In November 2010 two educators were having a conversation on twitter http://www.twitter.com about Jay-Z’s book “Decoded.” To keep a continuous thread of their conversation Chris Emdin @chrisemdin and Brandon Frame @brandonframe and @theblackmancan created the hash tag #HipHopEd. This conversation gave way to a weekly twitter chat called #HipHopEd where topics that examine Hip-Hop music and culture and education were discussed. Chris and Brandon were joined by Sam Seidel @husslington and three Hip-Hop Educators began to develop and implement the weekly chats.
In the middle of 2011 Timothy Jones @tdj6899 and Amil Cook @amilcook joined the leadership team of #HipHopEd and the chat continued its growth exponentially. #HipHopEd began to attract Hip-Hop fans, purists, practitioners, thinkers, and educators of various ages, ethnicities, and locales. The weekly discussions take place on Tuesday evenings from 9-10 pm EST using the hash tag #HipHopEd. To some #HipHopEd is a platform of professional development and to others it is a weekly think tank for the analysis and evaluation of Hip-Hop culture. #HipHopEd may review the latest album release, pay homage to a fallen soldier, and investigate issues that impact our community, promote aspects of Hip-Hop culture, and evaluate the President’s State of the Union Address.
HipHopEd evolved from a chat to an educational movement as the leaders of the chat individually and collectively began to infuse the philosophy of #HipHopEd into its work throughout the country and beyond in classrooms, forums, lectures, and after school programs. #HipHopEd’s logo is a remake of the “Parental Advisory” logo with a warning that #HipHopEd includes progressive educational content. The theoretical foundation of #HipHopEd is “Reality Pedagogy”, http://youtu.be/2Y9tVf_8fqo check out “Reality Pedagogy: Christopher Emdin at TEDx Teachers College. #HipHopEd in action can be captured in Sam Seidel’s “Hip-Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education” http://youtu.be/WLMdkGk5Ofo.
HipHopEd has frequent participants from countries outside of the United States in such places as Canada, Europe, and Japan. Amil Cook @amilcook captures the weekly #HipHopEd chats using an application called @chirpstory. This allows individuals to read the weekly chats on a time line and get access to the plethora of resources that are attached as links to various tweets on a weekly basis. Timothy Jones @tdj6899 promotes the chats throughout the growing #HipHopEd network and collaborates with the leadership to develop the weekly topics that keep #HipHopEd fresh, cutting edge, and informative (follow Timothy Jones 2 receive weekly #HipHopEd topics).
HipHopEd is a cypher that continues to grow and expand its reach while maintaining the principles of shared knowledge and equality of voice, which govern the cypher. The goal of #HipHopEd is to promote, preserve, and protect Hip-Hop and inspire, initiate, and intellectualize Hip-Hop as a means of sustained Education and Youth development.
