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What's really going on? It's Boots Riley. I'm

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the writer and director of Sorry to Bother

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You. You are now listening to

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two dope teachers

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and a microphone.

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Keep it locked right here. No texting.

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Hey, yo. What is going on? Two Dope

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Nation.

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Welcome back to Two Dope Teachers and a

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Mike. We are the most dangerous podcast in

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the schoolhouse

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to date.

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We appreciate you

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joining us today

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to remix

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the, conversation on race, power, and education.

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I am Gerardo Munoz,

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executive producer and co host. If you are

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new to the podcast, if you're not familiar

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with the work of two dope teachers and

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a mic, we welcome you. We welcome you

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to the two dope nation.

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We in the two dope nation or a

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nation without borders.

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We do not have requirements for entry or

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exit. I mean, the thing is nobody really

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leaves once they're in Tudoep Nation. They're like,

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no, I think I like it here. I

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wanna be in Tudoep Nation. This is where

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I wanna be.

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So if you are new, follow us on

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all social media platforms

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at Tudoepeteachers,

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on Instagram, on Twitter,

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on,

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where we we're on TikTok.

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If you search two Dope Teachers and a

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Mic on Facebook, we are also there. I'm

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gonna warn you right now, we are not

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super

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active these days, and it's mostly

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because your boy just doesn't really know how

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to social media anymore. Just don't know. It's

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just such a weird place to be. But

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this is a place where you can, get

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these stories. You can follow all of our

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links

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and join the nation.

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This podcast is sponsored by nobody.

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We don't have a sponsor. And so we

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don't have to do a whole bunch of

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reads, and we don't have to go through

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a bunch of stuff. If you're interested, you

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should check out our Substack. We have a

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TudoTeacher Substack account.

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Also, you can look me up at Habitually

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Disruptive,

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where I just try to put questions in

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front of you to make you think a

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little bit. And, you know, for me, it's

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all about mindsets and trying to do that

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kind of work.

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So I'm so excited for our guest today.

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This is somebody that,

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that contacted us a little while ago, and

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then we had some really good exchanges going

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back and forth.

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And,

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she and her crew are just doing super

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dope work in the area of hip hop

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and SEL. So we're we'll get that intro

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in just a second.

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I wanna share a story

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really quickly.

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So

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I got in trouble in middle school, and

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those of you who know me will not

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be even a little bit surprised by the

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fact that I got trouble in middle got

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in trouble in middle school.

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I do still believe my inner child is

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a 12 year old,

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and it's a 12 year old boy who

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didn't have really high self esteem but found

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out that he was funny.

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And that was just the key to, like,

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everything. So there's this group of me and

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my friends. We used to we used to,

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like, have our little, rap group at lunch.

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And y'all,

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do you know

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what the name of our rap crew was?

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It had a name. We were the two,

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number two. Right? Because wordplay.

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Two fresh crew.

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So imaginative.

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Right? And it's because we felt that we

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were too fresh.

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Anyway, so we would wrap at lunch.

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This got teachers

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a little bit, like, upset with us because

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we were loud. We were black and brown

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boys being super loud in the cafeteria, and

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this was not some this was something that

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was frowned upon where we went to school.

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And so I got detention,

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because we had been rapping very loudly. There

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may have been other behaviors associated with it,

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but I will neither confirm nor deny any

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allegations that come my way about how I

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was acting in seventh grade.

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But I ended up in

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lunchtime detention one day with miss Fuller,

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and miss Fuller was my drama teacher.

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And

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this must have just been poetic justice for

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miss Fuller

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because

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in drama class, I would not participate unless

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I wasn't supposed to be. And so I

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was a kid that was talking to everybody

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being loud, yelling across the room. But the

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second you call on me, I'm like,

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I don't wanna say anything.

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And so,

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so I go in. I'm wearing my headphones.

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She tells me I have to take my

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headphones off because I'm in detention. I grumble

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a little bit and put it down, and

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she comes over and she takes an interest

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in me. She says,

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so what were you listening to?

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And I was like, all full of attitude.

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I said,

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you wouldn't understand,

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right? Because this was a person over the

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age of 20. Clearly, she would not understand

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anything

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that I had to say. And she's like,

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try me. And I said,

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is there a B and Rakim? So this

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is like 1988,

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right?

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And she says,

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oh, well, that surprises me that you don't

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like acting or theater.

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And I looked at her. I was like,

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what do you mean? And she says, well,

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you know, they're all performers.

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Those are characters. Like, Rakim writes great characters.

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And I was like, what are you talking

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about? Rakim's a rapper. Rakim is cool, not

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like some drama nerd. Like, I didn't say

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those things are in my head.

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And she's like, no. She's like, you know,

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you should

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listen to his songs and try to understand

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the kind of characters that he is creating

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because it's theatrical,

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and it's giving us a message that can

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be really powerful.

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And honestly,

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it it changed everything for me.

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Part of the reason I got in so

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much mischief is that I had a stutter.

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So a lot of kids will make fun

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of me,

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when I would I like to say I

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was remixing the language. It was it was

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the remix of things.

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And but one thing that really stuck with

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me with Rakim

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was

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this was a person

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who could express himself with words

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in a way that I just

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envied.

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And from that point on,

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I listened for the characters. I was like,

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wait, you can script out what you're gonna

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say. Like you can practice saying things and

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you can do that. So

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shout out Ms. Fuller,

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fabulous drama teacher. Her daughter,

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is actually a really successful jazz musician. And

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so I've tried to, like, find miss Fuller

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through her daughter, have not been successful.

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All that is to,

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kinda bring around to our guests that we

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have today.

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Hip hop

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just gave me such an opportunity

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to think about my identity in different ways

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and to,

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and to just find

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some safety and some self expression when it

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was kinda hard to find,

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especially for this little Gen X kid.

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And so the guest I have today

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is

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Jamila Sams.

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Hi, Jamila.

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Hey. How are you? Hello? I'm doing great.

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Am I saying your name right? I didn't

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even clarify with you. Jamila? Jamila.

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Jamila.

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Yes.

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It it depends on where you're from. Oh,

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okay. I respond. So tell me more about

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that. Like, it it it depend depends on

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where you're from. What does that mean?

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So

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I I have parents from two different,

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you know, walks of life and two very

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distinct accents. And so my mother's from Bermuda.

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And so everyone in Bermuda says Jamila,

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and then my dad is from Harlem,

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and everybody

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from the New York side says Jamila.

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So I respond to both because both accents

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were in the same household. I also wanna

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name that I know

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I know two Jamila's,

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and y'all are both dope. So

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gotta be something with the name. So I'm

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gonna Thanks.

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So Jamila is from this amazing

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organization,

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called We Do It For The Culture.

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And, We Do It For The Culture is

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a hip hop SEL

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program

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that's, like, super dope. And, of course, like,

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we look at we do it for the

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culture. We look at two dope peaches and

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a mic. This is a match

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made in,

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in heaven,

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AKA

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The Bronx when hip hop was invented.

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Right?

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But this is really great. So I wanna

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start off with just, a question about the

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origins and the mission of

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We Do It For The Culture. What was

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it that inspired you to create this? And

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how does how is hip hop uniquely positioned

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to strengthen social emotional learning for young people?

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Yeah. Thanks for that.

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So it was really a seed that I

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think was planted at a really early age.

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My father had a store in West Philadelphia

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called the What's Happening Now shop.

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And that was kinda like the hub where

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all the students from West Philly High and

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the other surrounding,

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schools would come to hang out,

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buy penny candy

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during that time. You know, I was only

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eight years old. That was in '19,

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'86.

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Oh, yeah. Fast shoelaces,

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spike bracelets,

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like,

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all all the original artifacts of hip hop.

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We sold them in the store.

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And,

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you know, students would come in to get

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their Slurpees, to get their penny candy, to

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get their, you know,

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fast shoelaces. But more importantly, they came to

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kinda just

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hang around my dad and the staff at

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the store

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because he was always, like, dropping jewels, talking

276
00:10:06,774 --> 00:10:07,914
to them about education,

277
00:10:08,695 --> 00:10:10,714
you know, talking to them about entrepreneurship.

278
00:10:11,735 --> 00:10:13,975
And so as an eight year old, I

279
00:10:13,975 --> 00:10:16,134
was just kinda looking like, wow, this is

280
00:10:16,134 --> 00:10:18,475
cool. Like, we got these big woofer speakers,

281
00:10:18,774 --> 00:10:19,274
like,

282
00:10:19,610 --> 00:10:22,589
blasting out Jam on it. Jam on it.

283
00:10:22,889 --> 00:10:25,449
And, like, the students coming in, and my

284
00:10:25,449 --> 00:10:28,350
dad's talking. And so the vibe was just,

285
00:10:28,409 --> 00:10:29,709
like, no other.

286
00:10:30,169 --> 00:10:31,629
But as an adult,

287
00:10:32,009 --> 00:10:33,389
I realized that

288
00:10:34,214 --> 00:10:35,934
not only was he you know, he's a

289
00:10:35,975 --> 00:10:38,054
he was a salesman, obviously, but then he

290
00:10:38,054 --> 00:10:41,834
was also cultivating relationships with young people effortlessly.

291
00:10:42,694 --> 00:10:43,914
Right? And so

292
00:10:44,375 --> 00:10:46,950
that's something that I've always paid attention to,

293
00:10:46,950 --> 00:10:48,709
and I try to bring that into the

294
00:10:48,709 --> 00:10:51,029
work that I do with we do it

295
00:10:51,029 --> 00:10:53,429
for the culture. Because as an educator, I

296
00:10:53,429 --> 00:10:55,909
know that if you're building, you know, really

297
00:10:55,909 --> 00:10:59,110
meaningful, impactful relationships with students and meeting them

298
00:10:59,110 --> 00:11:02,254
on their own, you know, cultural turf, then

299
00:11:02,554 --> 00:11:05,355
they're more likely to retain whatever information that

300
00:11:05,355 --> 00:11:07,835
you're going to give them. And then more

301
00:11:07,835 --> 00:11:08,335
importantly,

302
00:11:08,794 --> 00:11:10,875
we hope that they're able to actually apply

303
00:11:10,875 --> 00:11:12,095
it. So,

304
00:11:12,790 --> 00:11:15,350
so hip hop has really just been kind

305
00:11:15,350 --> 00:11:17,129
of just that that corner store

306
00:11:17,670 --> 00:11:20,570
cornerstone of just, like, my upbringing. And so

307
00:11:21,190 --> 00:11:22,950
my dad being from Harlem, when I were

308
00:11:23,029 --> 00:11:24,809
whenever I would go to see,

309
00:11:25,365 --> 00:11:27,044
my grandmother who lived,

310
00:11:27,445 --> 00:11:29,544
off A Hundred 20 Fifth in LaSalle,

311
00:11:30,884 --> 00:11:33,445
like, that's when, you know, I heard it

312
00:11:33,445 --> 00:11:35,205
playing in the streets and playing in the

313
00:11:35,205 --> 00:11:37,125
building and in the in the hallway. She

314
00:11:37,125 --> 00:11:39,779
lived in Grant Holmes, and so music was

315
00:11:39,779 --> 00:11:41,399
just coming from every direction.

316
00:11:42,019 --> 00:11:45,159
And then, I think from a operational standpoint,

317
00:11:45,220 --> 00:11:47,539
when I got older, I used to watch

318
00:11:47,539 --> 00:11:49,320
Teen Summit on BET.

319
00:11:49,940 --> 00:11:51,779
And so first, you know, I had to

320
00:11:51,779 --> 00:11:53,879
see this planet. Okay. Hip hop

321
00:11:54,495 --> 00:11:56,595
is dope. It's bringing people together.

322
00:11:57,054 --> 00:11:58,754
You know? We're building relationships.

323
00:11:59,134 --> 00:11:59,955
And then

324
00:12:00,335 --> 00:12:03,315
to see it being used through Teen Summit

325
00:12:03,615 --> 00:12:06,620
on BET in a really meaningful way, to

326
00:12:06,620 --> 00:12:07,120
see

327
00:12:07,580 --> 00:12:10,700
artists like, you know, Tupac and, you know,

328
00:12:11,419 --> 00:12:13,580
you name it, MC Wright, so many people.

329
00:12:13,580 --> 00:12:15,100
Like, you name it, they were on teen

330
00:12:15,100 --> 00:12:15,600
summit.

331
00:12:16,059 --> 00:12:18,459
To hear them come and talk about their

332
00:12:18,459 --> 00:12:21,134
stories, the stories behind their songs, the stories

333
00:12:21,134 --> 00:12:22,195
behind their videos,

334
00:12:22,735 --> 00:12:25,215
and then this group of young people, the

335
00:12:25,215 --> 00:12:26,115
posse members,

336
00:12:26,575 --> 00:12:29,075
being able to have really deep dialogues

337
00:12:29,455 --> 00:12:31,535
about some of the content that was in

338
00:12:31,535 --> 00:12:33,759
the songs, whether it was self destruction and

339
00:12:33,759 --> 00:12:35,539
we're talking about stopping the violence,

340
00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,000
whether it's Brenda's Got a Baby and we're

341
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,299
talking about teenage pregnancy,

342
00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:42,639
you know, Eve, you know, talking about domestic

343
00:12:42,639 --> 00:12:46,075
violence. Like, all those things happened on Teen

344
00:12:46,075 --> 00:12:48,735
Summit. And I just remember growing up realizing,

345
00:12:48,875 --> 00:12:49,615
like, wow.

346
00:12:50,154 --> 00:12:52,235
You know, there's all these messages and all

347
00:12:52,235 --> 00:12:55,674
these lessons that in a traditional, you know,

348
00:12:55,674 --> 00:12:56,174
space,

349
00:12:56,714 --> 00:12:58,949
young people may not talk about. Right? Like,

350
00:12:58,949 --> 00:13:00,309
when you say, let's sit in a circle

351
00:13:00,309 --> 00:13:01,689
and talk about teenage pregnancy,

352
00:13:02,069 --> 00:13:04,009
they probably look at you like you're nuts.

353
00:13:04,230 --> 00:13:04,709
But

354
00:13:05,350 --> 00:13:06,250
right. Exactly.

355
00:13:07,029 --> 00:13:09,350
But if you do it through, you know,

356
00:13:09,350 --> 00:13:11,189
this track, Brenda's got a baby, or if

357
00:13:11,189 --> 00:13:12,894
you're talking about, you know,

358
00:13:13,674 --> 00:13:15,455
violence through through each track,

359
00:13:17,274 --> 00:13:20,154
Love is Blind. Like, now you're creating a

360
00:13:20,154 --> 00:13:21,134
space where

361
00:13:21,595 --> 00:13:24,075
students could talk about really important topics. And

362
00:13:24,075 --> 00:13:25,615
so that's kind of the premise,

363
00:13:26,309 --> 00:13:29,190
the energy, the seed that was planted behind

364
00:13:29,190 --> 00:13:30,950
We Do It For The Culture because young

365
00:13:30,950 --> 00:13:32,410
people today aren't watching

366
00:13:32,789 --> 00:13:33,690
TV anymore.

367
00:13:34,070 --> 00:13:35,990
And so I had to figure out, okay,

368
00:13:35,990 --> 00:13:38,410
how can I meet students where they are?

369
00:13:38,904 --> 00:13:40,745
And I had to come to them, and

370
00:13:40,745 --> 00:13:42,985
where they are is on social media. And

371
00:13:42,985 --> 00:13:45,404
so we leverage YouTube content,

372
00:13:46,745 --> 00:13:50,664
you know, clips from, TikTok and other, media

373
00:13:50,664 --> 00:13:51,164
outlets

374
00:13:51,699 --> 00:13:53,480
in order to create lessons

375
00:13:53,940 --> 00:13:55,639
that students can relate to

376
00:13:56,100 --> 00:13:56,839
and hopefully

377
00:13:57,299 --> 00:14:00,100
extract those social emotional learning lessons from them

378
00:14:00,100 --> 00:14:01,779
and apply them for their own personal And

379
00:14:01,779 --> 00:14:03,699
can you talk a little bit about the

380
00:14:03,699 --> 00:14:04,199
curation

381
00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:07,225
of that content that that you put out

382
00:14:07,225 --> 00:14:09,324
there for young people.

