0:00:10.844,0:00:15.116 When I was 20 years old, i started teaching at a juvenile prison. 0:00:15.116,0:00:17.113 While there were many things that separated us, 0:00:17.113,0:00:21.432 I quickly discovered my students and I had one big thing in common: 0:00:21.432,0:00:23.429 our love of hip hop. 0:00:23.429,0:00:27.609 For the next few years, rap music became the main content for the classes I taught, 0:00:27.609,0:00:31.231 and I saw disengaged students emerge as leaders and experts. 0:00:31.231,0:00:33.599 Through engaging elements of hiphop culture together, 0:00:33.599,0:00:35.480 students and I learned language arts, life skills, 0:00:35.480,0:00:39.079 and to love each other and ourselves more. 0:00:39.079,0:00:42.562 As I continued to observed the ways in which our education system is rigged 0:00:42.562,0:00:45.697 against black and latino students and students from low income communities, 0:00:45.697,0:00:49.087 I asked myself what else we as educators could learn from hiphop, 0:00:49.087,0:00:51.966 the insanely innovative and influential global phenomenon 0:00:51.966,0:00:54.822 that has emerged from these very same communities. 0:00:54.822,0:00:57.028 When I say hiphop, I'm not just talking about music 0:00:57.028,0:01:00.209 or music xxx dance, which are considered central elements. 0:01:00.209,0:01:03.414 I'm referring to the blend of instincts, confidence, and ingenuity 0:01:03.414,0:01:05.178 that develops in oppressed communities 0:01:05.178,0:01:08.267 as has been demonstrated through the evolution of hiphop culture. 0:01:08.267,0:01:10.798 I'm talking about the Jamaican teenager in the South Bronx 0:01:10.798,0:01:12.330 taking two records of the same song 0:01:12.330,0:01:14.383 and fading back and forth between them 0:01:14.383,0:01:16.347 to create a new musical composition 0:01:16.347,0:01:19.134 by playing the most danceable segment over and over. 0:01:19.134,0:01:20.569 I'm talking about the inspiring visual artists 0:01:20.569,0:01:23.104 realizing they didn't need galleries to represent them 0:01:23.104,0:01:25.682 for their work to be seen, and instead painting on train cars 0:01:25.682,0:01:28.073 and instantly having an audience of hundreds of thousands. 0:01:28.073,0:01:31.278 I'm talking about a highschool dropout from the projects of mercy 0:01:31.278,0:01:33.553 using his entrepeneurial hassle and rap skills 0:01:33.553,0:01:36.990 to go from selling drugs, to selling CDs out of the trunk of his car, 0:01:36.990,0:01:38.963 to selling products at Macy's. 0:01:38.963,0:01:41.703 This is what my colleagues and I call hiphop genius, 0:01:41.703,0:01:45.233 creative resourcefulnes in the face of limited resources, 0:01:45.233,0:01:47.555 or as it's often said in the hiphop community: 0:01:47.555,0:01:50.504 flipping something outta nothing. 0:01:50.504,0:01:53.778 How could this audacious approach impact our education system? 0:01:53.778,0:01:57.377 For starters, we need to exhibit the brush creativity of hiphop pioneers, 0:01:57.377,0:01:59.536 just as hiphop producers sample songs 0:01:59.536,0:02:01.696 from other genres creating unique new sounds to please 0:02:01.696,0:02:05.086 audience's ears, hiphop educators can borrow from diverse models 0:02:05.086,0:02:08.430 and improvise xxx blends of educational practices customised 0:02:08.430,0:02:10.101 to meet students needs. 0:02:10.101,0:02:12.354 If that sounds to abstract, take a look at the highschool 0:02:12.354,0:02:15.070 for recording arts in Minnesota, where they mix project based learning 0:02:15.070,0:02:19.505 and competency based assesment with artistic, vocational, and business training 0:02:19.505,0:02:23.174 with xxxx and xxx at local colleges, with a heavy dose of student leadership. 0:02:23.174,0:02:26.286 We don't have to do the same thing that's been done before or follow one model. 0:02:26.286,0:02:28.817 We can sample and mix multiple teaching techniques 0:02:28.817,0:02:31.673 and school designs to find the blends that best serve our students. 0:02:31.673,0:02:35.411 We also need to adapt the value hiphop places on staying fresh: 0:02:35.411,0:02:38.476 a hot beat yesterday ... was a hot beat yesterday. 0:02:38.476,0:02:40.357 Whoever sends out to make a hot beat today 0:02:40.357,0:02:43.886 has to do something new and different to remain relevant. 0:02:43.886,0:02:45.535 The world is changing rapidly around us. 0:02:45.535,0:02:48.995 The top ten jobs in 2010 didn't exist six years earlier. 0:02:48.995,0:02:52.687 Hiphop's premium on freshness must permeate our schools. 0:02:52.687,0:02:54.475 And we need to be resourceful. 0:02:54.475,0:02:57.215 In the 1970s, thousands of families chose to replace their 0:02:57.215,0:02:58.399 linoleum floors. 0:02:58.399,0:03:01.209 In poor neighbourhoods, the old linoleum was left in piles on the street. 0:03:01.209,0:03:04.831 Young people, without access to playgrounds or dance classes, 0:03:04.831,0:03:06.387 turned their parent's trash into dancefloors 0:03:06.387,0:03:09.661 and invented new moves like the windmill and the headspin 0:03:09.661,0:03:11.750 to maximize its potential. 0:03:11.750,0:03:13.678 Faced with our own resource constraints, 0:03:13.678,0:03:15.489 educators need to find new platforms, 0:03:15.489,0:03:17.346 what refuges could we be dancing on, 0:03:17.346,0:03:19.088 and what are our new moves. 0:03:19.088,0:03:22.757 Behind the mike, spray cans, turn tables and when it comes to their educations, 0:03:22.757,0:03:25.961 students have brilliant ideas and instincts. 0:03:25.961,0:03:29.189 Hiphop genius is not just about teachers using hiphop songs 0:03:29.189,0:03:31.882 to get kids to succeed in traditional schools. 0:03:31.882,0:03:35.876 It's about changing education to respect and build 0:03:35.876,0:03:37.083 from young people's brilliance. 0:03:37.083,0:03:38.337 It's about the incredible possibilities that occur 0:03:38.337,0:03:39.707 when students are engaged, 0:03:39.707,0:03:42.029 not just as consumers, but as creators. 0:03:42.029,0:03:45.628 We don't need to twig the content inside existing traditional academic structures. 0:03:45.628,0:03:47.788 We need to think outside the classroom and build 0:03:47.788,0:03:50.388 the institutions that are fundamentally more responsive 0:03:50.388,0:03:53.128 to young people's interest and ingenuity. 0:03:53.128,0:03:54.754 We need to create schools and school systems 0:03:54.754,0:03:58.715 that not only teach hiphop, they are hiphop.