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A decolonial praxis of hip-hop: hip-hop culture's connection to resilient youth's critical consciousness and wellbeing

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A decolonial praxis of hip-hop: hip-hop culture's connection to resilient youth's critical consciousness and wellbeing

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Content Running head: A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 1
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP:
HIP-HOP CULTURE'S CONNECTION TO RESILIENT
YOUTH'S CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND WELLBEING
by
Christopher Patrick Haggard
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
December 2018
Copyright 2018 Christopher Patrick Haggard
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 2
Dedication Page
This is dedicated to all my children, Ashton Michael, Dahnbi Inara, Naima Selah, Jackson Cayden,
and Benjamin Matthew. Thank you for being the greatest teachers in my life. May this doctorate
not be perceived as vain, but rather as an example to seek knowledge and understanding for the
truth. Always leave room for learning. You can do anything that you set your mind to. I love you.
– Dad

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 3
Acknowledgements
I want to first give thanks to my Creator for giving me the opportunity and strength to fulfill the
requirements of this degree. To my wife Crystal. Thank you for encouraging me, holding down
the family, and dealing with my madness during this process. I love you. To my mom and dad,
thank you for always believing in me and making education a priority.

I first want to recognize the significant contribution of my dissertation chair, Dr. Alan Green. You
have been a great mentor and friend during both my journeys of graduate school and the doctoral
program. Thank you for being the first to help me organize my passions so I can contribute to "The
Work". To my rock star committee members, Dr. Briana Hinga and Dr. Rey Baca, who served as
amazing guides and mentors in the dissertation process, giving me the ability to be a better
consumer of research from your feedback.

I also want to recognize the following individuals who helped make the hip-hop workshop for this
study become a reality, Mario "Zero" Alcala from Roc Squad, Nesto "Nes One" Cortez from
Innovators Crew, Carl "DJ Hazze" Gilkey from Air Force Crew, Lamont "Tales" Goode, Alex
"Spyro" Gudino, John "Zender" Estrada, Stella "Stellz" Fernandez from Heart Breakerz Crew, Leo
Mora from Phat Caps, and Kasim Khan and the rest of my Roots-N-Culture family. You are all
amazing examples of the power of hip-hop. Thank you for your continued dedication to the hip-
hop culture and allowing me to add to the body of research on our culture.

Finally, to Dr. Shaun Harper, thank you for your contributions to "The Work" and serving as an
additional mentor and a friend. Thank you for strengthening my quest for equity through the
sharing of knowledge, but importantly for equipping me with the tools to challenge the status quo.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 4
Table of Contents
List of Figures 8
List of Tables 9
Abstract 10
Chapter One: Overview of the Study 11
Background of the Problem 12
Statement of the Problem 14
Purpose of the Study 15
Significance of the Study 16
Organization of the Study 21
Chapter Two: Literature Review 22
Decolonization as a Praxis 24
Critical Race Theory 24
Bronfenbrenner's Ecological System's Model 27
Social Capital Theory 28
Research Using Social Capital Theory and Hip-Hop 30
Resilient Urban Youth 31
"Interventions" with resilient urban-youth 32
Hip-Hop 35
Wellbeing 43
Hip-Hop Therapy 44
Arts Education 45
Neuroscience 45
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 5
I-COPPE 48
Conceptual Framework 55
Chapter Summary 56
Chapter Three: Methodology 59
Qualitative Methods 60

Site 63
Sampling Method 64
Participant Selection 64
Instrumentation 65
Data Collection 65
Data Analysis 65
Qualitative Data Analysis 66
Ethical Considerations 68
Summary 68
Chapter Four: Findings 70
Introduction 70
Purpose of the Study Restated 72
Phase 1: Participant Selection 73
An Exploration of Hip-Hop: 74
Phase 2: A Workshop 74
Participant Descriptions 76
Phase 3: Interviews 76
Student Profiles 77
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 6
Alexander 77
Bambino 80
Beast 81
Brandy 83
Charles 86
Evan Shem 88
Natalia 91
Phase 4: Research Findings 93
Research Findings pertaining to research question one 93
Research Findings pertaining to research question two 97
Research Findings pertaining to research question three 99
Summary 103
Chapter Five: Discussion 107
Introduction 107
Summary 108
Findings 114
Limitations 115
Implications for Practice 115
Recommendations for Practice 116
Recommendations for Future Research 117
Conclusions 118
References 120
Appendix A: I COPPE Scale 126
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 7
Appendix B: Permission to Conduct Research Study 128
Appendix C: Hip-Hop Interest Questionnaire 129
Appendix D: Recruitment Tool 131
Appendix E: Youth Assent-Parental Permission for Non-Medical Research 132
Appendix F: Workshop Agenda 137
Appendix G: Workshop Artifacts 139

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 8
List of Figures
Figure 1: Ecological-Systems Model of Human Development 19
Figure 2: Social Justice Youth Development Model 20
Figure 3: The Ecological and Hierarchical Structure of Wellness 21
Figure 4: Conceptual Model of Critical Consciousness Development of
Wellbeing for High Risk Youth 58
Figure 5: Overview of Qualitative Data Analysis 69

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 9
List of Tables
Table 1: Overview of Research Participant Demographic Information 76