383
00:14:10,024 --> 00:14:11,644
Do you use existing

384
00:14:12,024 --> 00:14:13,225
sort of things that are out there? Do

385
00:14:13,225 --> 00:14:15,004
you create your own? Is it a combination

386
00:14:15,064 --> 00:14:15,804
of both?

387
00:14:16,504 --> 00:14:20,339
Yeah. So currently, we leverage content that already

388
00:14:20,339 --> 00:14:22,500
exists. And so we spend a lot of

389
00:14:22,500 --> 00:14:23,000
time

390
00:14:23,539 --> 00:14:25,320
curating content because,

391
00:14:25,860 --> 00:14:27,539
we have to make sure that the content

392
00:14:27,539 --> 00:14:29,860
doesn't have any profanity or anything that would

393
00:14:29,860 --> 00:14:30,839
be deemed inappropriate

394
00:14:31,220 --> 00:14:31,879
for school.

395
00:14:32,214 --> 00:14:35,495
And so nowadays, you know, most words can

396
00:14:35,495 --> 00:14:37,654
just be used very loosely, but, you know,

397
00:14:37,654 --> 00:14:38,875
we wanna maintain,

398
00:14:40,214 --> 00:14:42,054
you know, that credibility. So we wanna make

399
00:14:42,054 --> 00:14:44,875
sure that we are screening the content for

400
00:14:45,174 --> 00:14:46,235
classroom use.

401
00:14:47,299 --> 00:14:48,679
And so we would curate,

402
00:14:49,779 --> 00:14:52,019
news clips. So everything that we do hip

403
00:14:52,019 --> 00:14:54,019
hop is a culture. Right? So we're not

404
00:14:54,019 --> 00:14:56,919
just extracting, like, music videos or lyrics.

405
00:14:57,299 --> 00:14:59,539
We're also looking at, yeah, we're looking at

406
00:14:59,539 --> 00:15:01,004
all five elements. So So we may bring

407
00:15:01,004 --> 00:15:02,764
in movement. We may bring in,

408
00:15:03,404 --> 00:15:06,684
you know, articles and, you know, TED Talks,

409
00:15:06,684 --> 00:15:08,524
you know, from hip hop artists. And so

410
00:15:08,524 --> 00:15:10,305
anything that's related to,

411
00:15:11,485 --> 00:15:14,045
lifting up the culture but also has a

412
00:15:14,045 --> 00:15:14,545
message

413
00:15:15,169 --> 00:15:18,370
that's kinda centered around those five social emotional

414
00:15:18,370 --> 00:15:19,269
learning competencies,

415
00:15:19,649 --> 00:15:21,509
which are self awareness,

416
00:15:21,809 --> 00:15:22,629
self management,

417
00:15:23,009 --> 00:15:27,029
social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship skills.

418
00:15:27,545 --> 00:15:30,125
If I can extract the lesson that aligns

419
00:15:30,184 --> 00:15:31,325
with one or more

420
00:15:31,705 --> 00:15:34,285
of those five SEO competencies, and then

421
00:15:34,665 --> 00:15:36,904
those are typically the the types of media

422
00:15:36,904 --> 00:15:38,825
clips. I really like that. I really wanted

423
00:15:38,825 --> 00:15:39,325
to,

424
00:15:39,705 --> 00:15:41,545
I wanted to have you name that because

425
00:15:41,545 --> 00:15:42,125
I think

426
00:15:42,639 --> 00:15:45,039
there are there are other sort of content

427
00:15:45,039 --> 00:15:47,279
creators and I'm not not bashing anybody. I

428
00:15:47,279 --> 00:15:49,039
think anybody trying to do the right thing

429
00:15:49,039 --> 00:15:49,700
for kids,

430
00:15:50,399 --> 00:15:51,940
I think it should be uplifted.

431
00:15:52,399 --> 00:15:53,779
But I think there's an authenticity

432
00:15:54,754 --> 00:15:56,674
in the content that you put out there

433
00:15:56,674 --> 00:15:59,075
in that it's also in other places. You're

434
00:15:59,075 --> 00:16:01,975
having young people think about and discuss things

435
00:16:02,274 --> 00:16:04,274
that can be found in a lot of

436
00:16:04,274 --> 00:16:05,095
other places.

437
00:16:05,875 --> 00:16:06,375
Just

438
00:16:07,710 --> 00:16:09,790
just sort of as an aside, so I've

439
00:16:09,790 --> 00:16:12,529
been attending the American Education Research Association's,

440
00:16:13,389 --> 00:16:15,889
annual meeting. It's here in Denver this year.

441
00:16:16,190 --> 00:16:18,190
And one literally one of the,

442
00:16:19,149 --> 00:16:19,470
the

443
00:16:20,029 --> 00:16:22,290
actually two of the sessions I sat in,

444
00:16:23,375 --> 00:16:23,875
related

445
00:16:24,254 --> 00:16:25,475
hip hop, raeton

446
00:16:26,095 --> 00:16:26,595
solidarity

447
00:16:26,975 --> 00:16:27,475
across,

448
00:16:28,254 --> 00:16:31,154
across groups. And so there's some really amazing,

449
00:16:32,175 --> 00:16:33,774
scholarly work. And I know you have some

450
00:16:33,774 --> 00:16:36,420
scholars on your board as well, which is

451
00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:38,639
really exciting. So I love that this is

452
00:16:38,639 --> 00:16:40,259
a conversation that's happening.

453
00:16:40,879 --> 00:16:42,179
I wanna move into

454
00:16:42,559 --> 00:16:44,500
this next question around

455
00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,600
so there's and obviously, we are living in

456
00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,284
The United States Of America in in 2025

457
00:16:50,284 --> 00:16:51,985
and so a lot of things are really,

458
00:16:52,524 --> 00:16:53,345
under attack.

459
00:16:53,884 --> 00:16:56,945
This idea of culturally responsive education. Right?

460
00:16:57,964 --> 00:17:00,225
A lot of traditional SEL programs

461
00:17:01,164 --> 00:17:03,820
just kind of fall flat with students of

462
00:17:03,820 --> 00:17:07,019
color. Right? And this isn't my opinion or

463
00:17:07,019 --> 00:17:09,900
your opinion specifically. This is what research tells

464
00:17:09,900 --> 00:17:13,019
us. How is it that the approach you

465
00:17:13,019 --> 00:17:15,119
take with we do it for the culture,

466
00:17:16,414 --> 00:17:18,595
center culture and lived experiences

467
00:17:19,535 --> 00:17:20,194
to make

468
00:17:20,494 --> 00:17:20,994
this,

469
00:17:21,855 --> 00:17:23,315
to make the SEL

470
00:17:23,855 --> 00:17:24,355
imperative

471
00:17:24,654 --> 00:17:26,355
of the work more impactful?

472
00:17:26,734 --> 00:17:27,474
So I think,

473
00:17:28,015 --> 00:17:29,330
I pray We Do It for the Culture

474
00:17:29,330 --> 00:17:31,490
because a lot of the content that was

475
00:17:31,490 --> 00:17:33,570
out there in order to teach those SEL

476
00:17:33,570 --> 00:17:34,070
skills,

477
00:17:34,609 --> 00:17:36,529
for a lack of a better word, they

478
00:17:36,529 --> 00:17:37,830
were just boring.

479
00:17:38,210 --> 00:17:41,109
Like, the feedback To use a technical term?

480
00:17:41,695 --> 00:17:43,695
Like, that's the only word yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

481
00:17:43,695 --> 00:17:45,134
That's the only word I could come up

482
00:17:45,134 --> 00:17:45,634
with.

483
00:17:46,015 --> 00:17:47,955
They they students were not engaged.

484
00:17:48,975 --> 00:17:49,475
And

485
00:17:50,015 --> 00:17:52,414
and what I noticed was that they would

486
00:17:52,494 --> 00:17:54,755
may have had black and brown faces,

487
00:17:55,319 --> 00:17:57,899
but they didn't really center the experiences

488
00:17:59,159 --> 00:17:59,819
of those,

489
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,440
you know, characters or just people that they

490
00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:04,380
put into the to the curriculum.

491
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:05,740
And then,

492
00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:07,980
you know, young people are also

493
00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:10,119
it's not a good thing, but a lot

494
00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:10,545
of them

495
00:18:11,345 --> 00:18:13,445
are leaning less towards, like,

496
00:18:14,384 --> 00:18:16,625
animation and things of that nature, and they

497
00:18:16,625 --> 00:18:18,625
just want the real. Like, this is what's

498
00:18:18,625 --> 00:18:20,545
happening in my neighborhood. This is what I

499
00:18:20,545 --> 00:18:21,984
could connect to. This is what I can

500
00:18:21,984 --> 00:18:22,805
relate to.

501
00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:24,039
And so,

502
00:18:24,519 --> 00:18:25,720
I just felt like a lot of the

503
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,759
traditional programs were asking students to kinda regulate

504
00:18:28,759 --> 00:18:30,940
their emotions were about really validating

505
00:18:32,039 --> 00:18:34,440
what they were feeling or the why behind

506
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:34,934
it.

507
00:18:35,495 --> 00:18:38,555
And if students can't connect to different scenarios

508
00:18:38,615 --> 00:18:40,475
and connect that back to their lives,

509
00:18:40,855 --> 00:18:42,394
then they're not going to apply

510
00:18:42,855 --> 00:18:44,634
the information. And so

511
00:18:45,095 --> 00:18:47,035
for us, it wasn't about adding,

512
00:18:47,380 --> 00:18:50,359
you know, the cultural element as an afterthought.

513
00:18:50,419 --> 00:18:52,500
Like, we wanted it to really be the

514
00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:53,000
foundation.

515
00:18:54,419 --> 00:18:56,259
You know, so, like, when students are listening

516
00:18:56,259 --> 00:18:58,900
to, like, a Kendrick Lamar lyric or, you

517
00:18:58,900 --> 00:19:01,059
know, they're watching a spoken word piece, and

518
00:19:01,059 --> 00:19:02,039
then they're asking

519
00:19:02,545 --> 00:19:04,164
to reflect on their own

520
00:19:04,545 --> 00:19:07,365
resilience or times that they showed empathy

521
00:19:07,664 --> 00:19:10,384
or, you know, any of those skills that

522
00:19:10,384 --> 00:19:12,865
come up through the lyrics or through whatever

523
00:19:12,865 --> 00:19:15,740
the media content is, then they're more likely

524
00:19:15,740 --> 00:19:18,299
to feel connected to it. And it shows

525
00:19:18,299 --> 00:19:20,139
that as the adult in the room or

526
00:19:20,139 --> 00:19:22,619
the person that, is leading this work or

527
00:19:22,619 --> 00:19:23,279
the facilitator,

528
00:19:23,980 --> 00:19:25,519
it shows that they cared enough

529
00:19:26,139 --> 00:19:29,414
to find content that students could relate to

530
00:19:29,414 --> 00:19:30,634
or they would be interested

531
00:19:31,255 --> 00:19:34,054
in. And so, you know, for us, culturally

532
00:19:34,054 --> 00:19:34,554
responsive

533
00:19:34,934 --> 00:19:35,434
education,

534
00:19:36,615 --> 00:19:39,815
is about seeing the the entire Yeah. Human

535
00:19:39,815 --> 00:19:40,315
experience.

536
00:19:41,330 --> 00:19:44,130
And it's important that we're we're lifting that

537
00:19:44,130 --> 00:19:44,630
up,

538
00:19:45,170 --> 00:19:47,089
and we're not gonna shy away from it.

539
00:19:47,089 --> 00:19:48,869
Like, despite everything that's happening,

540
00:19:49,890 --> 00:19:52,130
you know, we're not diluting our content. If

541
00:19:52,130 --> 00:19:53,535
anything, we're ramping up,

542
00:19:54,575 --> 00:19:56,595
and we're going to ensure that,

543
00:19:57,455 --> 00:19:59,775
you know, we've moved full steam ahead with

544
00:19:59,775 --> 00:20:00,515
this work.

545
00:20:01,455 --> 00:20:03,215
Because, again, I think it sends a really

546
00:20:03,215 --> 00:20:04,914
bad message to young people

547
00:20:05,375 --> 00:20:06,434
when we cowered,

548
00:20:07,535 --> 00:20:08,835
from telling the truth

549
00:20:09,329 --> 00:20:11,109
and when we cowered from,

550
00:20:11,809 --> 00:20:13,890
making sure that their voices are heard. I

551
00:20:13,890 --> 00:20:16,450
love hearing that. We'll get to what that

552
00:20:16,450 --> 00:20:18,289
ramping up looks like in a moment. I'd

553
00:20:18,289 --> 00:20:19,730
love to hear more about that. I have

554
00:20:19,730 --> 00:20:21,490
a little bit of a follow-up. So in

555
00:20:21,490 --> 00:20:23,730
our in an earlier conversation you and I

556
00:20:23,730 --> 00:20:25,275
had, one of the comments

557
00:20:25,654 --> 00:20:26,954
that that you made

558
00:20:27,255 --> 00:20:29,275
was that it's not like

559
00:20:29,734 --> 00:20:31,115
young people don't necessarily

560
00:20:32,375 --> 00:20:33,595
refer to

561
00:20:33,894 --> 00:20:35,974
this as hip hop culture and, like, that

562
00:20:35,974 --> 00:20:38,159
kind of thing, that they have different ways

563
00:20:38,159 --> 00:20:40,339
of naming the work Mhmm. Naming

564
00:20:40,799 --> 00:20:41,700
the the culture

565
00:20:42,079 --> 00:20:44,640
and Mhmm. The creative expression that goes into

566
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:45,140
it.

567
00:20:45,759 --> 00:20:47,839
Tell us a little bit about Mhmm. What

568
00:20:47,839 --> 00:20:50,799
the relationship is between school age children today

569
00:20:50,799 --> 00:20:52,664
with what we know as hip hop. How

570
00:20:52,664 --> 00:20:55,805
is it similar and different from previous generations

571
00:20:56,105 --> 00:20:58,505
like like ours? Like, we we grew up

572
00:20:58,505 --> 00:21:00,105
with hip hop. Hip hop is a sibling

573
00:21:00,105 --> 00:21:00,845
to us.

574
00:21:02,105 --> 00:21:04,525
How is it similar? How is it different?

575
00:21:05,170 --> 00:21:07,990
I think it's similar in that hip hop

576
00:21:08,289 --> 00:21:11,650
was always about lifting up whatever young people

577
00:21:11,650 --> 00:21:14,150
were talking about in that moment in time.

578
00:21:14,930 --> 00:21:16,070
So I think that's

579
00:21:16,930 --> 00:21:19,269
still happening. It's just the how

580
00:21:19,644 --> 00:21:21,884
may look a little different. Right? And it

581
00:21:21,884 --> 00:21:25,265
may not be as technical. Right? But when

582
00:21:25,325 --> 00:21:28,444
students make up a TikTok dance to go

583
00:21:28,444 --> 00:21:31,565
with, you know, a song or affirmation or

584
00:21:31,565 --> 00:21:32,545
what have you,

585
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,940
that's hip hop culture. Like, that's, you know,

586
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:38,320
making up, you know, something that you're going

587
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:38,900
to feel,

588
00:21:39,599 --> 00:21:42,000
but then you're also teaching someone else to

589
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,480
do it, and it becomes a movement. Similar

590
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,484
to all the dancers that we looked up

591
00:21:46,565 --> 00:21:48,724
to, scoop and scrap leg one, leg two,

592
00:21:48,724 --> 00:21:49,224
like,

593
00:21:49,684 --> 00:21:51,444
you know, I was in the mirror every

594
00:21:51,444 --> 00:21:53,285
day trying to do exactly what they were

595
00:21:53,285 --> 00:21:55,285
doing. It's the same thing today. We're just

596
00:21:55,285 --> 00:21:57,365
doing it through the phone. Yeah. It's the

597
00:21:57,365 --> 00:21:58,500
same thing. Right?

