Hip-Hop Comes Home to the Bronx Classroom
Hip-hop was born in the Bronx more than five decades ago. Now, the culture is taking on another role in the borough: becoming the foundation of a new approach to public education.
The Bronx School of Hip-Hop has officially welcomed its inaugural freshman class, bringing approximately 100 ninth-grade students into one of New York City's newest public high schools.
Located at 1600 Webster Avenue in the Bronx, the school is designed to connect traditional academics with the culture and creative disciplines of hip-hop.
The Five Elements Become Part of Education
The school's educational model incorporates five elements of hip-hop — emceeing, DJing, breaking, graffiti and knowledge of self — as tools for engaging students while maintaining traditional academic instruction.
Students will also have access to coursework including audio production, digital media and financial literacy, giving them opportunities to develop skills connected to today's creative and digital economies.
The concept is bigger than simply teaching students how to rap, DJ or produce music. Hip-hop is being used as an entry point to connect culture, creativity and student identity with rigorous learning.
Advisory board member and educator Chris Emdin described hip-hop as the school's "hook" and "anchor," with rigorous academics following from that connection.
A School That Looks and Feels Like Hip-Hop
Hip-hop's influence extends beyond the curriculum.
Throughout the building, students encounter artwork, quotes and tributes connected to influential artists including Lauryn Hill, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas and Jay-Z. Founding principal Jason Reyes has emphasized creating an environment where students recognize their culture and feel a sense of belonging.
Even mathematics can be approached differently. During a tour of the school, a geometry classroom demonstrated how students could use microphones and rap to communicate mathematical concepts.
That approach represents the larger philosophy behind the school: students don't necessarily have to leave their culture at the classroom door in order to succeed academically.
Bronx Hip-Hop Legends Celebrate the Opening
The opening also connected today's students with generations of Bronx hip-hop history.
Hip-hop legends Fat Joe and Melle Mel were among those who joined students during the school's opening celebration.
For Fat Joe, establishing the school in the Bronx carries particular significance because the borough created a culture that eventually spread around the world.
That history makes the location especially meaningful.
Hip-hop traces its origins to the Bronx in the 1970s, and the culture has since developed into a worldwide force influencing music, fashion, television, film, advertising, technology and business.
Now education is becoming another part of that legacy.
The School Will Grow Over the Next Four Years
The Bronx School of Hip-Hop is beginning with its inaugural ninth-grade class and plans to add another grade each year.
That means the school is expected to eventually serve students from grades 9 through 12 as its first freshman class progresses toward graduation.
The school is also receiving significant public investment. Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson announced a $350,000 allocation for equipment including mobile media carts, cameras, laptops, tablets and other technology supporting the school's academic and creative programs.
Hip-Hop's Next Chapter Starts Where It Began
For decades, hip-hop has educated people informally through storytelling, history, social commentary, entrepreneurship and creative expression.
The Bronx School of Hip-Hop represents an attempt to bring some of those same principles directly into formal education.
And there may be no more fitting place for that experiment than the Bronx.
More than 50 years after hip-hop emerged from the borough and became a worldwide cultural movement, a new generation of Bronx students will now have the opportunity to study, create and learn inside a school built around the culture itself.
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