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 10
Abstract
This qualitative study aims to add to the scholarly body of youth who identify with hip-
hop culture from a critical race theory (CRT) lens. CRT will be further expanded through the use
of the Social Justice Youth Development Model and Ecological-Systems Model, to explore hip-
hop culture's connection to resilient urban-youths' critical consciousness concerning their
wellbeing. Wellbeing will be defined and assessed utilizing the I COPPE Scale, which will
measure the overall and Interpersonal, Community, Occupational, Physical, Psychological, and
Economic wellbeing. Students from a high school site, located in Los Angeles County, will be
eligible to participate in a one-day workshop on hip-hop culture. The workshop will provide a
space for youth to engage and interact with the facilitators on the four artistic elements of hip-hop
culture. The workshop will be divided into four sessions that will introduce each artistic element
and give the youth an opportunity to learn about the history and contributions of each artistic
element of hip-hop culture through the presenters' narratives. Youth participants will be given an
opportunity at the latter part of each mini-workshop for a hands-on learning experience given by
the presenters. At the end of the presentations, youth will have an opportunity to share their
experiences of the one-day workshop on hip-hop culture. The criteria for selection will be based
on the students' availability to attend the workshop, the students identifying as a student at the
study site and having an interest in hip-hop culture. The goal of the workshop is two-fold. First, to
provide a space for youth to deconstruct and engage in a hands-on learning experience with the
four artistic elements of hip-hop culture through a one-day workshop. Secondly, to have the
workshop serve as a catalyst for eliciting a youth narrative on critical consciousness and wellbeing.
The study seeks to answer three questions compiled from the youth narratives: (1) How can hip-
hop culture be used as a tool to support the wellbeing of youth deemed resilient youth? (2) How
can youth who identify as resilient youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences? (3) How
can a workshop that introduces the artistic elements of hip-hop culture form a connection between
critical consciousness and wellbeing among resilient youth? Wellbeing will be recorded utilizing
the I COPPE scale prior to the semi-structured interview after the workshop.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 11
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
Introduction
"Hip-hop has always been about having fun, but also about taking responsibility. And now
we have a platform to speak our minds. Millions of people are watching us. Let's hear
something powerful. Tell people what they need to hear. How will we help the community?
What do we stand for? What would happen if we got the hip-hop generation to vote, or to
form organizations to change things? That would be powerful."
(Chang, 2005)
The redirection of hip-hop’s core values that once served as a creative vessel for marginalized
youth in the United States is now being fueled by the entertainment industry’s mass media and
consumer-based focus (Rose, 2008). Hip-hop birthed out of the frustrations of those living in urban
communities, where issues of oppression, racism, and inequity became the driving force behind
the bold narratives embellished through this art form. The rise to hip-hop’s glory and fame is a
mere nostalgic memory taken over by the commercialized versions repeatedly played in the clubs
and on the radio (Dyson, 2007; Ogbar, 2007; Rose, 2008). This oppressive strategy saturates the
public with negative images of people of color, in an attempt to dissuade the masses to use hip-
hop as a critical intervention (Freire, 2000).
For the many who have adopted hip-hop into their everyday lives, it is falsely personified
by the labels of hustlers, gangsters, pimps, bitches, or hoes as the only viable options for success
(Rose, 2008). The glorification of these roles has left hip-hop submerged in a false reality that
continues to support the dehumanization of people of color. Much of today's youth culture is
heavily influenced by this objective reality brought upon by the media, which makes acquiring a
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 12
critical awareness of oppression a struggle, especially for those who seek transformation (Freire,
2000; Rose, 2008).
The current state of hip-hop is self-depreciated, as the internalized opinions created by the
industry, leave many convinced of their own unfitness, resulting in furthering the propaganda to
objectify hip-hop solely for pure entertainment (Freire, 2000; Rose, 2008). This covert attempt to
silence the voice of hip-hop has drawn many away from the responsibility of bringing awareness
to the current systemic inequities (Freire, 2000; Rose, 2008). Hip-hop advocates and educators
must take action towards hip-hop's liberation by restoring its foundational principals and gives
space for its narratives with youth identified as resilient youth.
Background of the Problem
Hip-hop has been severely criticized in the popular media for its controversial lyrics and
assumptions (Stovall, 2005). For many youth advocates, hip-hop is a transformative element that
fosters the development of critical consciousness among resilient, urban youth to promote mental
wellness (Allen, 2005; Flores-González, Rodríguez, & Rodríguez-Muñiz, 2006; Stovall, 2005;
Tyson, 2002). Hip-hop can serve as a safe space for critical inquiry where dialogue around race,
racism, structural inequality, and intersectionality can be explored (Howard & Navarro, 2016).
Those who work with urban youth on an everyday basis, need to have some working knowledge
about a form of popular culture that significantly shapes these youths’ identities (Prier & Beachum,
2008). Therefore, it is necessary to reflect on work that is relevant and relational to the
contemporary everyday lived realities and interests of urban youth (Prier & Beachum, 2008). Many
of these youth center hip-hop as their primary site of cultural politics to negotiate their identities,
and make meaning of their social world (Flores-González et al., 2006; Prier & Beachum, 2008).
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 13
Urban youth are now using hip-hop texts to construct and validate notions of self and
community; understand themselves and the world around them; and link shared thoughts of what
it means to be marginalized in the USA and around the globe (Flores-González et al., 2006; Prier
& Beachum, 2008). Hip-hop is the primary site where many urban youths construct their sense of
self and identity. Therefore, educational research and scholarship must engage hip-hop culture as
an analytic tool to develop a critical conceptual discourse toward social change and transformation
(Flores-González et al., 2006; Prier & Beachum, 2008). This dialogue takes into consideration the
worldview, politics, ideology, and culture of hip-hop within and between structures of domination
that situates and socially arranges the everyday lived experience, identity and social world of high
risk, urban youth (Prier & Beachum, 2008).
For those whose lived experiences are quite different from urban youth, a critical approach
to hip-hop culture can be the catalyst that narrows the cultural void and dissonance between youth
and the major systems that impact their daily lives (Duncan-Andrade, 2008; Flores-González et
al., 2006; Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002; Prier & Beachum, 2008; Stovall, 2005). A
critical approach to hip-hop provides a means for urban youth to share their narratives that give
social and political critiques about how dominant, institutional practices of the more significant
society have affected their lives (Flores-González et al., 2006; Prier & Beachum, 2008). This
critical approach re-aligns and re-contextualizes hip-hop from contemporary, popular media forms
that re-produce limited and distorted representations of the culture and genre of music (Dyson,
2007; González, Rodríguez, & Rodríguez-Muñiz, 2006; Prier & Beachum, 2008). Giroux (2005)
states that there is a need for leaders in urban communities to engage in serious discussions with
youth, parents, teachers, and other community members focused on issues of epistemology and
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 14
power, self-identity, and pedagogical practices that work to liberate critical thinking and construct
knowledge.
Morrell and Duncan-Andrade (2002) state that hip-hop music and culture can be utilized
to forge a common and critical discourse that centers upon the lives of resilient, urban youth. These
outcomes place the hip-hop culture at the forefront by recognizing its value and potential in the