598
00:21:59,700 --> 00:22:00,200
And,

599
00:22:00,740 --> 00:22:02,680
you know, thinking about the messaging,

600
00:22:03,059 --> 00:22:06,099
like, young people, Gen Zers are very in

601
00:22:06,099 --> 00:22:08,579
tune with their emotions. Very in tune. Like,

602
00:22:08,579 --> 00:22:10,259
very in tune. So, you know

603
00:22:11,140 --> 00:22:11,625
yes.

604
00:22:12,424 --> 00:22:14,585
And so, like, the fact that they're using

605
00:22:14,585 --> 00:22:17,484
their platforms on social media or through their,

606
00:22:17,625 --> 00:22:20,265
you know, music to talk about things like

607
00:22:20,265 --> 00:22:21,484
depression and,

608
00:22:22,424 --> 00:22:23,164
you know,

609
00:22:23,545 --> 00:22:24,930
yeah, what people

610
00:22:25,309 --> 00:22:27,549
are are in their circle, mental health. Like,

611
00:22:27,549 --> 00:22:31,009
all those things, I think, are rooted in

612
00:22:31,150 --> 00:22:33,070
what the culture is all about. Like I

613
00:22:33,070 --> 00:22:36,430
said, the the connection is there. Like, the

614
00:22:36,430 --> 00:22:37,730
the roots are there,

615
00:22:38,190 --> 00:22:38,690
but

616
00:22:39,315 --> 00:22:41,234
what you see may just look a little

617
00:22:41,234 --> 00:22:44,034
different than from when we grew up. And

618
00:22:44,034 --> 00:22:47,075
I think sometimes, like, especially the, like, hip

619
00:22:47,075 --> 00:22:49,154
hop purest and people of our era have

620
00:22:49,154 --> 00:22:51,714
to kinda just really get off of our

621
00:22:51,714 --> 00:22:54,694
high horse because there are definitely times that,

622
00:22:54,970 --> 00:22:56,809
you know, I was in a club singing

623
00:22:56,809 --> 00:22:58,650
stuff that I should not have been singing

624
00:22:58,650 --> 00:23:01,009
and had, you know, about experiences that I've

625
00:23:01,009 --> 00:23:01,490
never had.

626
00:23:01,930 --> 00:23:02,430
Across

627
00:23:03,210 --> 00:23:06,430
all genres. Across all genres. Yeah.

628
00:23:06,730 --> 00:23:07,950
Yes. Yes.

629
00:23:08,595 --> 00:23:10,694
And and I didn't see anything,

630
00:23:10,994 --> 00:23:13,095
you know, wrong with it. Now,

631
00:23:14,115 --> 00:23:16,035
is some of the stuff now that I'm

632
00:23:16,035 --> 00:23:18,115
an adult, do I look at it with

633
00:23:18,115 --> 00:23:19,255
a different lens?

634
00:23:19,634 --> 00:23:20,134
Absolutely.

635
00:23:20,755 --> 00:23:21,599
Right? Like,

636
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,079
the one thing I will say is different

637
00:23:24,079 --> 00:23:24,740
is that,

638
00:23:25,759 --> 00:23:27,700
because of this machine

639
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:29,220
of capitalism

640
00:23:29,599 --> 00:23:32,559
that's kinda taken over or tries to take

641
00:23:32,559 --> 00:23:33,460
over the culture,

642
00:23:34,079 --> 00:23:36,900
what our students may see in their algorithm

643
00:23:37,804 --> 00:23:40,924
is, again, depending on what they're feeding their

644
00:23:40,924 --> 00:23:41,424
algorithm,

645
00:23:42,045 --> 00:23:44,444
may look very different. Right? So you may

646
00:23:44,444 --> 00:23:46,765
get more drill. You may get more, you

647
00:23:46,765 --> 00:23:47,265
know,

648
00:23:48,125 --> 00:23:49,744
violence centered, drug centered,

649
00:23:50,285 --> 00:23:51,345
but it's also

650
00:23:52,730 --> 00:23:54,350
about what we're feeding it.

651
00:23:54,890 --> 00:23:55,630
And so

652
00:23:55,930 --> 00:23:56,750
that's why

653
00:23:57,049 --> 00:23:58,410
kind of what we're doing, we do it

654
00:23:58,410 --> 00:24:00,250
for the culture, is kind of that reverse

655
00:24:00,250 --> 00:24:00,750
thinking,

656
00:24:02,250 --> 00:24:04,974
to get students to see, okay. There's there's

657
00:24:05,035 --> 00:24:07,515
deliberate content that's being sent to you. What

658
00:24:07,515 --> 00:24:08,894
are you doing with that content?

659
00:24:09,195 --> 00:24:10,414
Like, are you deciphering

660
00:24:11,035 --> 00:24:13,195
the images in the content? Are you looking

661
00:24:13,195 --> 00:24:15,455
at the lyrics? Are you understanding them?

662
00:24:16,154 --> 00:24:17,914
And so that's I feel like that's where

663
00:24:17,914 --> 00:24:20,255
adults come in. That's where teachers come in

664
00:24:20,369 --> 00:24:22,369
to make sure that we're making meaning out

665
00:24:22,369 --> 00:24:24,069
of the content that they're receiving.

666
00:24:24,369 --> 00:24:24,869
Or

667
00:24:25,410 --> 00:24:26,869
if it's being done

668
00:24:27,250 --> 00:24:29,410
at a detriment, then we're talking to them

669
00:24:29,410 --> 00:24:31,009
about, okay. Well, why do you think this

670
00:24:31,009 --> 00:24:33,424
is the type of music that's being targeted

671
00:24:33,825 --> 00:24:36,085
Yeah. To black and brown students? Right?

672
00:24:36,704 --> 00:24:38,945
Like, you know, white kids in the suburbs

673
00:24:38,945 --> 00:24:41,265
may be listening to it, but they don't

674
00:24:41,265 --> 00:24:43,345
have any connection to it. Right? They don't

675
00:24:43,345 --> 00:24:44,724
they don't have the experiences.

676
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:46,380
But some of us

677
00:24:46,759 --> 00:24:47,980
may have the experiences,

678
00:24:48,679 --> 00:24:50,779
and are we able to kinda decipher

679
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,179
reality from truth?

680
00:24:54,279 --> 00:24:56,460
You know, the white kids in the suburbs

681
00:24:56,519 --> 00:24:57,420
may be glorifying

682
00:24:58,244 --> 00:24:58,984
those experiences,

683
00:24:59,444 --> 00:25:01,865
but those experiences could be very real

684
00:25:02,244 --> 00:25:02,984
for somebody

685
00:25:03,924 --> 00:25:05,545
in another neighborhood. So,

686
00:25:06,964 --> 00:25:08,484
not to say that white kids in the

687
00:25:08,484 --> 00:25:08,984
suburbs

688
00:25:09,285 --> 00:25:11,365
are dealing with some of those same issues,

689
00:25:11,365 --> 00:25:12,825
substance abuse, violence.

690
00:25:13,429 --> 00:25:13,929
Absolutely.

691
00:25:14,869 --> 00:25:15,369
But

692
00:25:15,750 --> 00:25:17,609
it's glorified and celebrated,

693
00:25:19,269 --> 00:25:21,429
in a way that, again, for somebody else,

694
00:25:21,429 --> 00:25:23,929
it may be their actual reality. So

695
00:25:24,309 --> 00:25:25,190
I think that,

696
00:25:26,204 --> 00:25:28,304
I think that today, a lot of those

697
00:25:28,365 --> 00:25:30,065
elements of hip hop, the entrepreneurship

698
00:25:30,525 --> 00:25:31,825
piece is still there.

699
00:25:32,365 --> 00:25:35,164
Young people are super creative coming up with

700
00:25:35,164 --> 00:25:37,345
different ways to get their stuff out there.

701
00:25:38,204 --> 00:25:40,500
I still think again, the movement is still

702
00:25:40,500 --> 00:25:42,440
there. The emceeing is still there.

703
00:25:42,900 --> 00:25:44,820
I just started listening to this young man,

704
00:25:46,180 --> 00:25:47,559
is it Akeem McHugh?

705
00:25:49,299 --> 00:25:51,380
I think so. I yeah. I think Akeem

706
00:25:51,380 --> 00:25:52,680
McHugh out of Florida.

707
00:25:54,134 --> 00:25:56,634
And, oh my gosh. Like, I was like,

708
00:25:56,695 --> 00:25:59,815
hip hop is not dead, folks. Like, it's

709
00:25:59,815 --> 00:26:01,994
not. It just may not be

710
00:26:02,455 --> 00:26:04,394
showing up in your algorithm

711
00:26:04,695 --> 00:26:06,690
at the same rate as some other stuff.

712
00:26:06,849 --> 00:26:08,529
No. But it's not And if it does

713
00:26:08,529 --> 00:26:10,450
show up in your algorithm, it's not showing

714
00:26:10,450 --> 00:26:12,470
up the way it did in 1992.

715
00:26:12,609 --> 00:26:14,849
Right? Like, the like, there's other things to

716
00:26:14,849 --> 00:26:16,289
it. Right. You've got me on this thing

717
00:26:16,289 --> 00:26:18,950
now because I'm thinking about, particularly with TikTok,

718
00:26:20,609 --> 00:26:23,184
like, almost like what a lot of young

719
00:26:23,184 --> 00:26:24,244
people are creating.

720
00:26:24,785 --> 00:26:26,384
Was it there's, like, a couple of different

721
00:26:26,465 --> 00:26:28,644
so one of the most powerful things that

722
00:26:28,785 --> 00:26:30,465
hip hop taught me and a lot of

723
00:26:30,465 --> 00:26:32,384
the kids that I grew up with, in

724
00:26:32,384 --> 00:26:34,244
my neighborhood on the East Side in Denver

725
00:26:34,625 --> 00:26:37,184
was that if you have a message, you

726
00:26:37,184 --> 00:26:39,179
can put it out there. All you need

727
00:26:39,179 --> 00:26:41,419
is, like, a pen, a notebook, and your

728
00:26:41,419 --> 00:26:43,740
voice, and and you put it out there.

729
00:26:43,740 --> 00:26:45,500
And if you're putting wax stuff out there,

730
00:26:45,500 --> 00:26:46,720
it's gonna get challenged.

731
00:26:47,019 --> 00:26:50,539
Right? Somebody will challenge it, and I think

732
00:26:50,539 --> 00:26:51,039
that's

733
00:26:51,474 --> 00:26:53,794
probably the most important place I learned about

734
00:26:53,794 --> 00:26:56,034
critical discourse before I knew what it was.

735
00:26:56,034 --> 00:26:58,115
Right? That we would say and and I

736
00:26:58,115 --> 00:26:59,414
got, like, sort of

737
00:26:59,794 --> 00:27:01,254
scolded as an undergraduate

738
00:27:02,034 --> 00:27:02,534
for

739
00:27:02,835 --> 00:27:05,769
addressing classroom discussions in the same way that

740
00:27:05,769 --> 00:27:07,130
I did when my friends and I were

741
00:27:07,130 --> 00:27:09,529
debating something. Right? So I think about that

742
00:27:09,529 --> 00:27:11,869
piece. I think about the

743
00:27:12,490 --> 00:27:12,990
about

744
00:27:13,930 --> 00:27:14,430
TikToks

745
00:27:14,890 --> 00:27:15,390
and

746
00:27:15,690 --> 00:27:17,789
the, you know, those stories that are posted

747
00:27:18,005 --> 00:27:20,244
almost like these modern day mix tapes. Right?

748
00:27:20,244 --> 00:27:23,625
Mhmm. Like, they're taking they're repurposing content sometimes

749
00:27:24,005 --> 00:27:26,164
and applying it to a lesson that they

750
00:27:26,164 --> 00:27:28,565
can just put out there. Mhmm. And, it

751
00:27:28,565 --> 00:27:31,305
can be really, really powerful in that way.

752
00:27:31,525 --> 00:27:32,025
Absolutely.

753
00:27:33,019 --> 00:27:35,099
There's there's so many ways to flip it

754
00:27:35,099 --> 00:27:36,159
and make the content

755
00:27:36,700 --> 00:27:38,539
your own. Like, I just I got an

756
00:27:38,539 --> 00:27:40,000
email today from

757
00:27:40,539 --> 00:27:41,039
a

758
00:27:41,339 --> 00:27:43,119
teacher from a Christian academy

759
00:27:43,579 --> 00:27:44,640
in North Carolina

760
00:27:45,684 --> 00:27:47,205
who's been using We Do It For The

761
00:27:47,205 --> 00:27:49,125
Culture. And so they took one of our

762
00:27:49,125 --> 00:27:49,625
lessons.

763
00:27:50,164 --> 00:27:51,945
The latest one from Kendrick,

764
00:27:52,644 --> 00:27:55,605
we say they're they not like me. So

765
00:27:55,605 --> 00:27:57,924
it's a a whole lesson on just being

766
00:27:57,924 --> 00:27:59,144
your unique self.

767
00:27:59,589 --> 00:28:01,990
And, like, she emailed me to say she's

768
00:28:01,990 --> 00:28:03,609
tying it to a few biblical,

769
00:28:05,109 --> 00:28:05,609
verses

770
00:28:05,990 --> 00:28:06,490
that

771
00:28:06,869 --> 00:28:10,069
celebrate the importance of being unique and being

772
00:28:10,069 --> 00:28:11,129
who, you know,

773
00:28:11,444 --> 00:28:12,964
God created you to be. And I was

774
00:28:12,964 --> 00:28:15,524
like, wow. Like I didn't even see that

775
00:28:15,524 --> 00:28:16,024
coming.

776
00:28:16,325 --> 00:28:16,825
Like,

777
00:28:17,605 --> 00:28:19,365
I I didn't I did not see that

778
00:28:19,365 --> 00:28:20,884
coming. You know? Who knew that, you know,

779
00:28:20,884 --> 00:28:22,565
hip hop would make it this far? Like,

780
00:28:22,565 --> 00:28:23,720
we're remixing Kendrick Kendrick

781
00:28:24,179 --> 00:28:24,679
and

782
00:28:25,140 --> 00:28:26,852
tying it to biblical verses, and she's using

783
00:28:26,852 --> 00:28:29,299
it at a Christian academy. So the power

784
00:28:29,299 --> 00:28:29,880
of storytelling

785
00:28:30,579 --> 00:28:31,799
is is is universal.

786
00:28:33,220 --> 00:28:35,059
Yeah. And that's what's hip hop does. It

787
00:28:35,059 --> 00:28:37,380
allows for that those universal Yeah. Those I

788
00:28:37,380 --> 00:28:39,444
have a follow-up, but it it also makes

789
00:28:39,444 --> 00:28:40,505
me think of how,

790
00:28:41,204 --> 00:28:41,704
like,

791
00:28:42,164 --> 00:28:45,044
how particularly some of the Psalms in in

792
00:28:45,044 --> 00:28:45,704
the bible,

793
00:28:46,565 --> 00:28:49,464
they they have some very direct, blunt, sometimes

794
00:28:49,525 --> 00:28:50,025
violent,

795
00:28:50,404 --> 00:28:52,105
highly emotional imagery.

796
00:28:52,650 --> 00:28:55,789
And so that connection makes sense. Mhmm.

797
00:28:56,330 --> 00:28:57,789
I do have this question about,

798
00:28:59,450 --> 00:29:01,210
kind of what it looks like, like how

799
00:29:01,210 --> 00:29:01,710
often

800
00:29:02,250 --> 00:29:04,349
you or others on your team

801
00:29:04,650 --> 00:29:06,410
engage in the classroom. Like, what does that

802
00:29:06,410 --> 00:29:07,150
look like?

803
00:29:07,835 --> 00:29:10,095
Or is it mostly people using

804
00:29:10,394 --> 00:29:11,134
the materials,

805
00:29:11,994 --> 00:29:13,214
and that kind of thing?

806
00:29:13,595 --> 00:29:15,855
Mainly, we train facilitators

807
00:29:16,634 --> 00:29:18,394
to actually use we do it for the

808
00:29:18,394 --> 00:29:19,695
culture and their schools.

