Hip-Hop Classroom

The Hip-Hop Culture in the United States is a very powerful force in the lives of the youth at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. This blog will focus on some ways to connect what Efrem Smith and Phil Jackson reveal in their text titled “The Hip-Hop Church” to my setting.

For those who have not read the text yet, the culture of Hip-Hop needs some brief description. According to Smith and Jackson, Hip-Hop is post-soul, outside civil rights, outside politics, an entire culture, a coping mechanism, and a tool to speak out for justice. It is what most young people listen to and if they don’t listen to it they are inadvertently affected by it. We can see it in the clothing, in the attitude, in the physical posture, and in the way youth sit/slouch in their cars. Many of these components of Hip-Hop culture are well in line with what I see in terms of needs for our church today. But Hip-Hop is also very bold in its style and uses images and language that is offensive. Smith and Jackson are attempting to have the church work with the strength of this cultural movement but not get sucked into the offensive components. The authors work with how successful Hip-Hop is and how unsuccessful the church has been so that they can bring up a need to work within the Hip-Hop culture to incarnate the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The phrase they use is to work toward a “Hip-Hop Church” and both Smith and Jackson have some success stories to share of this avenue for the gospel.

Turning now to my context, the high school classroom, I want to make two observations from last week. Both of these observations are only a beginning for me but I have hope that I can build on this. I want to state up front that a way to work with girls is missing. I am eager and willing to explore this but at present, I have not.

Jared is a junior in my class. He is a Euro-American, middle class, suburban teen that is representing this Hip-Hop culture. He dresses the style, talks the talk, and carries an attitude towards authority. As I was reading the text at home this week I often thought of Jared as a prime example of the influence of Hip-Hop outside of urban life. I decided to give him a challenge for class Thursday and Friday. He was to bring in a song to play for the class that demonstrated a good message for the church. I told him not to worry about language but to focus on the message. I expected him to find a Christian version so that he would not push the limit of the class but that was not the case. I also thought this might be hard for him to pick since most songs (according to me) are negative messages. This also was not the case. I cannot remember the names of the artists or the titles of the songs he chose but for a few minutes my classroom was transformed. Heads bounced, feet tapped and many kids laughed as they waited for the “F Bomb” to come up. These students then began to tell me all about the message of these songs and how they love to play this song in certain situations. One student even shared how he likes to mix this one in when he is deejay at parties (news to me). I found that what Jared brought to class helped my work as an educator. The topic from history I was intending to cover was the changes in place for Luther and the reformation and we spoke about how this Hip-Hop message is speaking to the changes in place today setting up a new form of church now. I also want to note that Jared did not sleep in class and did not try to put up his hood and slide down into his chair. I ran into him at church Sunday and he asked if he can bring in another song after spring break.

Jon is a junior in my class. He is a Central American, adopted, middle class, suburban teen. He also represents Hip-Hop but for him it is a connection with minority persons and the struggle for justice that pulls him in. He is in the same class with Jared and wants to play some of his selections. He said “mine aren’t a nice as Jared’s”. I told him to give it a try so we will see what I am getting into after break. I assume the message will be good but the language will not be. What I do notice is that showing the connection to current challenges of the church helped Jon also get/understand the challenges of the church in the 1500s.

In conclusion, the inclusion of Hip-Hop in class will help build connections/applications. As Smith and Jackson state, the challenge is to clarify what the message is and add prophetic insight from the gospel. We do not need to put down artists but rather work with what they reveal about culture (injustice and frustrations) to help spin a relevant gospel of the good news in Christ.

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