lives of youth (Allen, 2005; Dyson, 2007; Flores-González et al., 2006; Prier & Beachum, 2008;
Tyson, 2002). The hope is that the hip-hop culture will serve as a tool that informs, challenges and
engages community leaders and policy-makers who may be removed from (or may not understand)
the various cultural formations of hip-hop as a youth subculture.
Statement of the Problem
Highly impoverished communities must overcome many obstacles to accommodate the
unique needs their families (Atkins, Frazier, Birman, Jackson, Graczyk, Talbott, Farmer, Bell, &
McKay, 2006). Several practical barriers have been identified to explain the low rates of mental
health service utilization among urban, needy families (Atkins et al., 2006). Among them are the
stigma, lack of information, inaccessible location of services and difficulties with transportation,
complexities of the mental health service delivery and reimbursement systems, unresponsive
providers, and competing reliance on alternative methods of help (Atkins et al., 2006; Goicoechea,
Wagner, Yahalom, & Medina, 2014). Goicoechea et al. (2014) found that many marginalized
families find that talk therapy can carry a stigma and evoke a sense of cultural and familial betrayal.
In a study conducted by McDonald and Richmond (2008), they found that urban youths report
very high rates of community violence exposure where more than 85% witness some form of
violence in their lifetime and as many as 69% report direct victimization. These rates make it
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 15
essential to examine psychological wellbeing among urban youth, deemed high risk (McDonald
& Richmond, 2008).
Hip-hop culture has been embraced as a strategy for enhancing health and wellbeing within
a variety of U.S.-based and international practice from prevention to intervention, along with the
spectrum of generalist practice (Allen, 2005; Travis & Deepak, 2011; Tyson, 2002). These
strategies have shown promise in therapeutic modalities to improve individual, group, and family
mental and behavioral health and as a mobilizing tool for broader social change and community
wellbeing (Allen, 2005; Flores-González et al., 2006; Travis & Deepak, 2011; Tyson, 2002).
Purpose of the Study
As more research connects the relationship between critical pedagogy and mental wellness
among youth deemed high risk, practitioners are encouraged to adjust their approach in supporting
their wellbeing (Flores-González et al., 2006; Prier & Beachum, 2008). The hip-hop culture is one
of the most potent, decolonial tools in working with resilient urban-youth that needs further
systematic exploration. The hip-hop culture can easily engage youth to narrate their experiences
to develop their critical consciousness, which affirms their wellbeing (Allen, 2005; Dyson, 2007;
Flores-González, et al., 2006; Prier & Beachum, 2008; Tyson, 2002). Youth experiences utilizing
the hip-hop culture is what this research aims to explore. The purpose of the study is to explore
hip-hop culture's connection to resilient urban-youths' critical consciousness in relation to their
wellbeing through participating in a one-day workshop on hip-hop. The research questions for this
study are:
1. How can hip-hop culture be used as a decolonial tool to support the wellbeing of resilient
urban-youth?
2. How can resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences?
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 16
3. How can a workshop that introduces the artistic elements of hip-hop culture form a
connection between critical consciousness and wellbeing among resilient urban-youth?
Significance of the Study
This study, through its methodology and selected population, will add to the existing body
of research to how educators and practitioners can be innovative in their planning and
implementation of culturally sensitive treatments and preventions to support wellbeing with
resilient urban-youth (Goicoechea, Wagner, Yahalom, & Medina, 2014). Creative and sensitive
approaches that address youth apprehension and resistance are therefore necessary (Allen, 2005).
Consideration should also be given to the value of nontraditional settings and culturally accepted
healing techniques (Goicoechea et al., 2014).). In Allen (2005), Elligan (2004) emphasizes that
one’s culture is often shaped by one’s background, experiences, and environment. Hip-hop culture
incorporates all of these components and can be used to address youth issues.
Youth in urban communities are subjected to political decisions and economic realities that
impose significant constraints and become essential reasons for resistance (Ginwright &
Cammarota, 2002). These goals provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between the
traditional processes of social control and how urban youth negotiate, challenge, and respond to
these forces (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002). In many ways, hip-hop encourages young people
to move through the various levels of awareness, change their thinking about themselves and
community problems, and act toward creating a more equitable world (Ginwright & Cammarota,
2002; Flores-González et al., 2006).
By simultaneously understanding the use of hip-hop culture to support the development of
critical consciousness and how oppressive social forces impact resilient, urban youth's
development and wellbeing is a worthwhile exploration of the pervasiveness of systemic inequities
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 17
that impede productive progress. The process of a critical conscious development with resilient
urban-youth raises self-awareness that provides an understanding of how social forces shape their
identities (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Flores-González, et al., 2006). Researchers have
expanded upon youth identity development to form a connection between critical consciousness
and social action and its impact on the wellbeing of resilient urban-youth (Flores-González et al.,
2006; Friere, 2000; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002).
Using Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model of development perspective (see Figure
1), the effects of systemic inequities on youth, families, schools, and communities can be further
understood on the basis of the prevalence of numerous risk factors within and among systems that
adversely affect youth development (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002). Integrating
Ginwright and Cammarota's (2002) Social Justice Youth Development model (see Figure 2) with
Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model of development can expound on how youth can move
from awareness of, and social action against, their own oppression to awareness of, and action
against, the oppression of others (Flores-González et al., 2006). According to Ginwright and
Cammarota, youth must progress through three levels of awareness (Ginwright & Cammarota,
2002; Flores-González et al., 2006). First, youth must develop self-awareness, or a critical
understanding of who they are and how social forces shape their racial, class, gender, and sexual
identities (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Flores-González et al., 2006). Second, they must
develop social awareness, or a critical understanding of how social forces shape inequality and
how this affects their communities (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Flores-González et al., 2006).
Finally, youth must achieve global awareness, and a critical understanding of and a connection
with other people’s struggles against oppression (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Flores-González
et al., 2006). It is at this point that they understand oppression and the ways it is manifested around
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 18
the world: in capitalism, colonialism, racism, and patriarchy (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002;
Flores-González et al., 2006). Prilleltensky’s (2005) model of wellbeing will serve as a guide for
understanding the three primary sites of wellbeing (personal, relational, and collective), each of
which has specific signs or manifestations, sources or determinants, and strategies. Wellbeing is
multidimensional and hierarchical as well (see Figure 3) (Prilleltensky, 2008). The wellness of the
individual is predicated on the welfare of the immediate family. Family wellness, in turn, is related
to community and social wellbeing (Prilleltensky, 2008). Parental wellbeing, in turn, is closely
tied to employment opportunities, communal support, and adequate social services (Prilleltensky,
2008). These societal resources are primarily dictated, in turn, by social and economic policies
established by the government of the day (Prilleltensky, 2008).
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 19