809
00:29:20,730 --> 00:29:21,230
However,

810
00:29:21,609 --> 00:29:23,450
what we just started to do was to

811
00:29:23,450 --> 00:29:25,150
start kinda do like this

812
00:29:25,849 --> 00:29:27,390
world tour, so to speak,

813
00:29:27,930 --> 00:29:30,170
where we're going to different cities, and we're

814
00:29:30,170 --> 00:29:32,410
asking teachers to allow us to come in

815
00:29:32,410 --> 00:29:34,109
and kinda see them in action.

816
00:29:34,595 --> 00:29:36,434
And then we've been having,

817
00:29:36,835 --> 00:29:39,575
focus groups with students to hear their feedback

818
00:29:39,875 --> 00:29:40,855
on the lessons,

819
00:29:41,795 --> 00:29:43,795
what's working, who are they listening to, who

820
00:29:43,795 --> 00:29:45,335
should we include in the curriculum,

821
00:29:46,674 --> 00:29:48,750
you know, just how are they engaging with

822
00:29:48,750 --> 00:29:51,710
the content? And are they actually really thinking

823
00:29:51,710 --> 00:29:52,210
about

824
00:29:52,750 --> 00:29:53,970
those five SEL

825
00:29:54,509 --> 00:29:55,009
competencies?

826
00:29:55,470 --> 00:29:58,690
Are they starting to have more reflective moments

827
00:29:59,309 --> 00:30:02,610
as a result of using the curriculum? Because,

828
00:30:02,825 --> 00:30:04,585
you know, hip hop culture, all of that

829
00:30:04,585 --> 00:30:07,224
is really the the anchor or the hook

830
00:30:07,224 --> 00:30:07,964
or the conduit

831
00:30:08,345 --> 00:30:10,105
to get them to really start to express

832
00:30:10,105 --> 00:30:10,605
themselves,

833
00:30:11,384 --> 00:30:12,845
and to share their stories.

834
00:30:13,785 --> 00:30:15,785
And so we wanna make sure they're actually

835
00:30:15,785 --> 00:30:16,285
applying

836
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:18,299
the skills that they learn

837
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,240
through the content and the media content, you

838
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,000
know, in their own personal lives. Way too

839
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,640
many spoilers. Y'all gotta sign up. You can

840
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:27,740
sign up for free. You can also subscribe

841
00:30:28,119 --> 00:30:28,860
and pay.

842
00:30:29,255 --> 00:30:32,715
But these five competencies with FCL, they're essentially

843
00:30:33,015 --> 00:30:35,174
the same as if you look in any

844
00:30:35,174 --> 00:30:36,154
SEL curriculum,

845
00:30:36,455 --> 00:30:39,735
self awareness, self management, social awareness, responsible decision

846
00:30:39,735 --> 00:30:41,195
making, and relationship

847
00:30:41,495 --> 00:30:43,434
skills. Honestly, as an aside,

848
00:30:43,750 --> 00:30:45,429
I would love to see some adults do

849
00:30:45,429 --> 00:30:47,509
that. Do you do any adult work? Like,

850
00:30:47,509 --> 00:30:50,230
because I'm kinda like, man. Oh, yes. We

851
00:30:50,230 --> 00:30:50,730
do

852
00:30:53,669 --> 00:30:57,269
too. We do. Especially since we're since, teachers

853
00:30:57,269 --> 00:30:59,955
are the ones facilitating the lessons with students,

854
00:31:00,174 --> 00:31:01,375
you know, we would love for it to

855
00:31:01,375 --> 00:31:03,855
get to a point where they are actually

856
00:31:03,855 --> 00:31:06,174
doing what, you know, doctor Emdin talks about

857
00:31:06,174 --> 00:31:08,595
cogents. Like, we would love to see students

858
00:31:09,295 --> 00:31:11,455
actually leading the work at some point. But

859
00:31:11,455 --> 00:31:12,115
to start,

860
00:31:12,450 --> 00:31:14,210
we have to make sure that the teachers

861
00:31:14,210 --> 00:31:15,490
are ready to use We Do It for

862
00:31:15,490 --> 00:31:17,429
the Culture. So a lot of that work,

863
00:31:18,450 --> 00:31:20,710
comes in a form of adult SEL

864
00:31:21,009 --> 00:31:21,509
practices

865
00:31:22,130 --> 00:31:24,289
and helping them to be vulnerable. There's a

866
00:31:24,289 --> 00:31:27,394
lot of teachers who are comfortable teaching content,

867
00:31:27,534 --> 00:31:28,274
not necessarily

868
00:31:28,734 --> 00:31:29,554
human beings.

869
00:31:29,934 --> 00:31:32,014
And so we have to help them to,

870
00:31:32,014 --> 00:31:34,174
you know, be vulnerable, share your story so

871
00:31:34,174 --> 00:31:36,174
that you're creating spaces for students to be

872
00:31:36,174 --> 00:31:37,474
their authentic selves.

873
00:31:38,335 --> 00:31:40,414
And that's something a lot of adults struggle

874
00:31:40,414 --> 00:31:40,815
with.

875
00:31:41,910 --> 00:31:44,150
And because they struggle with it, then they're

876
00:31:44,150 --> 00:31:47,269
less likely to build, like, deeper relationships with

877
00:31:47,269 --> 00:31:49,690
their kids. So great. And, like, and, like,

878
00:31:50,070 --> 00:31:52,309
I'm only half joking when I ask if,

879
00:31:52,309 --> 00:31:54,869
like, there's training of of adults because I

880
00:31:54,869 --> 00:31:57,664
think it's, you know, Paulo Freire talks about

881
00:31:57,664 --> 00:31:58,144
this,

882
00:31:58,625 --> 00:31:59,924
the reality of

883
00:32:00,225 --> 00:32:02,384
the relationship between the teacher student and the

884
00:32:02,384 --> 00:32:04,865
student teacher and that the roles are are

885
00:32:04,865 --> 00:32:05,365
constantly

886
00:32:05,744 --> 00:32:08,545
fluid. They're not sedentary. They're not set in

887
00:32:08,545 --> 00:32:09,445
stone. Mhmm.

888
00:32:10,349 --> 00:32:10,930
I'm curious

889
00:32:11,470 --> 00:32:13,869
if you So I'm thinking about kind of

890
00:32:13,869 --> 00:32:16,509
what this looks like IRL, right, in real

891
00:32:16,509 --> 00:32:17,009
life.

892
00:32:17,950 --> 00:32:19,890
Can you think of any

893
00:32:20,750 --> 00:32:22,930
a story or a moment where

894
00:32:23,664 --> 00:32:27,285
you were able to bear witness or, like,

895
00:32:27,744 --> 00:32:30,224
receive a story of how we do it

896
00:32:30,224 --> 00:32:32,545
for the culture made an impact in a

897
00:32:32,545 --> 00:32:33,684
young person's life?

898
00:32:34,224 --> 00:32:35,025
Yeah. We just

899
00:32:36,305 --> 00:32:36,805
so

900
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:38,619
it's it's been,

901
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,599
really a priority for us to get schools

902
00:32:42,599 --> 00:32:44,839
to send us videos because, again, we're we're

903
00:32:44,839 --> 00:32:45,659
a small team.

904
00:32:46,039 --> 00:32:47,819
We're in 15 states,

905
00:32:48,279 --> 00:32:51,240
you know, over a 150 schools nationwide, so

906
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:53,355
it's really hard to, like, get out and

907
00:32:53,355 --> 00:32:54,095
see them.

908
00:32:54,714 --> 00:32:57,595
Yeah. So we've been, getting videos from some

909
00:32:57,595 --> 00:32:59,674
of the schools that we're working with. And

910
00:32:59,674 --> 00:33:01,914
one in particular, we work with a charter

911
00:33:01,914 --> 00:33:02,414
network,

912
00:33:03,115 --> 00:33:04,494
in Stockton, California,

913
00:33:05,140 --> 00:33:06,740
the Aspire Schools. And,

914
00:33:07,220 --> 00:33:09,220
we just got a video from a teacher

915
00:33:09,220 --> 00:33:10,039
who's using

916
00:33:10,500 --> 00:33:11,559
one of our lessons,

917
00:33:12,419 --> 00:33:12,900
on

918
00:33:13,299 --> 00:33:14,679
as a civics lesson.

919
00:33:16,259 --> 00:33:18,795
And this lesson is all about the,

920
00:33:19,434 --> 00:33:21,375
Rico case that Gunna

921
00:33:21,755 --> 00:33:22,255
and,

922
00:33:23,195 --> 00:33:23,695
YSL

923
00:33:24,394 --> 00:33:24,894
were

924
00:33:25,355 --> 00:33:26,255
a part of.

925
00:33:27,275 --> 00:33:28,015
And so

926
00:33:28,394 --> 00:33:29,934
for this particular lesson,

927
00:33:30,795 --> 00:33:33,775
students were not listening to the lyrics from,

928
00:33:34,809 --> 00:33:37,130
any of those artists. So I just wanna

929
00:33:37,130 --> 00:33:38,190
center that.

930
00:33:38,809 --> 00:33:40,430
But what they were doing

931
00:33:41,130 --> 00:33:41,630
is,

932
00:33:42,809 --> 00:33:46,890
looking at the debate between should lyrics be

933
00:33:46,890 --> 00:33:48,830
used in the quarter block. Interesting.

934
00:33:49,555 --> 00:33:50,775
And to

935
00:33:51,154 --> 00:33:53,335
yeah. And so to hear students debate

936
00:33:53,875 --> 00:33:55,815
whether or not that should be allowed

937
00:33:56,595 --> 00:33:57,894
was really powerful.

938
00:33:58,434 --> 00:34:00,835
And to hear students to to say things

939
00:34:00,835 --> 00:34:02,900
like, you know, I never thought about it

940
00:34:02,900 --> 00:34:05,140
from that way because, you know, I just

941
00:34:05,140 --> 00:34:07,700
figure it's art. I'm just saying whatever, but

942
00:34:07,700 --> 00:34:09,800
realizing that words do have,

943
00:34:10,260 --> 00:34:11,480
you know, implications

944
00:34:11,940 --> 00:34:12,760
based on

945
00:34:13,139 --> 00:34:14,199
what you're saying.

946
00:34:14,824 --> 00:34:17,005
And so to hear them really kinda dissect

947
00:34:17,144 --> 00:34:17,964
this case,

948
00:34:19,464 --> 00:34:21,885
was really interesting and really powerful.

949
00:34:22,344 --> 00:34:24,424
And so the teacher did a really great

950
00:34:24,424 --> 00:34:24,924
job,

951
00:34:25,784 --> 00:34:28,045
you know, laying the foundation, but, also,

952
00:34:28,489 --> 00:34:31,230
he was actually a facilitator, not a dictator.

953
00:34:31,769 --> 00:34:32,670
He allow

954
00:34:33,049 --> 00:34:33,710
the conversation

955
00:34:34,010 --> 00:34:36,489
to flow. He didn't try to take over

956
00:34:36,489 --> 00:34:37,230
the conversation.

957
00:34:38,089 --> 00:34:38,569
And,

958
00:34:39,210 --> 00:34:41,710
students has some really great connections

959
00:34:42,010 --> 00:34:42,510
between

960
00:34:42,889 --> 00:34:43,389
intention,

961
00:34:43,849 --> 00:34:44,349
art,

962
00:34:44,864 --> 00:34:45,364
and,

963
00:34:47,425 --> 00:34:49,445
justice. Like, what does that look like?

964
00:34:49,985 --> 00:34:51,905
And so that that really made me proud

965
00:34:51,905 --> 00:34:54,485
because that's not an easy lesson to navigate,

966
00:34:55,664 --> 00:34:58,164
and that teacher really did a great job

967
00:34:58,250 --> 00:35:00,889
with, laying the foundation, just allowing the school

968
00:35:00,889 --> 00:35:01,949
to start. Think,

969
00:35:02,969 --> 00:35:05,630
what what I love about hearing that is

970
00:35:05,690 --> 00:35:06,190
that

971
00:35:06,650 --> 00:35:08,030
it you've got this

972
00:35:08,569 --> 00:35:10,750
very culturally relevant and

973
00:35:11,289 --> 00:35:11,789
rooted

974
00:35:12,375 --> 00:35:14,135
curriculum. And then you have a teacher that

975
00:35:14,135 --> 00:35:14,875
is trained,

976
00:35:15,655 --> 00:35:16,795
who knows kind

977
00:35:17,255 --> 00:35:19,414
of how how this is supposed to land,

978
00:35:19,414 --> 00:35:20,155
be delivered,

979
00:35:20,695 --> 00:35:23,014
the the sort of educator mindsets that are

980
00:35:23,014 --> 00:35:24,474
required. And then they're able

981
00:35:24,780 --> 00:35:25,280
to,

982
00:35:25,900 --> 00:35:28,539
apply it in ways I can't even imagine

983
00:35:28,539 --> 00:35:30,480
how many different ways you've seen,

984
00:35:31,179 --> 00:35:32,400
We Do It For The Culture,

985
00:35:33,420 --> 00:35:33,920
applied

986
00:35:35,340 --> 00:35:36,800
and that are just so creative

987
00:35:37,099 --> 00:35:39,340
and so imaginative. And then that piece about

988
00:35:39,340 --> 00:35:41,244
Cogens, like, I I love

989
00:35:41,704 --> 00:35:42,844
that there is

990
00:35:43,385 --> 00:35:45,864
this this important role for young people to

991
00:35:45,864 --> 00:35:47,164
play in sort of,

992
00:35:48,184 --> 00:35:51,324
leading up. Right? So they're the ones traditionally

993
00:35:51,465 --> 00:35:53,465
who are receiving all of the teaching, but

994
00:35:53,465 --> 00:35:54,765
but they are positioned

995
00:35:55,179 --> 00:35:56,960
to give teaching and give,

996
00:35:57,500 --> 00:35:59,739
give their knowledge and their insights on these

997
00:35:59,739 --> 00:36:00,239
things.

998
00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:04,940
So I think you you've kind of touched

999
00:36:04,940 --> 00:36:07,335
on this a bunch of different times, but

1000
00:36:07,494 --> 00:36:09,175
wanna give a chance to center this question

1001
00:36:09,175 --> 00:36:09,675
about,

1002
00:36:10,295 --> 00:36:11,994
about educators and buy in.

1003
00:36:13,094 --> 00:36:13,594
So

1004
00:36:13,974 --> 00:36:15,655
how do you so I understand there are

1005
00:36:15,655 --> 00:36:17,655
teachers that may not have a deep background

1006
00:36:17,655 --> 00:36:19,175
in hip hop culture. That's what I've heard.

1007
00:36:19,175 --> 00:36:20,760
I don't know if it's true. Hard to

1008
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:21,260
imagine.

1009
00:36:22,039 --> 00:36:25,079
Mhmm. How do you support teachers who may

1010
00:36:25,079 --> 00:36:25,579
not

1011
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:27,800
have that background? Like, what does it look

1012
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:29,800
like to be trained in it? If they're

1013
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:31,719
like, look, I did not grow up with

1014
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:32,380
hip hop,

1015
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,494
but I know that this curriculum looks incredible.

1016
00:36:36,494 --> 00:36:37,715
I know that the ideas

1017
00:36:38,175 --> 00:36:40,734
will land with my students. Like, how do

1018
00:36:40,734 --> 00:36:42,275
you support them to be successful

1019
00:36:42,734 --> 00:36:44,574
with We Do It For The Culture? Mhmm.

1020
00:36:44,574 --> 00:36:46,195
I start with the art of storytelling.

1021
00:36:46,734 --> 00:36:49,234
That's all hip hop is.

1022
00:36:50,690 --> 00:36:51,190
Storytelling

1023
00:36:51,889 --> 00:36:54,529
over a beat. Right? Like, we know, yes,

1024
00:36:54,529 --> 00:36:55,429
from a social,

1025
00:36:56,529 --> 00:36:59,429
aspect, there's a lot of conditions that fostered

1026
00:37:00,049 --> 00:37:02,150
Right. Hip hop culture. Right?

