We sharpen each other.
We soften each other.
I understand Hip Hop Pedagogy as an embodied approach to cultivating and protecting safe and brave spaces that invite participation, experimentation, reflection and accountability. My personal framework is inquiry-driven, and lays at intersection of the historical, poetic, musical, sociological, spiritual, and somatic, with a pedagogy of love as the means and the ends.
Photo by Mackenna Lewis
My lifelong journey includes:
/10th year teaching at The New School, Annualized Part-time Faculty
/2023 & 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award Nominee
/2024 Hip Hop Ed Conference Workshop Presenter, Teacher’s College @ Columbia University
/2024 NYC Arts in Education Roundtable Mentor
/Currently teaching seminars:
-Hip Hop Pedagogy & Practice
-Music As Calling & Career
-Hip Hop Skill, Style & Science
-Hip Hop Ensemble
-DJ Skills & Style, practice lab supervisor
/Faculty Advisor to The New School Hip Hop Collective
/U.S. State Dept. Next Level Cultural Ambassador, Team Uganda (2015) & Team Chile (2023)
/2022 Alumni Award Recipient, Grinnell College
/Guest lecturer at Grinnell College to teach short-course intensive “Hip Hop Education, Praxis & Action: The Cypher Paradigm” (2018)
/Co-Founder, Hip Hop Re:Education Project (501c3)
/20+ years working in NYC public schools, from full-time Middle School teacher to Teaching Artist to Curriculum Writer and Program Administrator
/Facilitated workshops and delivered Professional Development nationwide
/Visiting Artist at Universal American School, Dubai
/Visiting Artist at Inspire! Academy, London, England
/H2ED Hip Hop Ed Fellow @ NYU Steinhardt School of Education
/Artistic Creator of rap-song based NYS Regents test prep program, Fresh Prep
Cypher Pedagogy
The cypher remains the centerpiece of every class I teach or visit. This includes improvisation as a practice, but this cypher is malleable and takes different site-specific forms, though always circular in function. It is open format, inter-disciplinary, intentionally inclusive, intersectional, inviting and guided by questions. This concept is shaped in part and in praxis by the 6 Pillars of the Hip Hop Re:Education Project.
Cultural Diplomacy
I first experienced transcendental cross-cultural exchange through futbol. I grew up a soccer player, captain of my college team, and kept this passion at the forefront of my identity as I began to travel the globe at age 17, self-funding a post-high school backpack adventure around Europe with my best friend. As rap overtook soccer as my volition and I grew into Hip Hop, I found the same capacity for connection that futbol offered: play, reciprocity, and comradery built on top of a canonical appreciation; a love for the Culture and the potential for respect based on the principle that “real recognize real” when it comes to skills.
When I started to tour internationally as a musician, I found myself invited across the threshold of community again and again, building a family network that stretched from France to Brasil. And, crucially, I was able to host dozens of visiting artists in NYC from 2007-2016 when my living space (and very patient roommates) permitted. What I recognize is that I was engaging in Arts Diplomacy independently, from the private sector, grassroots as could be. With time, experience, and expertise, I’ve been able to partner with institutions, organizations and governmental initiatives to expand this work.