Figure 1. Ecological-Systems Model of Human Development. Adapted from “Poverty and
schools: Intervention and resource building through school-linked services” by Jozefowicz-
Simbeni, D.M.H., & Allen-Meares, P. (2002). Children & Schools, 24(2), 123-136.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 20

Figure 2. Social Justice Youth Development Model. Adapted from “Youth, Social Justice, and
Communities: Toward a Theory of Urban Youth Policy” by Ginwright, S., Cammarota, J., &
Noguera, P. (2005). Social Justice, 32(3), 24-40.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 21

Figure 3. The ecological and hierarchical structure of wellness. Adapted from “The role of
power in wellness, oppression, and liberation: The promise of psychopolitical validity” by
Prilleltenski, I. (2008). Journal of Community Psychology, 36(2), 116–136.

Organization of the Study
Chapter 2 will review the key concepts and literature pertaining to resilient, urban youth
the connection of their critical consciousness development and wellbeing, and the use of hip-hop
culture as a decolonial tool. Chapter 3 will layout the methodology for the study, including research
questions, research design, participants, and instrumentation.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 22
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Hip-hop's critics argue that hip-hop causes violence, reflects dysfunctional ghetto culture,
hurts marginalized groups, destroys America's values, and demeans women (Rose, 2008). For
those that have embraced hip-hop as a way of life, it has served as a voice and outlet, especially
for resilient urban-youth, in urban communities for over several decades. There are numerous
studies on resilient, urban youth populations that unfortunately support a deficit model perspective.
This dominant discourse has resulted in little attention for the consideration of hip-hop as a
counter-narrative for working with resilient, urban youth.
This chapter will review literature relevant to studies that support the decolonial praxis of
hip-hop as an alternative tool for attaining mental wellness among youth deemed resilient youth.
Hip-hop has a long history for illuminating problems of poverty, police brutality, patriarchy,
misogyny, incarceration, racial discrimination, as well as love, hope, and joy (Akom, 2009). For
over decades, hip-hop has given a voice served as an artistic outlet for youth to share their
narratives and interpret the context and reasons for their marginalized lives using lyrics, art, dance,
and music (Chang, 2005; Rose, 2008; Winslade & Monk, 2007). Hip-hop presents many
opportunities for those in the helping professions by providing a creative and culturally relevant
alternative for treatment among resilient urban-youth (Allen, 2005; Tyson, 2002). Hip-hop can
artistically foster the critical consciousness of youth deemed high risk by raising awareness of their
self, community, and globally, ultimately leading to their wellbeing (Allen, 2005; Chang, 2005;
Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Rose, 2008; Tyson, 2002; Winslade & Monk, 2007).
The literature that supports the development of a critical consciousness must first address
the inequities of race, access, and opportunity among youth deemed resilient youth. Critical race
theory (CRT) provides the rationale that addresses the intercentricity of race and racism among
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 23
urban youth (Yosso, 2005). CRT will further be expounded with the premise that race and racism
are central, endemic, permanent and a fundamental part of defining and explaining how US society
functions (Yosso, 2005). Hip-hop was a direct response to the adverse conditions of people living
in urban communities, as depicted through their narratives. CRT elaborates the lived experiences
of marginalized groups, which also parallels hip-hop's foundational elements, through methods
such as storytelling, family histories, biographies, scenarios, parables, chronicles, and narratives
(Chang, 2005; Yosso, 2005). CRT also explains how "mainstream" White America has exploited
urban communities through market manipulation by making profits off already imbedded racists’
fears about people of color through commercial hip-hop (Rose, 2008). CRT fights the dominant
view of how hip-hop heavily promotes and glorifies these negative images of artists (Rose, 2008).
The literature will provide a lens into understanding how hip-hop has been a positive solution for
urban youth, which has long promoted mental wellness that is culturally relevant.
The review of literature will centralize on the construction of the critical consciousness,
ultimately aiding in the mental wellness among resilient urban-youth (Ginwright & Cammarota,
2002). Hip-hop will serve as the catalyst that drives change, by providing a creative space for youth
to narrate their struggles and offer opportunities for youth to engage in social action (Chang, 2005;
Flores-González et al., 2006; Yosso, 2005). Through CRT’s framework, the construction of race
concerning resilient urban-youth will be defined. Next, information on the demographics and
definitions of resilient urban-youth will be explained, to provide a clearer understanding of the
challenges that these youth face. Further, the exploration of hip-hop’s history as a political
struggle, social capital theory, and the lived experiences of resilient, urban youth are presented.
Finally, the constructs of wellbeing will be identified to support the theoretical considerations of
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 24
utilizing hip-hop as a decolonial tool for attaining mental wellness among youth deemed resilient
youth.
Decolonization as a Praxis
The frameworks of critical race theory, Bronfenbrenner's Ecological System's model, and
social capital theory will serve as the philosophical foundations to this study.
Critical Race Theory. In many ways, resilient urban-youth who come from working-poor
communities are seen as second-class citizens in the United States (Ginwright, Cammarota, &
Noguera, 2005). Many of these youths are subjected to hostile laws and unfair policies, as they
continue to struggle with finding their voice to the ongoing issues that directly affect them
(Ginwright, Cammarota, & Noguera, 2005). The lack of youth advocacy institutions, continue to
leave many resilient urban-youths unaware of their rights to full democratic participation
(Ginwright, Cammarota, & Noguera, 2005). Without representation, adults are then granted full
authority towards creating and implementing policies that are sometimes detrimental to their
wellbeing (Ginwright, Cammarota, & Noguera, 2005). For example, within the last decade, 43
states have instituted legislation that facilitates the transfer of children to adult court (Ginwright,
Cammarota, & Noguera, 2005). These laws have resulted in the dismantling of many special
protections from the adult justice system for children and youth (Ginwright, Cammarota, &
Noguera, 2005). For change to occur, policies must first take responsibility for the dehumanization
of resilient urban-youth, as they continue to threaten their health and safety (Ginwright,
Cammarota, & Noguera, 2005). Critical race theory (CRT) will provide a lens to combat the
dominant, problem-driven perspective known for its deficit model focus on youth delinquency,
substance abuse, and violence.
The current social order is an example of an unjust system that has directly influenced
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 25
resilient urban-youth with the continued promotion of a deficit-thinking model. Deficit thinking's
negative, stereotypical, and prejudicial beliefs about underrepresented groups, have resulted in