1027
00:37:02,609 --> 00:37:04,150
And that's important.

1028
00:37:04,744 --> 00:37:06,445
But when you drill it down

1029
00:37:06,824 --> 00:37:09,965
to what it really represents, it represents storytelling.

1030
00:37:10,824 --> 00:37:13,164
So I don't care what your social economic

1031
00:37:13,224 --> 00:37:15,164
background is. I don't care what your ethnicity

1032
00:37:15,304 --> 00:37:17,785
is. Unless you've been living under a rock,

1033
00:37:17,785 --> 00:37:19,804
you have us every human being

1034
00:37:20,199 --> 00:37:21,880
on this planet. And if you live under

1035
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:23,719
a rock, there's probably a story behind it.

1036
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:24,219
Period.

1037
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:27,239
This Like, how did you get under this

1038
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:30,199
rock? Get back to. Right? Like, do you

1039
00:37:30,199 --> 00:37:31,480
know how you got under the rock? You

1040
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:33,000
might need to ask some questions. What did

1041
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:34,300
you look under there? Right.

1042
00:37:34,784 --> 00:37:38,393
That's true. It's gotta be lonely. Right.

1043
00:37:38,929 --> 00:37:43,056
So everyone has a story, and and let's

1044
00:37:43,074 --> 00:37:44,092
start there.

1045
00:37:44,629 --> 00:37:48,179
And have you taken the time to get

1046
00:37:48,179 --> 00:37:50,260
to know your students well so that you

1047
00:37:50,260 --> 00:37:52,900
know their stories? And more importantly, have you

1048
00:37:52,900 --> 00:37:55,940
shared your story with them so that they

1049
00:37:55,940 --> 00:37:57,239
can see that you're human,

1050
00:37:58,260 --> 00:37:59,825
and they can relate to you in some

1051
00:37:59,825 --> 00:38:01,105
way, shape, or form. They may not be

1052
00:38:01,105 --> 00:38:02,724
able to relate to your upbringing

1053
00:38:03,105 --> 00:38:05,365
or any of that any of that nature,

1054
00:38:05,664 --> 00:38:07,765
but, you know, have you ever felt disrespected?

1055
00:38:08,545 --> 00:38:09,525
Have you ever

1056
00:38:09,825 --> 00:38:11,905
shown empathy? Have you ever been in a

1057
00:38:11,905 --> 00:38:12,965
situation where,

1058
00:38:13,389 --> 00:38:15,389
you know, you were bullied or you witnessed

1059
00:38:15,389 --> 00:38:16,929
bullying happening? Like,

1060
00:38:17,309 --> 00:38:20,429
let's stop pretending that, you know, there's, you

1061
00:38:20,429 --> 00:38:22,429
know, billions of people on this planet, but

1062
00:38:22,429 --> 00:38:25,230
you're living in isolation. Like, we all have

1063
00:38:25,230 --> 00:38:27,389
stories, and we all have come in contact

1064
00:38:27,389 --> 00:38:28,369
with other people.

1065
00:38:28,734 --> 00:38:30,034
But the problem is

1066
00:38:30,655 --> 00:38:32,755
we don't take the time to listen

1067
00:38:33,135 --> 00:38:35,614
to each other's stories, nor do we ask

1068
00:38:35,614 --> 00:38:37,234
questions that will yield

1069
00:38:38,175 --> 00:38:40,894
what's below the surface. We might ask surface

1070
00:38:40,894 --> 00:38:41,714
level questions.

1071
00:38:42,159 --> 00:38:44,719
So we really start there. We really just

1072
00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:45,940
drill it down to

1073
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:46,739
storytelling,

1074
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:47,780
asking

1075
00:38:48,079 --> 00:38:48,980
deeper questions.

1076
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,739
And then we talk about the fact that

1077
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,280
more than likely, as an educator, you've been

1078
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,199
using some of these hip hop techniques in

1079
00:38:57,199 --> 00:38:59,454
your classroom, room, but you never labeled it

1080
00:38:59,675 --> 00:39:02,074
hip hop. Right? So if you've been doing

1081
00:39:02,074 --> 00:39:04,554
call and response, that's hip hop. If you

1082
00:39:04,554 --> 00:39:05,454
have been,

1083
00:39:06,235 --> 00:39:07,775
you know, providing opportunities

1084
00:39:08,394 --> 00:39:11,434
to to remix a lesson, asking students to

1085
00:39:11,434 --> 00:39:14,130
take this lesson that you created and put

1086
00:39:14,130 --> 00:39:16,389
their spin on it, that's hip hop. Like,

1087
00:39:16,849 --> 00:39:19,010
you know, that's just a DJ. Right? If

1088
00:39:19,010 --> 00:39:22,210
you think about who your students are and

1089
00:39:22,210 --> 00:39:24,529
what content is going to engage them or

1090
00:39:24,529 --> 00:39:26,549
how can you make this relevant to them,

1091
00:39:26,704 --> 00:39:28,625
That's hip hop. The DJ moves the crowd,

1092
00:39:28,625 --> 00:39:30,545
but you gotta know your audience in order

1093
00:39:30,545 --> 00:39:32,545
to move the crowd. Like, so we start

1094
00:39:32,545 --> 00:39:34,784
to drill down those five elements of hip

1095
00:39:34,784 --> 00:39:37,664
hop and what they look like in the

1096
00:39:37,664 --> 00:39:38,164
classroom,

1097
00:39:38,625 --> 00:39:40,784
and then they start to have these moments.

1098
00:39:40,784 --> 00:39:43,640
Like, oh, you know, I was being the

1099
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:45,800
emcee, and I did pass the mic when

1100
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:46,780
I did, you

1101
00:39:47,079 --> 00:39:49,559
know, you know, think, pay, or share. You

1102
00:39:49,559 --> 00:39:52,280
know? That was you Yeah. Passing the mic.

1103
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,180
You know? So, like, all of these things

1104
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:56,920
are already in you.

1105
00:39:57,875 --> 00:40:00,114
It's just a matter of, you know, making

1106
00:40:00,114 --> 00:40:01,494
sure that they come through

1107
00:40:01,954 --> 00:40:04,194
in your teaching practices. And so that's kinda

1108
00:40:04,194 --> 00:40:06,214
where we start. We don't even talk about,

1109
00:40:06,755 --> 00:40:07,414
you know,

1110
00:40:08,674 --> 00:40:10,289
hip hop in this in this pure state.

1111
00:40:10,289 --> 00:40:12,050
Right? We talk about the history of hip

1112
00:40:12,050 --> 00:40:13,890
hop and all that later. Yep. We just

1113
00:40:13,890 --> 00:40:15,410
want them to realize that a lot of

1114
00:40:15,410 --> 00:40:16,789
the things that they're doing

1115
00:40:17,570 --> 00:40:19,590
is really rooted in hip hop culture.

1116
00:40:20,210 --> 00:40:22,210
Being innovative, making a way out of no

1117
00:40:22,210 --> 00:40:22,710
way.

1118
00:40:23,170 --> 00:40:23,829
As teachers,

1119
00:40:26,295 --> 00:40:28,155
that that is the most hip hop,

1120
00:40:28,775 --> 00:40:30,454
thing you could do is make a way

1121
00:40:30,454 --> 00:40:31,755
out of no way. Right?

1122
00:40:32,135 --> 00:40:32,635
So

1123
00:40:33,094 --> 00:40:34,934
so let's tap into the things that they're

1124
00:40:34,934 --> 00:40:36,954
already familiar with, and then

1125
00:40:37,420 --> 00:40:39,900
we start to dive deeper into hip hop

1126
00:40:39,900 --> 00:40:40,400
culture,

1127
00:40:40,860 --> 00:40:43,760
connecting it to those five SEL competencies.

1128
00:40:44,059 --> 00:40:45,340
And by the way, if your future really

1129
00:40:45,340 --> 00:40:46,539
was trying to make a way out of

1130
00:40:46,539 --> 00:40:48,300
no way, check out our last episode, which

1131
00:40:48,300 --> 00:40:50,494
was with the CEO of DonorsChoose,

1132
00:40:50,954 --> 00:40:52,954
Alex Carrier, and he will tell you how

1133
00:40:52,954 --> 00:40:55,034
they can how they are working to try

1134
00:40:55,034 --> 00:40:56,815
to make sure that you have a way

1135
00:40:56,954 --> 00:40:57,855
to make a way.

1136
00:40:59,275 --> 00:41:00,654
So great. Well, I understand

1137
00:41:01,194 --> 00:41:03,929
what they're doing. And, you know, I this

1138
00:41:03,929 --> 00:41:06,429
is I kinda have this, like, intersection of

1139
00:41:07,130 --> 00:41:09,530
of hip hop education and DonorsChoose from when

1140
00:41:09,530 --> 00:41:10,889
I was in. I spent twenty three years

1141
00:41:10,889 --> 00:41:12,510
in the classroom. I don't teach anymore.

1142
00:41:13,130 --> 00:41:14,570
But one of the things that my students

1143
00:41:14,570 --> 00:41:15,849
wanted to do is they wanted to do

1144
00:41:15,849 --> 00:41:18,074
book clubs in our hip hop studies class.

1145
00:41:18,474 --> 00:41:20,974
And so I'm I just philosophically

1146
00:41:21,275 --> 00:41:23,914
don't believe in required reading. Like, I think

1147
00:41:23,914 --> 00:41:26,394
there are lots of books that you can

1148
00:41:26,394 --> 00:41:28,734
get the same lessons from. And so,

1149
00:41:29,114 --> 00:41:30,734
the students created a DonorsChoose,

1150
00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:34,480
where they're like, we're gonna we're gonna read

1151
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:35,480
a book in this group and this is

1152
00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:37,280
a book we wanna read. And so they

1153
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,039
had to defend it all Mhmm. Stuff. So

1154
00:41:39,039 --> 00:41:40,179
it's a Nice. Intersections.

1155
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:42,960
For those of you listening on audio, I'm

1156
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:44,719
grinning my face off. I almost wanna go

1157
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:45,859
back and teach. Almost.

1158
00:41:46,284 --> 00:41:46,784
Almost.

1159
00:41:48,045 --> 00:41:49,184
Maybe not quite.

1160
00:41:49,485 --> 00:41:51,744
Okay. So one thing we know

1161
00:41:52,125 --> 00:41:52,625
about,

1162
00:41:53,724 --> 00:41:54,864
about hip hop,

1163
00:41:56,045 --> 00:41:58,684
it's in its fifties. It's like right around

1164
00:41:58,684 --> 00:41:59,965
our age, a little bit older,

1165
00:42:00,829 --> 00:42:01,730
and it continues

1166
00:42:02,510 --> 00:42:03,250
to evolve.

1167
00:42:03,949 --> 00:42:05,869
I I think the big thing I wanna

1168
00:42:05,869 --> 00:42:08,429
hear you talk about is where you see

1169
00:42:08,429 --> 00:42:11,389
this evolution kind of going in in hip

1170
00:42:11,389 --> 00:42:12,130
hop education

1171
00:42:12,590 --> 00:42:14,289
and where you

1172
00:42:14,755 --> 00:42:17,394
would like to see your work with We

1173
00:42:17,394 --> 00:42:18,454
Do It For The Culture

1174
00:42:19,074 --> 00:42:21,074
kind of, like, evolve and grow. What does

1175
00:42:21,074 --> 00:42:23,315
that look like kind of future facing? We

1176
00:42:23,315 --> 00:42:24,614
really want to,

1177
00:42:25,074 --> 00:42:26,135
secure partnerships

1178
00:42:26,434 --> 00:42:28,295
with larger organizations,

1179
00:42:30,190 --> 00:42:32,349
you know, companies, anybody that wants to get

1180
00:42:32,349 --> 00:42:35,250
a positive message out to students

1181
00:42:35,869 --> 00:42:38,510
because nine times out of 10, their content

1182
00:42:38,510 --> 00:42:39,489
is not landing.

1183
00:42:40,829 --> 00:42:42,829
You know, and so what can we do

1184
00:42:42,829 --> 00:42:45,170
to form partnerships with,

1185
00:42:46,085 --> 00:42:48,565
other entities to make sure that we're we're

1186
00:42:48,565 --> 00:42:51,125
kinda remixing their content so that it lands

1187
00:42:51,125 --> 00:42:52,105
well for

1188
00:42:52,724 --> 00:42:53,784
students in schools.

1189
00:42:54,484 --> 00:42:56,404
So that's something that we're working on. We're

1190
00:42:56,404 --> 00:42:58,804
also looking at, you know, hip hop is

1191
00:42:58,804 --> 00:43:00,929
universal. The four, and we do it for

1192
00:43:00,929 --> 00:43:02,929
the culture, stands for the four corners of

1193
00:43:02,929 --> 00:43:04,630
the earth because hip hop is universal.

1194
00:43:05,250 --> 00:43:06,530
So we are,

1195
00:43:07,010 --> 00:43:08,630
presenting at ASCD

1196
00:43:09,089 --> 00:43:10,789
in Ghana this summer.

1197
00:43:11,570 --> 00:43:12,309
And so

1198
00:43:12,785 --> 00:43:13,825
we're working with,

1199
00:43:14,224 --> 00:43:16,885
some students in Kenya and Nairobi,

1200
00:43:17,985 --> 00:43:20,785
and hopefully, at some point, we'll make, contact

1201
00:43:20,785 --> 00:43:22,965
with some youth organizations in Ghana.

1202
00:43:23,265 --> 00:43:25,425
But we're working with them to see, like,

1203
00:43:25,425 --> 00:43:26,655
how does Afrobeat and the music that you

1204
00:43:26,655 --> 00:43:26,704
all are listening to also trigger those emotions,

1205
00:43:26,704 --> 00:43:27,605
those five

1206
00:43:37,530 --> 00:43:38,750
students took to the streets,

1207
00:43:39,690 --> 00:43:41,230
you know, last year to

1208
00:43:41,684 --> 00:43:44,184
fight back against taxes on everyday,

1209
00:43:45,045 --> 00:43:47,704
household goods that they could already barely afford.

1210
00:43:48,965 --> 00:43:51,844
A lot of that was pushed by the

1211
00:43:51,844 --> 00:43:54,164
music that they were listening to to give

1212
00:43:54,164 --> 00:43:56,664
them that strength to to keep going.

1213
00:43:57,849 --> 00:43:59,530
And so we wanna look at it from

1214
00:43:59,530 --> 00:44:02,750
a global lens. So forming some global partnerships

1215
00:44:02,889 --> 00:44:03,389
around

1216
00:44:03,690 --> 00:44:04,670
hip hop culture,

1217
00:44:05,690 --> 00:44:08,269
is also, you know, really at the forefront

1218
00:44:08,329 --> 00:44:09,375
of our our work.

1219
00:44:09,855 --> 00:44:11,855
And then last but not least,

1220
00:44:12,414 --> 00:44:13,875
just making sure that teachers

1221
00:44:14,494 --> 00:44:14,994
remain

1222
00:44:15,695 --> 00:44:18,514
culturally responsive to the students that they're serving.

1223
00:44:18,574 --> 00:44:21,235
So, again, we're not dialing back anything.

1224
00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:23,599
We have to make sure that we're pushing

1225
00:44:23,599 --> 00:44:26,660
back against any executive orders or ideologies

1226
00:44:27,119 --> 00:44:28,019
that say

1227
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:31,920
that every single student's experience is not, you

1228
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:32,739
know, valid.

1229
00:44:33,039 --> 00:44:35,039
And we have to push back against the

1230
00:44:35,039 --> 00:44:37,914
erasure of, you know, black and brown history

1231
00:44:38,454 --> 00:44:40,074
in this country and in the world.

