It’s good to know something real and all that - Exploring the benefits of a school-based Hip Hop program

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy

This article examines student benefits generated by a school-based Hip Hop and beat making program. While existing studies often focus on North American settings, comparatively little evidence addresses the Australian context. Using a two-day ethnographic design with nine Melbourne secondary students, the study adopted an open approach to capture both anticipated and unexpected outcomes. Findings indicate benefits including school engagement, social connection, and personal development, supported by facilitator presentation, alignment with students’ musical preferences, suitable equipment and space, and emphasis on Hip Hop culture itself.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Origins and cultural elements of Hip Hop

Criticisms and concerns about Hip Hop in schools

Evidence for positive roles in youth life

Growth of Hip Hop scholarship in education

“It’s good to know something real and all that”: Exploring the benefits of a school-based Hip Hop program Alexander Hew Dale Crooke1 and Cristina Moreno Almeida2 1. Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne 2. Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London a u s t r a l i a n a s o c i e t y s f o r m u s i c m e d u c a t i o n e i n c o r p o r a t e d Abstract This article reports on the student benefits of a school-based Hip Hop and beat making program. While a significant amount of literature has reported the benefits of Hip Hop programs in North American schools, comparatively little is known about the benefits of such programs in the Australian context. Using an ethnographic approach, this study explored a two-day intensive Hip Hop music program delivered to nine secondary students in a Melbourne school. The study took an intentionally open and emergent approach in order to avoid preconceptions of potential benefits, and allow any unexpected benefits to emerge. Analysis also explored the elements of the program that appeared key to fostering identified benefits. While time limitations where seen to limit the potential of the program, results identified a number of student benefits, including school engagement, social connection, and personal development. Factors that were seen as key to these benefits included the presentation offacilitators, the ability for the program to link to students’musical preferences, the equipment and space, as well as the focus on Hip Hop culture itself. While more research is necessary to further explore these findings, they provide important evidence for the potential role that Hip Hop and beat making programs can play in Australian schools. Keywords: Hip Hop, Hip Hop Education, Hip Hop music, Beat Making, Student benefits Introduction Hip Hop is a culture that emerged among marginalised Black and Latino communities in the South Bronx during the 1970s, as a way to promote notions of identity, community, resilience, and resistance to oppression (Chang, 2007; Rose, 1994). Drawing on existing art forms from Latin and African Diaspora cultures, Hip Hop grew around four major artistic forms; “known as the four elements,[these] include emceeing (i.e. rapping), DJing (i.e. turntablism), forms of dance such as breaking (i.e. breakdancing), and writing graffiti”(Petchauer, 2009, p. 946). Through these four elements, Hip Hop culture has continued to convey messages of community, peace and social consciousness, while also allowing individuals to construct and express their own identities in positive ways (Travis, 2015). Yet, alongside these positive aspects, a largely commercialised image of Hip Hop culture has grown in parallel, which is often associated with gangsters, thugs, pimps, misogyny, drugs and violence (Kubrin, 2005). This image, which continues to be perpetuated through mainstream media, has led numerous scholars to search for negative relationships between young people and Hip Hop (Miranda & Gaudreau, 2011), and caused anxiety about the presence of Hip Hop in schools, and young people’s lives more generally (Kandakai, Price, Telljohann, & Wilson, 1999). Other scholars like Tricia Rose (1994, 2008) and Halifu Osumare (2007) have, however, drawn a more nuanced portrayal of the contradictions of Hip Hop culture as part of Western consumer cultures and capitalism. Despite outspoken public condemnation of Hip Hop as a negative influence on society (for discussion, see Crooke & Travis, 2017), recent years has seen a rapid growth in literature re-affirming the positive role that Hip Hop culture can play in the lives of young people (Alvarez, 2012). Much of this has emerged from research in health and social science disciplines, including social work (Travis, 2015), psychiatry (Sule & Inkster, 2015), psychology (Winfrey, 2010) and music therapy (Hadley & Yancy, 2012). Scholars in all of these fields report solid evidence for

FAQs

What is the focus of the study on the school-based Hip Hop program?

The study focuses on student benefits from a school-based Hip Hop and beat making program, especially in an Australian context.

How was the program studied and with how many students?

The researchers used an ethnographic approach to explore a two-day intensive Hip Hop music program delivered to nine secondary students in a Melbourne school.

What student benefits were identified from the program?

The study identified benefits including school engagement, social connection, and personal development, despite perceived time limitations.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy