{"id":3987,"date":"2021-11-12T16:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T22:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/read.streamapse.com\/?p=3987"},"modified":"2024-04-12T16:29:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T21:29:29","slug":"the-love-hate-relationship-between-hip-hop-and-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=3987","title":{"rendered":"The Love-Hate Relationship Between Hip-Hop And Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nolan Jones<\/a>, Mills College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The richest men in hip-hop never finished college.<\/p>\n

Jay-Z \u2013 who is regarded as hip-hop\u2019s first billionaire<\/a> \u2013 never graduated from high school<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kanye West \u2013 who is considered hip-hop\u2019s second billionaire<\/a> \u2013 was a college dropout<\/a>, as he titled his debut album<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So was Dr. Dre \u2013 another hip-hop icon and a near billionaire<\/a> \u2013 who left college<\/a> after just two weeks.<\/p>\n

Ditto for Diddy<\/a> \u2013 now known as \u201cLove\u201d<\/a> \u2013 who dropped out of Howard University after two years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite their lack of college degrees, these four men \u2013 who are currently the richest rappers in the world<\/a> \u2013 have all taken a keen interest in higher education.<\/p>\n

Dre, for instance, along with former record producer Jimmy Iovine, donated US$70 million<\/a> to the University of Southern California to establish the USC Iovine and Young Academy<\/a>, which focuses on arts, technology and innovation. The pair are also seeking to open a similarly themed high school<\/a> in Los Angeles in 2022.<\/p>\n

Diddy in 2016 donated $1 million to Howard University <\/a> to help students who were struggling to pay off their student debt.<\/p>\n

West has, at least historically, made education a central theme of his music<\/a>. He also donated money to fully cover the college tuition of George Floyd\u2019s daughter<\/a>, Gianna Floyd.<\/p>\n

Jay-Z has created a scholarship foundation<\/a> that has sent students to study abroad<\/a> and has also \u2013 along with his wife, Beyonc\u00e9 \u2013 donated $2 million for scholarships<\/a> to support students at historically Black colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

Whatever one makes of the fact that these men \u2013 who all turned their backs on higher education decades ago \u2013 would turn around and use their fame and fortune to invest millions of dollars in a college education for others, their stories represent only a glimpse of hip-hop\u2019s complicated relationship with education.<\/p>\n

As one who studies the use of hip-hop in educational settings<\/a>, I have identified at least three ways hip-hop views formal education.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Schools are anti-Black<\/h2>\n

A 2005 study concluded that \u201cfrom the perspective of rap music, the discourse of education is largely dysfunctional<\/a> when it comes to meeting the material, social and cultural needs of African American youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps no rap group has expressed this view more clearly \u2013 and scathingly \u2013 than dead prez<\/a>, who were inspired by their high school experience to conclude in a 2000 song titled \u201cThey Schools\u201d<\/a> that: \u201cThey schools can\u2019t teach us sh-t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, it wasn\u2019t education that dead prez despised, but the racist manner in which they saw it being delivered.<\/p>\n

As stic man \u2013 one half of dead prez \u2013 recited in the song:<\/p>\n

I tried to pay attention but they classes wasn\u2019t interestin\u2019
\nThey seemed to only glorify the Europeans
\nClaiming Africans was only three-fifths of human beings<\/em><\/p>\n

Dead prez\u2019s critique of public education was by no means the first time a hip-hop artist called out American education as racist.<\/p>\n

Much like the English rock band Pink Floyd\u2019s cynical lyrics<\/a> \u201cWe don\u2019t need no education \/ we don\u2019t need no thought control,\u201d many of hip-hop\u2019s pioneering artists depict mainstream education as being designed to miseducate and program its students.<\/p>\n

In 1989\u2019s \u201cYou Must Learn,\u201d KRS-One suggests that schools should use a more culturally relevant approach<\/a> when he raps, \u201cIt seems to me that in a school that\u2019s ebony \/ African history should be pumped up steadily, but it\u2019s not \/ and this has got to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017\u2019s \u201cBlack Still,\u201d Scarface raps: \u201cOur kids educated by the enemy \/ And they don\u2019t know sh-t about their history \/ Cause they ain\u2019t teaching that in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their own way, these lyrics highlight frustrations with mainstream education\u2019s lack of a viable ethnic studies curriculum<\/a>, which has proved to foster cross-cultural understanding<\/a>, self-respect and diverse perspectives.<\/p>\n

2. Schools don\u2019t teach self-reliance<\/h2>\n

Many rappers have called out public education for failing to emphasize self-reliance and how to build wealth in a capitalistic society. For instance, in his 2015 song, \u201cFly,\u201d the rapper Hopsin recounts how teachers wrongly tried to make him think that going to school is the only way to succeed.<\/p>\n

Hopsin raps, \u201cI was taught education is the only way to make it \/ Then how\u2019d I get so much money inside my savings? \/ My teachers never saw the heights that I\u2019m f-cking aiming \/ Did the man who invented college, go to college? Hm, okay then\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2007 study found that hard-core rap \u201csupports a strong capitalist ideology<\/a>\u201d and that high school students in a New York City high school found this ideology \u201cattractive because it supports their dreams and expectations of a successful and prosperous adulthood.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is one of the reasons that the entrepreneurial messages of rappers like Nipsey Hussle<\/a>, 50 Cent<\/a> and Master P<\/a> tend to resonate.<\/p>\n

A few prominent rappers also speak to building wealth. In 2017\u2019s \u201cThe Story of OJ<\/a>,\u201d Jay-Z speaks about generational wealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancial freedom my only hope \/ F\u2013k livin\u2019 rich and dyin\u2019 broke \/ I bought some artwork for one million \/ Two years later, that shit worth two million \/ Few years later, that shit worth eight million \/ I can\u2019t wait to give this shit to my children\u201d<\/p>\n

When rap artists find success, they often flaunt it in the face of former teachers who were naysayers \u2013 offering them a sort of \u201clook-at-me-now\u201d clapback by calling attention to their triumph despite a lack of formal education.<\/p>\n

For example, the first words in Notorious B.I.G.\u2019s 1994 song \u201cJuicy\u201d were \u201cYeah, this album is dedicated to all the teachers that told me I\u2019d never amount to nothin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

While such braggadocio appears to focus only on the financial aspects of success<\/a>, the lyrics reflect a deeper issue of how traditional schooling stifles the imagination and creativity that power entrepreneurial interests. In this paradigm, teachers are often cast as dream killers.<\/p>\n

For instance, in \u201cR.I.C.O.,\u201d a 2015 song, Meek Mill raps: \u201cFor my teachers that said I wouldn\u2019t make it here \/ I spend a day what you make a year.\u201d<\/p>\n