1232
00:44:40,454 --> 00:44:43,034
So we're going to continue to provide

1233
00:44:43,335 --> 00:44:44,474
professional development

1234
00:44:44,855 --> 00:44:47,815
to our subscribers and teachers who just want

1235
00:44:47,815 --> 00:44:48,635
to do better

1236
00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:51,239
in that area. So those are kinda like

1237
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:53,260
the three ways that we're gonna ramp up,

1238
00:44:53,719 --> 00:44:55,880
the work that we're doing. And and, yeah,

1239
00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:58,599
just just keep going. That's right. That will

1240
00:44:58,599 --> 00:45:00,619
stop. It's just so beautiful to hear because

1241
00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:03,135
I'm sure that where you're at, just like

1242
00:45:03,135 --> 00:45:05,775
where I'm at, just like where a lot

1243
00:45:05,775 --> 00:45:08,015
of people are at, you have a lot

1244
00:45:08,015 --> 00:45:09,855
of really important people with a lot of

1245
00:45:09,855 --> 00:45:12,175
power and decision making power who are obeying

1246
00:45:12,175 --> 00:45:12,835
in advance.

1247
00:45:13,295 --> 00:45:15,855
Like, we are we're gonna go ahead and

1248
00:45:15,855 --> 00:45:17,670
roll things back so we don't get caught

1249
00:45:17,750 --> 00:45:18,650
in those things.

1250
00:45:19,510 --> 00:45:21,449
And, we we could take an entire

1251
00:45:21,829 --> 00:45:24,549
season of podcasting naming all of those folks.

1252
00:45:24,549 --> 00:45:26,809
And so the, the resolve,

1253
00:45:28,150 --> 00:45:29,670
to ramp up is like, no, we're we're

1254
00:45:29,670 --> 00:45:31,510
gonna be more now. We have to be

1255
00:45:31,510 --> 00:45:33,369
more. It requires more.

1256
00:45:34,045 --> 00:45:35,724
One one of the things that really resonates

1257
00:45:35,724 --> 00:45:36,925
with me, and this will be our last

1258
00:45:36,925 --> 00:45:38,525
question before we do the bonus, the fun

1259
00:45:38,525 --> 00:45:39,025
part.

1260
00:45:40,204 --> 00:45:42,364
One of the things that always sits with

1261
00:45:42,364 --> 00:45:44,945
me is as an individual of color,

1262
00:45:45,724 --> 00:45:46,559
I grew up

1263
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:49,760
in in in a neighborhood in Denver, Colorado

1264
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:51,360
that at one time was referred to as

1265
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:53,539
Harlem Of The West. So the history

1266
00:45:54,079 --> 00:45:56,160
of black and brown history, like, the the

1267
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:57,760
presence of black and brown history in my

1268
00:45:57,760 --> 00:45:59,619
neighborhood is really powerful. And so

1269
00:45:59,974 --> 00:46:01,755
as I look at

1270
00:46:02,614 --> 00:46:03,355
the materials

1271
00:46:03,735 --> 00:46:05,655
on We Do It For, the number four,

1272
00:46:05,655 --> 00:46:06,954
theculture.com,

1273
00:46:07,894 --> 00:46:10,715
and I look at kind of the trajectory

1274
00:46:10,934 --> 00:46:12,074
of hip hop education.

1275
00:46:12,454 --> 00:46:14,394
As an educator of color, I feel

1276
00:46:15,039 --> 00:46:16,900
so seen and so

1277
00:46:17,599 --> 00:46:20,099
just it just jives with everything.

1278
00:46:21,359 --> 00:46:21,859
How

1279
00:46:22,159 --> 00:46:23,519
how have you seen We Do It For

1280
00:46:23,519 --> 00:46:26,179
The Culture support and empower educators of color,

1281
00:46:27,119 --> 00:46:28,500
in their work with students?

1282
00:46:29,094 --> 00:46:29,835
It gives

1283
00:46:30,535 --> 00:46:33,094
them freedom, this license to just be their

1284
00:46:33,094 --> 00:46:35,755
authentic selves. It's a beautiful thing to see

1285
00:46:35,815 --> 00:46:38,215
when they're they're like, oh, like, oh, I

1286
00:46:38,215 --> 00:46:40,474
could rock with this. Like, I get this,

1287
00:46:41,269 --> 00:46:43,909
and and they just run with it. Right?

1288
00:46:43,909 --> 00:46:45,849
They get excited. And I think

1289
00:46:46,389 --> 00:46:48,550
not only is a lot of curriculum that's

1290
00:46:48,550 --> 00:46:50,869
in schools, but it's just it's just boring

1291
00:46:50,869 --> 00:46:51,769
for the adults.

1292
00:46:52,150 --> 00:46:53,849
Bored for teachers too.

1293
00:46:55,109 --> 00:46:55,849
Can confirm.

1294
00:46:56,309 --> 00:46:56,809
Yes.

1295
00:46:57,164 --> 00:46:59,965
So, like, if I'm bored, like, I'm just

1296
00:47:00,045 --> 00:47:02,605
that energy is just being, you know, you

1297
00:47:02,605 --> 00:47:05,025
know, reflected upon the students that I'm serving.

1298
00:47:05,085 --> 00:47:05,585
So,

1299
00:47:06,045 --> 00:47:06,625
you know,

1300
00:47:07,005 --> 00:47:07,824
they actually

1301
00:47:08,204 --> 00:47:10,364
love it. They they like to you know,

1302
00:47:10,364 --> 00:47:12,500
sometimes they'll push back like, oh, why'd you

1303
00:47:12,500 --> 00:47:14,500
use this video instead of this video? Or

1304
00:47:14,500 --> 00:47:16,420
did you you know? And so I I

1305
00:47:16,420 --> 00:47:16,920
welcome

1306
00:47:17,460 --> 00:47:18,280
all of that.

1307
00:47:18,739 --> 00:47:20,739
I think it's really important to to have

1308
00:47:20,739 --> 00:47:21,559
those conversations.

1309
00:47:21,859 --> 00:47:24,260
And then a lot of times, like, I

1310
00:47:24,260 --> 00:47:26,920
was an administrator in school for for years,

1311
00:47:27,059 --> 00:47:27,559
and

1312
00:47:28,135 --> 00:47:29,595
I always just felt like,

1313
00:47:29,974 --> 00:47:33,015
you know, I was the, you know, I

1314
00:47:33,015 --> 00:47:35,335
was a firefighter. Right. Right? You know? I

1315
00:47:35,335 --> 00:47:38,135
was an assistant principal. I'm constantly putting out

1316
00:47:38,135 --> 00:47:38,635
fires.

1317
00:47:39,414 --> 00:47:39,914
And,

1318
00:47:41,319 --> 00:47:43,079
when I was putting out those fires, when

1319
00:47:43,079 --> 00:47:44,539
students came to my office,

1320
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:47,159
then I could, like, have what I like

1321
00:47:47,159 --> 00:47:49,480
to call real talk with them. And, like,

1322
00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:51,239
that's where I found out these are some

1323
00:47:51,239 --> 00:47:53,079
of the things that they're experiencing. These are

1324
00:47:53,079 --> 00:47:54,994
some things they wanna talk about. This is

1325
00:47:54,994 --> 00:47:57,315
what was happening in class. And so my

1326
00:47:57,315 --> 00:47:58,535
relationship with

1327
00:47:58,835 --> 00:48:01,175
my students was very different than

1328
00:48:01,474 --> 00:48:03,555
those same teachers that would kinda kick them

1329
00:48:03,555 --> 00:48:05,155
out the class and not take the time

1330
00:48:05,155 --> 00:48:06,695
to get to know them or,

1331
00:48:07,010 --> 00:48:09,650
you know, kinda see past that, you know,

1332
00:48:09,650 --> 00:48:10,150
exterior.

1333
00:48:11,489 --> 00:48:13,909
And so I think for teachers that

1334
00:48:14,210 --> 00:48:16,130
grew up in a hip hop era that

1335
00:48:16,130 --> 00:48:17,670
embrace hip hop culture,

1336
00:48:18,289 --> 00:48:21,589
that they they feel seen, heard,

1337
00:48:21,984 --> 00:48:22,724
and valued.

1338
00:48:23,744 --> 00:48:26,065
And, I mean, we know right now 85%

1339
00:48:26,065 --> 00:48:28,144
of the teaching workforce is young, white, and

1340
00:48:28,144 --> 00:48:28,644
female.

1341
00:48:29,744 --> 00:48:31,824
So I think it's also dope as we

1342
00:48:31,824 --> 00:48:34,065
continue to to do this work and travel

1343
00:48:34,065 --> 00:48:36,244
to see how hip hop has influenced

1344
00:48:36,949 --> 00:48:38,869
some of them. Like, I've been in rooms

1345
00:48:38,869 --> 00:48:39,369
where

1346
00:48:39,750 --> 00:48:40,809
I wasn't expecting,

1347
00:48:41,269 --> 00:48:43,429
you know, them to share, like, this is

1348
00:48:43,429 --> 00:48:45,190
my favorite hip hop artist, and this is

1349
00:48:45,190 --> 00:48:46,889
a lyric that stands out to me.

1350
00:48:47,269 --> 00:48:49,769
And so I'm learning not to make assumptions

1351
00:48:50,335 --> 00:48:51,074
as well,

1352
00:48:52,094 --> 00:48:54,094
and and really give hip hop the the

1353
00:48:54,094 --> 00:48:56,815
respect and power that it deserves. It's hitting

1354
00:48:56,815 --> 00:48:57,554
more people,

1355
00:48:58,255 --> 00:49:01,074
that we probably even Right. Realize. So,

1356
00:49:02,015 --> 00:49:04,089
but to know that people that look like

1357
00:49:04,089 --> 00:49:06,269
me or people that look like you are,

1358
00:49:06,730 --> 00:49:07,389
you know,

1359
00:49:07,690 --> 00:49:08,190
identifying

1360
00:49:08,489 --> 00:49:10,570
with it and and rolling with it and

1361
00:49:10,650 --> 00:49:12,349
Yeah. Making it their own,

1362
00:49:13,289 --> 00:49:15,130
that just really brings me joy. It's just

1363
00:49:15,130 --> 00:49:17,724
it's just so inspirational. And I think I

1364
00:49:17,724 --> 00:49:19,105
think so much of

1365
00:49:19,885 --> 00:49:22,284
the the response that I didn't anticipate from

1366
00:49:22,284 --> 00:49:23,984
you was it gives

1367
00:49:24,445 --> 00:49:26,464
educators of color a chance to be themselves,

1368
00:49:26,525 --> 00:49:27,344
to be ourselves.

1369
00:49:27,885 --> 00:49:29,025
And I think that

1370
00:49:29,484 --> 00:49:31,244
that that's been at the root of my

1371
00:49:31,244 --> 00:49:33,579
dissertation work has been just kind of how

1372
00:49:33,579 --> 00:49:34,159
we create

1373
00:49:35,099 --> 00:49:38,539
sustaining humanizing environments for first year educators of

1374
00:49:38,539 --> 00:49:39,360
color because

1375
00:49:39,739 --> 00:49:41,500
if we can't affirm them in year one,

1376
00:49:41,500 --> 00:49:43,340
it's not gonna get better in year two.

1377
00:49:43,340 --> 00:49:45,440
Right? That we'll find a way to survive.

1378
00:49:45,984 --> 00:49:48,464
Yeah. The the the cause and effect Jay

1379
00:49:48,464 --> 00:49:50,644
Cole collaboration, not not the hustle

1380
00:49:51,105 --> 00:49:52,784
hits with me in a lot of ways

1381
00:49:52,784 --> 00:49:55,925
because it's about surviving despite Mhmm. The discomfort

1382
00:49:55,984 --> 00:49:58,385
it causes. But Mhmm. That that idea of

1383
00:49:58,385 --> 00:49:58,885
educators

1384
00:49:59,184 --> 00:50:01,299
of color being able to be themselves is

1385
00:50:01,299 --> 00:50:02,980
is just really, really powerful. And it makes

1386
00:50:02,980 --> 00:50:03,880
me think of

1387
00:50:04,339 --> 00:50:06,420
when I was so I taught too many

1388
00:50:06,420 --> 00:50:08,659
classes at my small high school. But at

1389
00:50:08,659 --> 00:50:10,659
the beginning of the t the day I

1390
00:50:10,659 --> 00:50:13,059
taught advanced placement world history, which I loved.

1391
00:50:13,059 --> 00:50:14,519
I love teaching world history.

1392
00:50:14,980 --> 00:50:15,480
AP,

1393
00:50:16,215 --> 00:50:17,835
no. No. No. That's fine.

1394
00:50:19,255 --> 00:50:21,175
And then at the end of the day,

1395
00:50:21,414 --> 00:50:22,775
I was allowed to create a hip hop

1396
00:50:22,775 --> 00:50:23,675
studies class.

1397
00:50:23,974 --> 00:50:25,655
And I had a student who was in

1398
00:50:25,655 --> 00:50:27,815
both of those classes. Like, she would she

1399
00:50:27,815 --> 00:50:29,815
took my AP class in the morning Mhmm.

1400
00:50:29,894 --> 00:50:31,114
And my

1401
00:50:32,059 --> 00:50:33,659
my hip hop class at the end of

1402
00:50:33,659 --> 00:50:35,659
the day. And I remember her asking me

1403
00:50:35,659 --> 00:50:38,619
kind of mischievously, she's like, Munoz, I noticed

1404
00:50:38,619 --> 00:50:40,139
that you're different in the morning than the

1405
00:50:40,139 --> 00:50:40,639
afternoon.

1406
00:50:41,820 --> 00:50:42,960
And I was like

1407
00:50:43,260 --> 00:50:44,619
I was like, oh, is it a bad

1408
00:50:44,619 --> 00:50:45,465
thing? She's like,

1409
00:50:45,945 --> 00:50:47,485
no. Because I feel different too.

1410
00:50:49,065 --> 00:50:50,664
And it was just one of those things

1411
00:50:50,664 --> 00:50:52,344
where Yeah. And, you know, and this is

1412
00:50:52,344 --> 00:50:53,785
a I'm working on a piece for my

1413
00:50:53,785 --> 00:50:56,985
substack around this, but how teaching a hip

1414
00:50:56,985 --> 00:50:58,285
hop studies class

1415
00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:00,019
taught me more

1416
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:00,820
about

1417
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:04,960
co learning and co creating and democratizing the

1418
00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:07,780
educational space and anything else I ever taught.

1419
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:10,320
And I ended up becoming really passionate Yeah.

1420
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:11,780
On student voice and leadership.

1421
00:51:12,160 --> 00:51:13,780
And a lot of it was because

1422
00:51:14,275 --> 00:51:16,514
all of those barriers that you kinda talked

1423
00:51:16,514 --> 00:51:17,894
about, the the barriers

1424
00:51:18,755 --> 00:51:19,574
of vulnerability

1425
00:51:19,954 --> 00:51:20,454
avoidance,

1426
00:51:20,914 --> 00:51:22,755
the barriers of power that a lot of

1427
00:51:22,755 --> 00:51:26,835
teachers, myself included, have historically, like, subscribed to.

1428
00:51:26,835 --> 00:51:29,800
Mhmm. They just they just get disrupted when

1429
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:31,880
you're taught when you're teaching in a hip

1430
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:32,920
hop way. Yeah.

1431
00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:34,780
And I think that's beautiful.

1432
00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:38,539
Man, incredible work Yeah.

1433
00:51:39,159 --> 00:51:40,380
That you all are doing.

1434
00:51:41,255 --> 00:51:44,055
Yeah. Thank you. You you as well. You

1435
00:51:44,055 --> 00:51:45,815
as well. I mean, teacher of the year.

1436
00:51:45,815 --> 00:51:48,375
That's Thank you. That's a huge accomplishment. Yeah.

1437
00:51:48,375 --> 00:51:49,355
They didn't They

1438
00:51:49,655 --> 00:51:52,155
didn't hassle to you. They didn't expect that.

1439
00:51:52,295 --> 00:51:53,355
I'll tell you that.