many discriminatory policies and behaviors (Ford, Grantham, & Whiting, 2008). Deficit thinking
inhibits individuals from seeing the strengths of people who are different from them, but rather
focuses attention on what is “wrong” with the “different” individual or group, having low
expectations for them, feeling little to no obligation to assist them, and feeling superior to them
(Ford, Grantham, & Whiting, 2008). This illustrates the long-standing struggle that resilient urban-
youth face today. Race has historically been and continues to be, a fundamental organizing
principle in U.S. society (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1999). According to CRT, the dominant,
problem-driven perspective only acts as a camouflage for the self-interest, power, and privilege of
dominant groups in US society (Yosso, 2005). CRT provides a framework to address the issue of
access and equity by challenging the dominant ideology and false claims that institutions make
toward objectivity, meritocracy, colorblindness, race neutrality, and equal opportunity (Yosso,
2005). The "colorblind" approach to race overlooks the consequences of racism that is in favor of
an "equal but different" system of meritocracy by assuming a level playing field exists, while
turning a blind eye to discrimination (McDowell & Jeris, 2004). Also, the adaption of a liberal,
pluralistic, "multicultural" perspective fails to critically examine the significance of race/racism
from a historical and contemporary context (McDowell & Jeris, 2004). CRT challenges the idea
that any one of us has a single, stationary identity or that racial groups are monolithic,
acknowledging that our many and often overlapping (or even conflicting) loyalties and identities
are socially positioned and relative (McDowell & Jeris, 2004). CRT critiques the perspective that
racism is primarily an individual, psychological problem, arguing that this perspective masks the
more significant problem of systemic racism (McDowell & Jeris, 2004). White supremacy is so
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 26
ingrained in our institutions and cultural practices that it is often unrecognizable, creating an
"invisible norm" against which all other races are measured (McDowell & Jeris, 2004). Critical
race theorists challenge White-dominated "truth" and support revisionist history, which accounts
for the experiences of those who have been silenced in the original telling (McDowell & Jeris,
2004). CRT is committed to social justice and offers a transformative response to racial, gender,
and class oppression (McDowell & Jeris, 2004; Yosso, 2005).
CRT states that underrepresented groups have a unique voice in racial matters because of
their social position and experiences with oppression (McDowell & Jeris, 2004; Yosso, 2005).
Critical Race Theory emphasizes the importance of racially marginalized members of society
telling their stories (McDowell & Jeris, 2004). For educators and mental health professionals to
support psychological wellness among resilient youth, they need to work towards becoming
racially self-aware, aware of the impact of racism in society, and competent in combating racism.
Hip-hop is one of many tools that can be used with resilient youth that uses a CRT approach. Hip-
hop has become for resilient urban-youth a means of communicating who they are and what their
experiences have been growing up in the inner-city. (Flores-González, Rodríguez, & Rodríguez-
Muñiz, 2006). CRT connects to hip-hop by pulling from the qualities of black "oppositional
culture" (Obgar, 2007). Oppositional culture is defined as the system of beliefs and practices that
operates counter to the dominant culture and ideologies, which has been woven into hip-hop from
its very beginnings (Obgar, 2007). To view hip-hop only as an oppositional art or a movement that
resists racism or oppression is a distorted point of view since it not only opposes the racial
discrimination that is obvious in American popular culture, but hip-hop also affirms the racial
status quo while offering alternative perspectives (Obgar, 2007). As such, hip-hop is not only a
catalyst of individual experiences, but also a forum where youth become aware of community
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 27
problems and understand the political, economic, and social forces that create these problems
(Ginwright, 2004; Flores-González et al., 2006). Only then can they effectively question and
challenge such forces and transform not only their lives but their communities (Ginwright, 2004;
Flores-González et al., 2006).
Bronfenbrenner's Ecological System's Model. According to Bronfenbrenner (1979), the
structure of the ecological environment is referred to regarding the microsystems, mesosystems,
exosystems, macrosystems, and chronosystems, all of which is has a connection to each other. In
Jozefowicz-Simbeni and Allen-Meares (2002) article, developmental outcomes are determined
primarily by the immediate settings and interactions in and among settings. Microsystems include
the home or family, school, and peer group (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002).
Mesosystems encompass the interrelationships among school, peer groups, and families;
exosystems include community environments and social networks (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-
Meares, 2002). Macrosystems include opportunity structures, culture, material resources, and so
forth (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002). Finally, the chronosystems include
consistency of change over the life course (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002). An
ecological-systems perspective can give evidence on how current conditions and risk factors can
adversely affect the mental wellness of resilient, urban youth (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-
Meares, 2002). Youth outcomes are influenced most strongly by the neighborhoods in which they
live, their family life, the schools they attend, and the resources that are available to them (Elais &
Haynes, 2008).
Bronfenbrenner's model can help implement change among youths' relationship to their
family, school, and community through the development of stronger social ties, ultimately
fostering positive developmental outcomes. The unfortunate fact is that many resilient, urban
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 28
youth are exposed to multiple, individual, and environmental risks that increase the likelihood that
they will suffer from a wide range of physical, emotional, behavioral, and academic difficulties
(Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002). In addition to increased risks, resilient, urban youth
and the systems in which they are embedded have fewer resources to protect them against these
risks (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002).
Through an ecological-systems approach, further attention can be given to the unequal
distribution of resources and class oppression among resilient youth. Critical race theory will
address the exosystems and macrosystems from a decolonial perspective, by examining how the
dominant colonial structures/systems have created and maintained the current living conditions of
resilient urban youth (Patel, 2016). According to Patel (2016), when material structures are not
addressed centrally, they stay intact, reseating problematic, uneven understandings of long-
standing systemic forms of oppression. Also, by examining both the exosystems and macrosystems
of resilient, urban youth, evidence that a forced migration and material domination of space
occurred due to coloniality (Patel, 2016). The current mechanisms that continue to promote
oppression within the ecological model among resilient urban-youth must be reconstructed by
