of pioneer in the area of science education in that he uses Hip-Hop as a medium through which the students might receive the content of science instruction. 

I stumbled upon him and his work a few months back on twitter, and I started following him a family of other Hip-Hod heads and scholars who religiously use the hashtag #HipHopEd (Hip-Hop Education). These thorough Hip-Hoppers get together on twitter every Tuesday between 9-10 pm and talk all things Hip-Hop. It's really informative and engaging dialogue.

Tonight he gave the keynote address at Ohio State University's Hip-Hop Literacy Conference. This conference is annual event that is organized by a varied collective of disciplines and departments throughout the university. Dr. Emdin's lecture keyed in on the value of pain to progress. He quoted the great Anais Nin who said:

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Man, if that isn't a deeply powerful statement. The pain that we feel for the Hip-Hop culture is the very pain that we felt for ourselves having experienced the pangs of of poverty and oppression that plagues our ghettos and urban communities. These are the ones with no spiritual director, no pastor, no church. Just the streets. And when you don't have anything else, you make do with what you got...the streets.

I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Emdin at a Hip-Hop
Literacy Conference at Ohio State University. 

Dr. Emdin is a genius (for real) because he figured out that the way to help kids love science (and school for that matter) is to help them tap into their pain. That pain is most often expressed in the music...the rap music.  Music is the soundtrack of life. And so Hip-Hop is the soundtrack of the hood. 

But Hip-Hop isn't just music. Hip-Hop is language. It is a means of communicating about shared experience. We can't relate to country clubs, trust funds, and international vacations, but what we can relate to is drug abuse, fatherlessness, and crime. It is dress, speech, and style that manifests that shared experience. It is culture.

Dr. Emdin now teaches teachers how to capture the essence of the culture and utilize the indigenous elements of Hip-Hop as tools for instruction. By tapping into their culture we tap into what is nearest and dearest to them...their pain. And when we tap into the pain of ghetto life we unlock the potential for limitless achievement. I wonder if my church folks are hearing this.

Maybe later on I'll delve a little deeper into some of the other concepts in his lecture (specifically the 5 Cs) and how this stuff is relevant for church and ministry.