1440
00:51:54,215 --> 00:51:54,715
So,

1441
00:51:55,309 --> 00:51:57,389
alright. We're gonna get to the,

1442
00:51:57,869 --> 00:51:59,489
maybe one of our favorite things

1443
00:52:00,030 --> 00:52:02,110
to, to talk about on two Dope Teachers

1444
00:52:02,110 --> 00:52:04,030
in a Mic. Now Kevin usually gets the

1445
00:52:04,030 --> 00:52:05,010
honors. Obviously,

1446
00:52:05,550 --> 00:52:07,550
the name of the podcast is derived from

1447
00:52:07,550 --> 00:52:09,150
hip hop with two Dope Teachers and a

1448
00:52:09,150 --> 00:52:09,650
mic.

1449
00:52:10,005 --> 00:52:10,505
And,

1450
00:52:11,605 --> 00:52:14,505
we both we're both really passionate about,

1451
00:52:15,364 --> 00:52:16,904
about music and the ability

1452
00:52:17,364 --> 00:52:18,585
of music to,

1453
00:52:19,684 --> 00:52:21,065
to help us express,

1454
00:52:21,444 --> 00:52:21,944
heal,

1455
00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:25,599
ponder, although reflect all those kinds of things.

1456
00:52:25,599 --> 00:52:26,099
So

1457
00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:28,160
we would like to ask you the most

1458
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:29,780
dangerous question in hip hop,

1459
00:52:31,039 --> 00:52:31,860
which is

1460
00:52:32,640 --> 00:52:34,480
who are your top five rappers? I understand

1461
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:36,719
you may have an you may have an

1462
00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:38,785
adaptation of this question, and I'll I'll let

1463
00:52:38,785 --> 00:52:40,625
you center that in a second. But I'll

1464
00:52:40,625 --> 00:52:42,224
I'll give you the ground rules. The rule

1465
00:52:42,224 --> 00:52:44,785
number one is that it is not static.

1466
00:52:44,785 --> 00:52:47,505
This is dynamic. So if somebody comes at

1467
00:52:47,505 --> 00:52:49,859
you in the streets and says, hey, wait

1468
00:52:49,859 --> 00:52:51,699
a minute. You were on the two dope

1469
00:52:51,699 --> 00:52:54,199
teachers and my podcast and you said this,

1470
00:52:54,739 --> 00:52:56,900
you are fully allowed and we will Mhmm.

1471
00:52:56,980 --> 00:52:59,299
We will double stamp it to say, that

1472
00:52:59,299 --> 00:53:01,859
was just a moment, like, that like in

1473
00:53:01,859 --> 00:53:04,420
different moments I feel different. Right. Right. Rule

1474
00:53:04,420 --> 00:53:05,159
number two

1475
00:53:05,505 --> 00:53:07,264
is that it does not have to be

1476
00:53:07,264 --> 00:53:09,744
hierarchical. So it doesn't have to be fifth

1477
00:53:09,744 --> 00:53:12,404
best, fourth best, third best, second best best.

1478
00:53:12,625 --> 00:53:15,184
We understand that hierarchies are white supremacy. They

1479
00:53:15,184 --> 00:53:15,924
are capitalism.

1480
00:53:16,464 --> 00:53:16,964
And,

1481
00:53:17,744 --> 00:53:20,784
and so it can just be your favorite

1482
00:53:20,784 --> 00:53:21,239
five.

1483
00:53:22,280 --> 00:53:24,920
There's also the Eric Hale Yep. Eric Hale,

1484
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,400
2021 Texas teacher of the year who came

1485
00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:29,000
on here and he said, well, okay, I

1486
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:31,000
got a four way tie for fifth, and

1487
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:33,099
I got a six way tie for fourth,

1488
00:53:33,159 --> 00:53:35,394
and I got and and I swear all

1489
00:53:35,394 --> 00:53:36,835
he wanted to do was name all the

1490
00:53:36,835 --> 00:53:38,454
rappers he liked. And so

1491
00:53:38,914 --> 00:53:41,174
the Eric Hale rule is in full effect.

1492
00:53:41,234 --> 00:53:43,494
You can have ties, you can have multiples.

1493
00:53:43,554 --> 00:53:44,934
And then the final rule

1494
00:53:45,474 --> 00:53:46,914
oh, yeah. I like that. Oh, yeah. She's

1495
00:53:46,914 --> 00:53:48,934
like, wait. Oh, wait. I I I'm rethinking

1496
00:53:49,074 --> 00:53:51,489
this now. And then the final rule is

1497
00:53:51,489 --> 00:53:51,809
that,

1498
00:53:52,690 --> 00:53:55,250
a collective does not have to be broken

1499
00:53:55,250 --> 00:53:55,750
apart.

1500
00:53:56,130 --> 00:53:59,809
So if you wanted to put Wu Tang

1501
00:53:59,809 --> 00:54:02,049
Clan as one, they can count as one

1502
00:54:02,049 --> 00:54:04,449
even though there are 75 members of Wu

1503
00:54:04,449 --> 00:54:05,614
Tang. So,

1504
00:54:07,755 --> 00:54:09,755
so do those rules make sense to you?

1505
00:54:09,755 --> 00:54:10,255
Uh-huh.

1506
00:54:10,795 --> 00:54:11,695
Absolutely. Ultimately.

1507
00:54:12,074 --> 00:54:14,574
Absolutely. And I and I and I'm appreciative

1508
00:54:15,114 --> 00:54:15,275
of,

1509
00:54:16,315 --> 00:54:17,295
some, flexibility

1510
00:54:17,755 --> 00:54:19,750
and some grace with this because it is

1511
00:54:19,750 --> 00:54:20,730
a very controversial,

1512
00:54:21,510 --> 00:54:23,109
you know. And just for good measure, just

1513
00:54:23,109 --> 00:54:24,710
so you're not the one being put on

1514
00:54:24,710 --> 00:54:26,630
the last year, I will give my current

1515
00:54:26,630 --> 00:54:28,549
top five afterwards. So,

1516
00:54:29,030 --> 00:54:30,949
you also had an idea for doing this

1517
00:54:30,949 --> 00:54:32,969
a little bit differently. Would you like to

1518
00:54:33,094 --> 00:54:34,295
take it your way, or are you just

1519
00:54:34,295 --> 00:54:36,454
gonna go your top five? No. Top five

1520
00:54:36,454 --> 00:54:38,454
is fine. I think you're talking about when

1521
00:54:38,454 --> 00:54:39,594
we ask this question,

1522
00:54:40,454 --> 00:54:42,534
when we do trainings and when we're when

1523
00:54:42,534 --> 00:54:44,474
we're meeting with people out on the streets.

1524
00:54:44,694 --> 00:54:46,454
Yeah. So we have a question that we

1525
00:54:46,454 --> 00:54:46,855
ask,

1526
00:54:47,889 --> 00:54:49,969
and it's just really a question to, again,

1527
00:54:49,969 --> 00:54:52,130
get below the surface of just like, hey.

1528
00:54:52,130 --> 00:54:54,550
How are you? Who's your favorite MC? Right?

1529
00:54:55,170 --> 00:54:56,869
So we ask questions like,

1530
00:54:57,409 --> 00:54:57,909
which,

1531
00:54:58,449 --> 00:55:00,289
hip hop track brings you joy? So we

1532
00:55:00,289 --> 00:55:01,889
try to connect it to one of the

1533
00:55:01,889 --> 00:55:03,109
five SEL competencies,

1534
00:55:03,785 --> 00:55:06,265
or we may ask a question like, which

1535
00:55:06,265 --> 00:55:08,684
hip hop track will be the featured track

1536
00:55:09,224 --> 00:55:10,364
on your life mixtape?

1537
00:55:10,825 --> 00:55:12,744
So think about however many lives one of

1538
00:55:12,744 --> 00:55:13,485
your trainings.

1539
00:55:14,344 --> 00:55:15,805
Years you've been on this planet.

1540
00:55:16,160 --> 00:55:17,920
Yeah. Not lives, but how many years you've

1541
00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:19,519
been on this, planet. I mean, I was

1542
00:55:19,519 --> 00:55:21,460
gonna say if you if you remember that,

1543
00:55:21,680 --> 00:55:24,260
if, hey, you're getting better. Yeah. Yeah.

1544
00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:26,260
Then,

1545
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:28,719
you know, what would that track be? And

1546
00:55:28,719 --> 00:55:30,099
it it should really kinda

1547
00:55:30,414 --> 00:55:32,594
encompass that moment in time in your life.

1548
00:55:33,134 --> 00:55:35,534
So it gets people to think. You know?

1549
00:55:35,534 --> 00:55:38,255
Sometimes it's nostalgic. I mean, there's been times

1550
00:55:38,255 --> 00:55:40,034
we've literally had people crying

1551
00:55:40,494 --> 00:55:43,694
answering that question because maybe there was a

1552
00:55:43,694 --> 00:55:45,954
track that got them through a difficult time.

1553
00:55:47,190 --> 00:55:49,269
So, so that's, you know, that's something that

1554
00:55:49,269 --> 00:55:50,329
we ask just

1555
00:55:50,789 --> 00:55:53,050
to kinda break the ice, but more importantly,

1556
00:55:53,269 --> 00:55:54,570
to get people comfortable

1557
00:55:55,429 --> 00:55:57,690
being vulnerable and telling their story. But

1558
00:55:58,355 --> 00:55:59,014
to be,

1559
00:55:59,635 --> 00:56:02,295
to answer your question in the traditional sense,

1560
00:56:02,914 --> 00:56:04,755
my five and they're on a t shirt,

1561
00:56:04,755 --> 00:56:06,674
so I can't really, unless I ordered a

1562
00:56:06,674 --> 00:56:08,594
new t shirt, I can't believe. Yeah. It's

1563
00:56:08,594 --> 00:56:10,949
like it. Sorry. It's it's it's the first

1564
00:56:11,349 --> 00:56:13,109
thing through my T shirt. This is just

1565
00:56:13,109 --> 00:56:14,969
how it is. Alright. You are five.

1566
00:56:15,909 --> 00:56:16,730
This is

1567
00:56:17,750 --> 00:56:19,769
alright. In no particular order,

1568
00:56:20,070 --> 00:56:20,570
Rakim

1569
00:56:21,510 --> 00:56:22,489
lays the foundation.

1570
00:56:23,214 --> 00:56:25,534
For me, just Rakim is everything with the

1571
00:56:25,534 --> 00:56:28,094
storytelling, the imagery, and just the fact that

1572
00:56:28,094 --> 00:56:30,034
he has never used profanity.

1573
00:56:30,574 --> 00:56:31,474
Right. Like,

1574
00:56:32,175 --> 00:56:33,234
just that

1575
00:56:33,534 --> 00:56:34,914
that for me,

1576
00:56:35,989 --> 00:56:37,909
just growing up and being able to listen

1577
00:56:37,909 --> 00:56:40,710
to Rakim openly with my parents. Wow. Like

1578
00:56:41,029 --> 00:56:43,449
I've forgotten about it. Was dope. Yeah. Like

1579
00:56:43,670 --> 00:56:44,170
yeah.

1580
00:56:44,630 --> 00:56:47,289
Yeah. And it still hits just as hard,

1581
00:56:47,750 --> 00:56:50,089
but he doesn't have to use profanity.

1582
00:56:52,194 --> 00:56:54,034
Yep. Andrei Andrei comes up on a lot

1583
00:56:54,034 --> 00:56:55,175
of our books. His wordplay

1584
00:56:56,194 --> 00:56:59,315
yeah. Yeah. His his wordplay is like no

1585
00:56:59,315 --> 00:57:00,375
other. The storytelling

1586
00:57:00,755 --> 00:57:02,355
is like no other for me, and you

1587
00:57:02,355 --> 00:57:03,894
can you can literally see,

1588
00:57:04,650 --> 00:57:06,969
you know, whatever story he's telling, like, the

1589
00:57:06,969 --> 00:57:09,289
imagery behind it. It's just Oh, yeah. Oh,

1590
00:57:09,289 --> 00:57:10,670
yeah. He's he's just phenomenal.

1591
00:57:11,369 --> 00:57:13,530
I'm I'm mad about the flu only because

1592
00:57:13,530 --> 00:57:15,449
I just want to hear him rhyme some

1593
00:57:15,449 --> 00:57:17,609
more. I I respect the flu. Nothing against

1594
00:57:17,609 --> 00:57:20,355
the flu. You know? The yeah. I respect,

1595
00:57:20,414 --> 00:57:22,815
yeah, I respect the flute, but I would

1596
00:57:22,815 --> 00:57:24,755
prefer some bars. Alright?

1597
00:57:25,295 --> 00:57:27,295
If you listen to me I'm sure Andre,

1598
00:57:27,295 --> 00:57:28,914
listen to me. Please.

1599
00:57:29,215 --> 00:57:31,920
Jamila, I'm gonna need some bars from you.

1600
00:57:33,839 --> 00:57:34,900
Yes. Yes.

1601
00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:37,219
Let's see. Next,

1602
00:57:37,519 --> 00:57:38,900
I would say Lauryn Hill.

1603
00:57:39,199 --> 00:57:41,440
For me, again, it's not about how many

1604
00:57:41,440 --> 00:57:44,159
albums you've had or what time you show

1605
00:57:44,159 --> 00:57:45,139
up to the show.

1606
00:57:46,505 --> 00:57:47,325
Her lyrics,

1607
00:57:48,505 --> 00:57:50,125
her wordplay, her,

1608
00:57:50,905 --> 00:57:52,985
you know, story to all all of that

1609
00:57:52,985 --> 00:57:54,445
is what does it for me.

1610
00:57:54,744 --> 00:57:56,025
She does. It gets you to And I

1611
00:57:56,025 --> 00:57:57,244
love how she moves

1612
00:57:57,785 --> 00:58:00,510
in and out of a range of emotions

1613
00:58:00,569 --> 00:58:02,569
across all of her albums. Like, so you

1614
00:58:02,569 --> 00:58:05,369
can like, their tracks of hers. Mhmm. Like,

1615
00:58:05,369 --> 00:58:07,929
everything is everything, like, hits with me in

1616
00:58:07,929 --> 00:58:10,969
one way. But but to Zion hits in

1617
00:58:10,969 --> 00:58:12,750
a different way because she can be

1618
00:58:13,464 --> 00:58:14,525
intellectual, combative,

1619
00:58:14,905 --> 00:58:18,264
tender Mhmm. Like, yeah. Lord Lord Hill is

1620
00:58:18,264 --> 00:58:18,764
phenomenal.

1621
00:58:19,224 --> 00:58:20,364
Yes. Yes.

1622
00:58:20,905 --> 00:58:21,405
Yes.

1623
00:58:22,025 --> 00:58:22,525
Absolutely.

1624
00:58:23,704 --> 00:58:25,224
This one gets pushed back I mean, it

1625
00:58:25,224 --> 00:58:27,005
wouldn't be a top five if it wasn't

1626
00:58:27,219 --> 00:58:29,400
controversial. Right? But yeah.

1627
00:58:30,180 --> 00:58:30,680
Right.

1628
00:58:31,300 --> 00:58:33,619
Right. But I don't care. I absolutely love

1629
00:58:33,619 --> 00:58:35,320
him, and this is You know what? Space.

1630
00:58:35,619 --> 00:58:37,559
So I couldn't say the whole wolf,

1631
00:58:37,940 --> 00:58:38,440
but

1632
00:58:39,140 --> 00:58:40,519
Ghost is my favorite

1633
00:58:40,894 --> 00:58:44,175
for many reasons. One, his metaphors and similes

1634
00:58:44,175 --> 00:58:46,994
are like the lyricists. Outrageous. Yep. Two,

1635
00:58:47,295 --> 00:58:47,795
he

1636
00:58:48,094 --> 00:58:50,675
he will the storytelling is crazy.

1637
00:58:51,454 --> 00:58:52,974
All is that all that I got is

1638
00:58:52,974 --> 00:58:55,315
you. I literally can see the whole thing

1639
00:58:55,960 --> 00:58:57,160
in my mind.