strengthening the interrelationships between the systems to foster wellbeing among youth. Hip-
hop can serve as a bridge to address the unique challenges that resilient urban-youth encounter in
their everyday environments and social development (Allen, 2005). Moreover, hip-hop can help
build social capital in communities that have been traditionally disenfranchised from the
mainstream social, political, and economic systems (Allen, 2005).
Social Capital Theory. Traditionally, social capital is defined as the opportunities for
leisure, recreation, career mobility, social advancement, and political advancement (Stanton-
Salazar, 1997; 2011). These forms of capital are essential because “social capital creates value for
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 29
the people who are connected and, at least sometimes, for bystanders as well” (Harvard, 2015).
From a social network perspective, the importance of ties to institutional agents is framed
regarding social capital (Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch, 1995). Social capital refers to social
relationships from which an individual is potentially able to derive institutional support that
includes the delivery of knowledge-based resources, such as youth, community, and employment
agencies (Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch, 1995). Stanton-Salazar (1997; 2011) and Dornbusch
(1995) argue these opportunities are not extended to those from economically disadvantaged
backgrounds, but in fact, some barriers prevent them from receiving the same privileges as their
middle-class counterparts. Stanton-Salazar and Dornbusch (1995) state that for social networks for
working-class and resilient urban-youths to be successful, it is dependent on the formation of
genuinely supportive relationships with the institutional agents. Institutional agents defined are
those individuals who have the capacity and commitment to transmit directly or to negotiate the
transmission of institutional resources and opportunities, such as information about
school programs academic tutoring and mentoring, college admission, and assistance with career
decision making (Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch, 1995). Institutional agents can include adult
family members, teachers and counselors, social service workers, clergy, community leaders,
college-going youths in the community, and the like (Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch, 1995).
Supportive contact between resilient urban-youth and institutional agents are necessary to
implement change within the systems, in this case, hip-hop and its message of social justice can
be used to mobilize young people to engage in civic action to better their communities (Ginwright,
2004; Flores-González et al., 2006). This notion brings to light the role that institutional agents
play as cultural brokers, providing capital to specific groups.
According to Bourdieu, cultural capital refers to an accumulation of cultural knowledge,
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 30
skills and abilities possessed and inherited by privileged groups in society. Bourdieu asserts that
cultural capital (i.e., education, language), social capital (i.e., social networks, connections) and
economic capital (i.e., money and other material possessions) can be acquired two ways, from
one’s family and/or through formal schooling (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Yosso, 2005). Cultural
brokers act as an intermediary between the school and family, educating and helping each social
system adapt to the other (Gentemann & Whitehead, 1983; Martinez-Cosio, 2007). Unfortunately,
when comparing underrepresented groups to those with access to privilege and power, it is evident
that there is a disproportionate gap between the individuals who possess access to social capital to
those that do not. Paulo Freire (2000) describes this oppressive and dehumanizing power struggle
of the “haves” versus the “have not’s,” which is a result of the oppressive mindset transforming
resources such as access, into objects of purchasing power. In Flores-González et al. (2006) article,
Ginwright and Cammarota (2002) argues that for youth to truly transform their lives, they need to
develop a critical consciousness or understanding of the larger forces that oppress them, their
communities, and other oppressed people, to effectively engage in social action to fight oppression.
In a continual process of reflection and action, youth become increasingly aware of injustices
committed against others and become frequently committed to fighting for social justice (Flores-
González et al., 2006). Ginwright and Cammarota formulated the Social Justice Youth
Development model to explicate how youth can move from awareness of, and social action against,
their oppression to the knowledge of, and response against, the oppression of others (Flores-
González et al., 2006).
Research Using Social Capital Theory and Hip-Hop. In Flores-González et al. (2006)
study, they examined the power that hip-hop possesses with creating a decolonial space and
process for the humanization with resilient, urban youth in Chicago. Humboldt Park is home to
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 31
Chicago’s Puerto Rican community since the 1950s. Since the 1970s, the young residents of
Humboldt Park have been criminalized by the media as gang bangers, dropouts, and teenage
mothers (Flores-González et al., 2006). Accelerated gentrification in the Puerto Rican community
since the 1990s has propelled youth to join the struggle to preserve their community (Flores-
González et al., 2006). The Batey Urbano was created out the community's frustration, as their
youth were being targeted by police, school officials, and the punitive “low-tolerance” measures
that accompanied gentrification (Flores-González et al., 2006). The Batey Urbano became a space
for youth to resist and challenge unjust practices through hip-hop, dialogue, and civic participation
(Flores-González et al., 2006). They use urban Latino hip-hop culture as the means of
communication, as a tool to raise awareness of social problems, and as a magnet to attract other
youth to fight for social justice. What happens at Batey shows how hip-hop and its message of
social justice can be used to mobilize young people to engage in civic action to better their
communities (Flores-González et al., 2006). While hip-hop culture is used, the goal of Batey is to
help young Puerto Ricans and Latinos understand who they are as individuals and as a community,
to help them cope with their own and their community problems, and to motivate them to take
action to transform their lives and their community (Flores-González et al., 2006). Through hip-
hop, Batey served as a platform for implementing social justice and creating social capital amongst
themselves and other like-minded groups to take action to better their community. Programs such
as Batey, need to acknowledge their political potential by developing future leaders who, as they
graduate from college and take on full-time jobs, will have the social, economic, and political
power to transform not only their community but also the city and beyond (Flores-González et al.,
2006).
Resilient urban-youth. The term resilient urban youth will be defined to provide a
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 32
background of the specific population of the study. The review of literature will also challenge the
deficit thinking model that continues to be used with resilient urban-youth, in an attempt to provide
evidence for hip-hop as a protective factor in promoting wellbeing.
Resilient urban-youth face many challenges in society today. They are more susceptible to
