Hip Hop is becoming all the rage again, and I have a whole unit dedicated to the genre! This unit has 5-6 lessons (depending on how you break it down), and is perfect for that 4th-6th grade range. Everything I share in this blog, I go more into detail in my YouTube video!
Before we get into it, I need to acknowledge that I’ve put a lot of thought and introspection into sharing about Hip Hop as a white educator. I haven’t shared about it yet because I wanted to make sure that anything I share is authentic, and that I’m able to point you in the right direction of sources that are created by experts of Hip Hop. I am not an expert, just someone who loves to find great and informative resources. With that being said, let’s get into it!
Of course, we always start with an intro lesson! I love to open up a discussion with my students by asking them questions such as “What do you already know?” and “When do you think Hip Hop was created?”. Then we listen to some Hip Hop!
I created a whole Spotify playlist, and it has music such as “Now or Never” by Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige, “In My Feelings” by Brasstracks, “Know How” by Young MC, “Throw Ya Hands Up” by Mr. Green and DJ Kool Herc, and several more. Some songs we listen to all the way through, and others that may have some questionable areas we just listen to bits and pieces of.
Basically that’s it for the first lesson. It’s all about pulling any prior knowledge they may have and getting them excited about Hip Hop!
There are four elements of Hip Hop: DJ, MC (rapping), break dancing, and graffiti. In the second lesson, we talk about the first one, DJ and turntables! We start off by learning about DJ Kool Herc, who also connects to our Reggae unit because he’s from Kingston, Jamaica. As a class we read the book “When the Beat Was Born”, and then after that we use a Google doodle that has an interactive turntable. It has several different settings and lets them get the idea of how to DJ using ta turntable.
If you’re one-to-one with technology, I wouldn’t send your students the link for them to play around on their own since there are some questionable records that you can choose to use. But it’s definitely a great resource to use with some guidance and boundaries!
Have you heard of Incredibox? If not, then you are MISSING OUT! Incredibox is a fun site where students can create their own beatboxing mix by putting different outfits on each of the guys. Each outfit is a different vocal effect such as a beat, special effect, and melody. It starts by playing in a loop, but then you can switch out vocal effects and create solos to create a really interesting performance! The site allows your students to record their mix and then share a link for others to listen.
The next lesson is all about MCing, which is an earlier version of rap. We start by watching a video from Flocabulary, and it’s such an informative and authentic video of how rap became so popular. I love that it goes into depth on the culture and history behind rap, which really helps students overcome their stereotypes and preconceived notions and enjoy the music.
After the video we look at a website called “Little Kids Rock”. There’s a teacher that talks about cadence and how you create a rap. Then I hand out a worksheet that walks the students through creating their own. Several of the students might be hesitant at first, but then I show them a rap I created and actually perform it for them and that seems to break the ice.
I have a few different backtracks that students get to choose from to create their rap, and once they’re finished I have them share their rap first in small groups. Then if some students are feeling comfortable, I have them share it in front of the whole class. It was SO much fun and some of their raps were downright hysterical.
The next element of Hip Hop is breakdance! For this lesson I tried to find “how to” videos on YouTube but then quickly discovered that breakdancing is EXTREMELY hard! There wasn’t really a single movement or video that I could find that would work in our classroom space, so this portion of the unit ended up being more of a “sit and watch” type of lesson.
I found some really good videos by the Rock Steady Crew, and after that we did the Rhythm Stick Rondo by Franklin Willis. It doesn’t have breakdancing, but it does have some movements with the rhythm sticks.
And finally to wrap up the unit, we cover the last element of Hip Hop which is graffiti. I showed them pictures and examples of graffiti and we talked about the ethics of graffiti. We talked about is it vandalism or is it art, and then I had them make their own graffiti!
Students wrote either their name or a word that’s important to them and I printed out some graffiti letters that they could trace over for their letters. Then we decorated part of our room with their artwork! They enjoyed being creative while listening to some Hip Hop music and having some time to explore a new form of art.
So, that’s it! My students have really been into learning about different genres lately, and Hip Hop was definitely no exception. They were invested in the history and culture behind Hip Hop and loved getting to explore the four different elements.
Everything I’ve shared in this blog is also shared more in depth on my YouTube channel! Like I said before, everything I’ve shared in the blog is pulled from other amazing teachers or resources that are perfect for learning about Hip Hop in your classroom. If you haven’t yet, be sure to follow me on Instagram for more updates and lesson ideas!