1640
00:58:58,440 --> 00:58:59,660
When I think about

1641
00:59:00,360 --> 00:59:02,940
the fact that he just doesn't care,

1642
00:59:03,320 --> 00:59:04,699
he'll have That's right. Liberation

1643
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:06,539
on the track. People

1644
00:59:07,160 --> 00:59:09,320
and people will literally be whole trying to

1645
00:59:09,320 --> 00:59:11,244
figure out What's what's

1646
00:59:11,545 --> 00:59:14,184
the secret thing? Like, you know, you know,

1647
00:59:14,184 --> 00:59:15,164
straw strawberry,

1648
00:59:15,545 --> 00:59:18,744
kiwi Yeah. Baked ziti. I do see the

1649
00:59:18,744 --> 00:59:19,244
connection.

1650
00:59:19,625 --> 00:59:21,224
You know? Because MF Doom will just throw

1651
00:59:21,224 --> 00:59:22,905
it out there. About it. Yeah. But he

1652
00:59:22,985 --> 00:59:25,065
yeah. Go Ghostface is cold. I'm not gonna

1653
00:59:25,065 --> 00:59:25,565
lie.

1654
00:59:26,340 --> 00:59:26,840
Yeah.

1655
00:59:27,140 --> 00:59:29,619
And so he literally has people racking their

1656
00:59:29,619 --> 00:59:31,960
brain around lyrics that he

1657
00:59:32,900 --> 00:59:33,559
made up.

1658
00:59:34,660 --> 00:59:36,840
So I just think that's genius in itself

1659
00:59:37,140 --> 00:59:39,320
and the fact that he is,

1660
00:59:40,244 --> 00:59:40,744
constantly,

1661
00:59:41,204 --> 00:59:41,704
constantly

1662
00:59:42,005 --> 00:59:42,505
evolving.

1663
00:59:42,884 --> 00:59:45,605
And I think he is he's also has

1664
00:59:45,605 --> 00:59:48,244
so many different brands with the coffee. Oh,

1665
00:59:48,244 --> 00:59:50,484
yeah. You know, you name it. Like, he

1666
00:59:50,484 --> 00:59:52,344
just keeps reinventing himself.

1667
00:59:52,949 --> 00:59:53,670
And then,

1668
00:59:54,550 --> 00:59:55,449
I'm from Philly

1669
00:59:55,750 --> 00:59:56,250
originally,

1670
00:59:56,550 --> 00:59:57,050
so

1671
00:59:57,590 --> 01:00:00,070
I gotta go with Black Thought. Just when

1672
01:00:00,070 --> 01:00:01,210
you really like,

1673
01:00:02,309 --> 01:00:03,769
out of all of them,

1674
01:00:04,744 --> 01:00:06,445
the person that's gonna make me

1675
01:00:06,744 --> 01:00:08,505
like, oh, let me pick up that book

1676
01:00:08,505 --> 01:00:10,905
or let me research that author or let

1677
01:00:10,905 --> 01:00:13,085
me go back and listen to that or,

1678
01:00:13,144 --> 01:00:15,965
you know, that line in, you know,

1679
01:00:16,344 --> 01:00:18,905
you know, a poem from, you know, Audrey

1680
01:00:18,905 --> 01:00:20,285
Lorde. I don't know. Like,

1681
01:00:20,670 --> 01:00:22,609
he would just bring it all together

1682
01:00:23,309 --> 01:00:26,349
and and really make you fake, you know,

1683
01:00:26,349 --> 01:00:28,690
without a dictionary Yeah. Exactly. Stars.

1684
01:00:29,150 --> 01:00:29,730
You know?

1685
01:00:30,989 --> 01:00:32,909
But, you know, and and he can rock

1686
01:00:32,909 --> 01:00:34,130
with anybody.

1687
01:00:35,394 --> 01:00:38,835
And so Black Thought, definitely. And then my

1688
01:00:38,835 --> 01:00:39,494
my honorable

1689
01:00:40,974 --> 01:00:42,215
mention. Pair.

1690
01:00:42,595 --> 01:00:45,155
My honorable mentions would be Jay z and

1691
01:00:45,155 --> 01:00:45,655
Nas.

1692
01:00:47,440 --> 01:00:49,280
I love Nas. Like, this is where like,

1693
01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:50,820
I'm excited for the new,

1694
01:00:52,880 --> 01:00:55,199
out in me as with Premiere because I

1695
01:00:55,199 --> 01:00:57,140
feel like that's where my Nas

1696
01:00:58,320 --> 01:00:59,699
love has been

1697
01:01:01,574 --> 01:01:03,815
compromised, I guess. I love him. Yeah. I

1698
01:01:03,815 --> 01:01:05,355
love him. Don't get me wrong.

1699
01:01:05,815 --> 01:01:07,434
But I I need the

1700
01:01:07,815 --> 01:01:09,815
he he he hasn't been with Premier in

1701
01:01:09,815 --> 01:01:11,755
a while. I need that. I need that.

1702
01:01:11,815 --> 01:01:14,614
The nation is excited about that without a

1703
01:01:14,614 --> 01:01:17,039
doubt. Yeah. I love that. And I don't

1704
01:01:17,039 --> 01:01:18,960
like I I feel like Jay z and

1705
01:01:18,960 --> 01:01:20,720
Ghostface, like, one of the things I love

1706
01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:22,640
about both of them is that they'll play

1707
01:01:22,640 --> 01:01:24,960
with you. Like, they'll just play with you

1708
01:01:24,960 --> 01:01:27,039
in their in their lyrics and kind of,

1709
01:01:27,039 --> 01:01:27,539
like,

1710
01:01:28,085 --> 01:01:29,764
tease you and challenge you,

1711
01:01:30,324 --> 01:01:32,404
to make sense of things, and they don't

1712
01:01:32,404 --> 01:01:34,565
feel any obligation to make sense of it

1713
01:01:34,565 --> 01:01:35,224
for you.

1714
01:01:35,844 --> 01:01:36,344
I

1715
01:01:37,284 --> 01:01:39,144
this top five is a boy.

1716
01:01:39,924 --> 01:01:40,980
Love this. So,

1717
01:01:41,300 --> 01:01:42,599
those of you who,

1718
01:01:43,059 --> 01:01:45,880
listen to the podcast on,

1719
01:01:46,980 --> 01:01:49,000
on our Spotify and Apple platforms,

1720
01:01:49,380 --> 01:01:51,159
you'll be able to click a link,

1721
01:01:51,859 --> 01:01:52,359
where,

1722
01:01:52,900 --> 01:01:55,559
we will curate some songs from these,

1723
01:01:56,255 --> 01:01:57,934
from these artists. So it's gonna be so

1724
01:01:57,934 --> 01:01:59,775
it'll be the playlist that goes along with

1725
01:01:59,775 --> 01:02:02,175
this. I'm gonna drop my top five real

1726
01:02:02,175 --> 01:02:04,175
quick, but I'm not gonna take up a

1727
01:02:04,175 --> 01:02:06,414
lot of space with it. So currently my

1728
01:02:06,414 --> 01:02:08,494
top five, and this is current, I'm I'm

1729
01:02:08,494 --> 01:02:10,655
so fluid in and out of my top

1730
01:02:10,655 --> 01:02:11,155
five.

1731
01:02:12,199 --> 01:02:14,599
Rakim is my honorable mention because he's always

1732
01:02:14,599 --> 01:02:16,699
there. Like Rakim, as I shared earlier,

1733
01:02:17,159 --> 01:02:19,579
was the person that gave me an inkling

1734
01:02:19,799 --> 01:02:23,099
that this Chicanito with a stutter could actually

1735
01:02:23,159 --> 01:02:25,000
learn to speak in a weird in a

1736
01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:26,059
way that was clear.

1737
01:02:26,514 --> 01:02:28,755
So I'll always owe that to Rakim. But

1738
01:02:28,755 --> 01:02:29,815
my top five currently,

1739
01:02:30,355 --> 01:02:30,855
Residente,

1740
01:02:31,235 --> 01:02:31,735
the,

1741
01:02:32,114 --> 01:02:33,235
Puerto Rican rapper.

1742
01:02:34,034 --> 01:02:34,534
Love

1743
01:02:34,835 --> 01:02:36,914
what he does in Spanglish. Love what he

1744
01:02:36,914 --> 01:02:38,775
and his brother and sister do together.

1745
01:02:39,559 --> 01:02:41,639
Really amazing stuff. I've been listening to El

1746
01:02:41,639 --> 01:02:43,260
Agwante in Latino America

1747
01:02:43,559 --> 01:02:44,539
a lot lately.

1748
01:02:45,400 --> 01:02:46,940
The indigenous rapper, Narcy,

1749
01:02:47,880 --> 01:02:50,699
he appears on a track with Yacine Bey

1750
01:02:50,920 --> 01:02:52,940
and with a trot with, hallucination,

1751
01:02:54,275 --> 01:02:57,235
called r e d, and it's like this

1752
01:02:57,235 --> 01:02:58,934
incredible electric beat

1753
01:02:59,315 --> 01:03:01,255
mixed over powwow drumming,

1754
01:03:01,635 --> 01:03:02,695
and it's just

1755
01:03:03,315 --> 01:03:03,815
wicked.

1756
01:03:04,434 --> 01:03:05,175
So good.

1757
01:03:05,635 --> 01:03:07,655
J Cole. I just love J Cole storytelling,

1758
01:03:08,515 --> 01:03:09,414
and I love

1759
01:03:09,750 --> 01:03:11,190
the I love that so many of his

1760
01:03:11,190 --> 01:03:12,409
stories come from the heart.

1761
01:03:12,710 --> 01:03:14,630
And some of the stuff I've been listening

1762
01:03:14,630 --> 01:03:17,429
to is it just feels so real. MC

1763
01:03:17,429 --> 01:03:19,670
Lyte's always there. I think about this because

1764
01:03:19,670 --> 01:03:21,989
anytime an MC Lyte come attracts on when

1765
01:03:21,989 --> 01:03:23,835
I shuffle my music, I don't

1766
01:03:24,375 --> 01:03:27,335
skip. And I just Mhmm. I love that

1767
01:03:27,335 --> 01:03:28,394
for her enunciation.

1768
01:03:29,015 --> 01:03:29,755
I love

1769
01:03:30,215 --> 01:03:32,375
the cadence and the rhythm. It's just like

1770
01:03:32,375 --> 01:03:34,135
she's just taking you on a ride. And

1771
01:03:34,135 --> 01:03:35,815
then my last one that I'm super into

1772
01:03:35,815 --> 01:03:39,210
right now is, the British Palestinian rapper, Shadia

1773
01:03:39,210 --> 01:03:39,369
Mansour.

1774
01:03:41,289 --> 01:03:43,230
She did a track with,

1775
01:03:44,010 --> 01:03:44,670
the Chilean

1776
01:03:45,289 --> 01:03:46,829
rapper, Ana Tiju,

1777
01:03:47,690 --> 01:03:48,190
called

1778
01:03:48,730 --> 01:03:49,230
Somosur,

1779
01:03:49,690 --> 01:03:52,485
We Are the South. And it's this anthem

1780
01:03:52,784 --> 01:03:54,085
for the global majority,

1781
01:03:55,105 --> 01:03:57,605
and for the southernized people. So just,

1782
01:03:58,065 --> 01:03:59,824
you know, a little bit of resistance in

1783
01:03:59,824 --> 01:04:01,824
a lot of that music. I love it.

1784
01:04:01,824 --> 01:04:03,985
I'll send them to you. Yeah. It's so

1785
01:04:03,985 --> 01:04:06,065
good. It's so good. I, you know, I

1786
01:04:06,065 --> 01:04:06,840
taught in an international

1787
01:04:08,440 --> 01:04:11,039
international studies school. Yeah. And, and my students

1788
01:04:11,039 --> 01:04:12,840
who are mostly black and brown kids, when

1789
01:04:12,840 --> 01:04:15,239
they got a chance to travel, whether in

1790
01:04:15,239 --> 01:04:17,160
the country or out of the country, they

1791
01:04:17,160 --> 01:04:18,780
would always bring me music.

1792
01:04:19,079 --> 01:04:21,000
Like, they'll bring me hip hop music from

1793
01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:22,856
that country. Mhmm. So I have, like, I

1794
01:04:22,856 --> 01:04:25,353
have, like, a CD and a rapper. No

1795
01:04:25,353 --> 01:04:28,161
idea what he's saying. But he's got skills.

1796
01:04:28,474 --> 01:04:30,970
That's how I discovered FC Sola from Paris,

1797
01:04:30,970 --> 01:04:33,779
you know, and some good stuff. But Okay.

1798
01:04:34,091 --> 01:04:36,588
Anyway, I could talk about hip hop all

1799
01:04:36,588 --> 01:04:36,900
night.

1800
01:04:37,539 --> 01:04:40,099
Jamila saying Me too. This was such a

1801
01:04:40,099 --> 01:04:42,019
fun conversation. I feel so honored that you

1802
01:04:42,019 --> 01:04:43,619
came on to do teachers in a mic

1803
01:04:43,619 --> 01:04:45,480
today. Thank you for

1804
01:04:46,420 --> 01:04:49,299
for just you have me. Wonderful conversations. We

1805
01:04:49,299 --> 01:04:51,695
should do this again. Absolutely. Because hip hop

1806
01:04:51,695 --> 01:04:54,494
is always evolving. So we probably have a

1807
01:04:54,494 --> 01:04:56,255
million other things to talk about at any

1808
01:04:56,255 --> 01:04:58,655
given moment. But, I really appreciate How do

1809
01:04:58,655 --> 01:04:59,235
you love?

1810
01:05:00,255 --> 01:05:02,195
Of this opportunity. How do people,

1811
01:05:02,815 --> 01:05:05,440
support you and follow you? Yes. The website

1812
01:05:05,440 --> 01:05:10,980
is www.wedoit,thenumberfour,theculture.com.

1813
01:05:11,440 --> 01:05:13,539
We are also on Instagram

1814
01:05:13,920 --> 01:05:16,260
at s e l four

1815
01:05:16,784 --> 01:05:17,444
the culture.

1816
01:05:17,905 --> 01:05:19,664
If you can, go to the website, you

1817
01:05:19,664 --> 01:05:21,905
can also create a free account, engage with

1818
01:05:21,905 --> 01:05:22,565
the lessons,

1819
01:05:23,264 --> 01:05:24,944
and, you know, reach out to us if

1820
01:05:24,944 --> 01:05:27,525
you would like to explore more. Well, folks,

1821
01:05:27,744 --> 01:05:28,244
for,

1822
01:05:29,550 --> 01:05:32,269
Kevin Adams, who is gonna be so sad

1823
01:05:32,269 --> 01:05:33,650
that he missed this conversation,

1824
01:05:34,910 --> 01:05:36,930
for Jamila Sams, founder

1825
01:05:37,309 --> 01:05:39,230
of We Do It For The Culture, a

1826
01:05:39,230 --> 01:05:40,769
hip hop SEL curriculum,

1827
01:05:41,390 --> 01:05:44,769
I am your Elosopher King, Gerardo Munoz,

1828
01:05:45,684 --> 01:05:47,125
inviting you all oh, yeah. I forgot to

1829
01:05:47,125 --> 01:05:48,804
tell you. So the way we, take out

1830
01:05:48,804 --> 01:05:51,125
the show is I'll say a bunch of

1831
01:05:51,125 --> 01:05:53,204
stuff, and then I'll signal to you, and

1832
01:05:53,204 --> 01:05:55,144
we will say stay known together.

1833
01:05:56,085 --> 01:05:56,585
So,

1834
01:05:57,364 --> 01:05:59,764
I am asking you we are asking you

1835
01:05:59,764 --> 01:06:02,719
to stay ramping up, stay making those mix

1836
01:06:02,719 --> 01:06:04,019
tapes on social media,

1837
01:06:05,199 --> 01:06:07,859
stay engaging young people in the classroom, stay

1838
01:06:07,920 --> 01:06:08,820
stay storytelling,

1839
01:06:09,280 --> 01:06:11,780
stay making a way out of no way

1840
01:06:11,839 --> 01:06:14,159
and above and beyond. Make sure that you

1841
01:06:14,159 --> 01:06:14,659
always

1842
01:06:15,945 --> 01:06:16,445
stay

1843
01:06:17,065 --> 01:06:17,565
dope.