risk factors that may be detrimental to their overall wellbeing. According to Arthur, Hawkins,
Pollard, Catalano, & Baglioni Jr. (2002), risk factors are the characteristics, variables, or hazards
that, if present for a given individual, make it more likely that this individual, rather than someone
selected at random from the general population, will develop a disorder. Other risk factors may
include single-parent homes, signs of emotional and behavioral problems, and lacking support to
help direct and navigate developmental task successfully (Keating, Tomishima, Foster, &
Alessandri, 2002). These factors may result in compromised mental health, school struggle and
failure, family disruption, psychoactive substance abuse, and law-breaking/deviancy (DiGarbo &
Hill, 2006). Keating et al. (2002) stated in their research, that as adults, they have higher divorce
rates, lack steady employment, are more likely to have physical and psychiatric problems,
substance abuse, place significant demands on the on the welfare system, and engage in criminal
activity. Shin, Daly, and Vera (2007) argue that the dominant peer culture within inner-city
neighborhoods and schools often reflects the violence present in the broader community.
Therefore, adolescents being raised in high-crime, dangerous areas are exposed to more delinquent
peer groups than other youth (Shin, Daly, & Vera, 2007).
Interventions with resilient urban-youth. As urban youth face many challenges, they
become vulnerable to the societal pitfalls that place them on the path of the prison pipeline.
Interventions such as "Scared Straight" and similar programs are frequently used with resilient
urban-youth, which continues to label them as "juvenile delinquents" or "children at risk for
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 33
criminal behavior," through organized visits to prisons (Petrosino, Turpin-Petrosino, Hollis-Peel,
& Lavenberg, 2013). The term juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending or youth
crime, is defined as illegal behavior committed by someone before becoming an adult (Petrosino
et al., 2013). Besides the problem of youth crime, offending as a juvenile is a risk factor for later
involvement with the criminal justice system as an adult (Petrosino et al., 2013). The premise of
these programs is designed to deter the youth from future offenses through firsthand observation
of prison life and interactions with adult inmates (Petrosino et al., 2013). Program advocates and
others believe that realistic depictions of life in prison and presentations by inmates will deter
juvenile offenders or children at risk for becoming delinquent from further involvement with crime
(Petrosino et al., 2013). "Scared Straight" programs continue to be used in various places around
the world, primarily due to its low-cost and easy to implement strategies that attempt to prevent
juvenile delinquency (Petrosino et al., 2013). Petrosino et al., (2013) meta-analysis concluded in a
meta-analysis of seven Scared Straight type of interventions that these types of interventions were
more harmful than doing nothing. Petrosino et al., (2013) was able to conclude that these
interventions not only failed to deter crime among resilient urban-youth, but they lead to more
offending behavior. These results provide evidence that interventions such as Scared Straight, are
not useful as a prevention tool for resilient urban-youth since they are already targets for the
judicial system.
With programs such as Scared Straight that continue to receive funding, it is necessary to
examine why such a deficit model continues to be used with resilient urban-youths. There is a
belief among today's society that resilient, urban youth create more problems than possibilities
(Ginwright and Julio Cammarota, 2002). This idea is most evident in public policy that tends to
view them as delinquents, criminals, and the cause of general civic problems (Ginwright and Julio
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 34
Cammarota, 2002). Central to these ideas is the notion that young people, particularly urban youth
of color, are a menace to society who need to be controlled and contained (Ginwright and Julio
Cammarota, 2002). This perspective is one reason why programs such as Scared Straight continue
to exist since it deters our attention from the dominant social forces and structural barriers that
create and maintain problems to explanations of group behavior (Ginwright and Julio Cammarota,
2002). This has resulted in researchers and practitioners focusing more on urban youth problems
that explain individual and/or group pathologies rather than giving attention to the impact of
racism, the influence of poverty, and the effects of unemployment (Ginwright and Julio
Cammarota, 2002).
Although Ford et al., (2001) explains how a deficit thinking model continues to promote
the injustices among students of color in education, the impact of this thinking is relevant in
defining the overall inequities towards resilient urban-youth. According to Ford, Grantham, and
Whiting (2008), there are at least three explanations for the poor test performance of students of
color: (a) the burden rests within the test (e.g., test bias); (b) the burden rests with the educational
environment (e.g., poor instruction and lack of access to high quality education contributes to poor
test scores); or (c) the burden rests with (or within) the student (e.g., he/she is cognitively inferior
or “culturally deprived”). If educators and policymakers addressed the first two viewpoints, it
would be essential to would make changes to either both assessment and/or educational practices.
These views consider the influence of the environment on test performance, whereas the third
explanation rests in deficit thinking to blame the student and their environment. This holds true for
many policymakers today. If policymakers address the environmental factors that deem youth
resilient youth, there would be a responsibility to better the environment and create policies that
would support their humanization. Unfortunately, many continue to blame the youth and their
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 35
environment, which "allows" the dominant society to run from the responsibility of advocating for
equity and while perpetuating the injustices towards resilient urban-youth. Policymakers,
educators, and youth workers must pay more considerable attention to how young people navigate
racism, poverty, and the many issues that affect their communities (Ginwright and Julio
Cammarota, 2002).
To understand these challenges, we must look beyond the narrow parameters of individual,
family, or community behavior, but consider how the ideas about racial backgrounds have
influenced the development of definitions, policies, and practices designed to deal with differences
(Ford, Harris III, Tyson, & Trotman, 2001; Ginwright and Julio Cammarota, 2002). Clinicians
working with youth who are resilient urban-youth are increasingly encouraged to develop and
implement innovative approaches to treatment (Tyson, 2002). Particular emphasis is now placed
on the importance of including culturally sensitive forms of therapy with resilient urban-youth
(Tyson, 2002). Therefore, treatment innovations that are culturally sensitive and demonstrate
promise through empirical research are of vital importance to practitioners working with resilient
urban-youth (Tyson, 2002).
Hip-Hop
"To me, hip-hop says, "Come as you are." We are a family…Hip-hop is the voice
of this generation. It has become a powerful force. Hip-hop binds all of these
people, all of these nationalities, all over the world together. Hip-hop is a family so
everybody has got to pitch in. East, west, north or south - we come from one coast
and that coast was Africa."- DJ Cool Herc

Hip-hop is the dominant language of youth culture and those of us who work with youth
need to learn to speak their language (Akom, 2009; De Leon, 2004). Hip-hop will be explored
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 36
because of its cultural influences among youth living in urban communities. With the foundation
of hip-hop, the history, political struggle, and the uses of hip-hop as a treatment model among
resilient urban-youth will be explored. This information will provide the necessary evidence to
support hip-hop as an art form that can be used with resilient youth as a model for mental wellness.
Hip-hop is the art of expression, reason, and understanding, as well as the voice of
resistance and advocacy (Carter, 2016; Chang, 2005; Dyson, 2007; Rose, T., 1994). One of the
pioneers of hip-hop, DJ Kool Herc states that hip-hop is universal due to the movement uniting
cultures, as well as encourages those involved to grasp a more in-depth understanding and
knowledge of the world (Chang, 2005). There are four major elements of hip-hop, which comprises
the artistic aspects of (1) deejaying and turntablism, (2) the delivery and lyricism of rapping and
emceeing, (3) break dancing and other forms of hip-hop dance, (4) graffiti art and writing, and (5)
a system of knowledge that unites them all (Morgan & Bennett, 2011). Hip-hop knowledge refers
to the aesthetic, social, intellectual, and political identities, beliefs, behaviors, and values produced
and embraced by its members, who generally think of hip-hop as an identity, a worldview, and a
way of life (Morgan & Bennett, 2011).
The hip-hop nation serves as an imagined cultural community and, just as critical, it
functions as a community of imagination (Morgan & Bennett, 2011). Its artistic practices are not
merely part of its culture; instead, they are the central, driving force that defines and sustains it
(Morgan & Bennett, 2011). Moreover, the hip-hop culture is based on a democratizing creative
and aesthetic ethos, which historically has permitted any individual who combines authentic self-
presentation with highly developed artistic skills in his or her hip-hop medium to become a
legitimate hip-hop artist (Morgan & Bennett, 2011). Most hip-hop artists are self-taught or taught
by peers in the hip-hop community. This has allowed for hip-hop to empower young people of all
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 37
socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as all over the world, to become artists in their own right
(Morgan & Bennett, 2011).
Hip-hop has been present for decades as an American mass movement beginning in the
Bronx, New York in the late 1970s and continuing today. This mass movement is most prevalent
during periods of poverty and social collapse regardless of the geographical region (Chang, 2005).
Hip-hop culture has gone from primarily rapping, break dancing, deejaying, and graffiti to
including dialects, attitude, expression, mannerisms and fashion (Kitwana 2002; Au 2005).
According to Rose (1994), Hip-hop is a cultural form that attempts to negotiate the experiences of
marginalization, brutality, truncated opportunity, and oppression within the cultural imperatives
of African American and Caribbean history, identity, and community.
Hip-hop is of vital importance because values transmitted through hip-hop educates youth.
Gause (2005) maintains that hip-hop culture can sustain and support the lifestyles of materialism,
violence, and misogyny through the transmission of messages or values. In previous generations
(e.g., the 1920s, 1930s, and 1960s), there was a higher propensity for marginalized youth to draw
benefits from community strongholds: families, religious institutions, and schools (Kitwana 2002;
Guy, 2004). Hip-hop is a means for youth to address issues of identity, racism, poverty, and the
many inequities that pertain to youth living in urban communities. The assaults against resilient
urban-youth treat individuals, families, and communities as the causes of their problems and do
not adequately address the most significant issues facing urban youth (Ginwright & Cammarota,
2002). Hip-hop is an important lens for socio-political analysis and representation of marginalized
communities, and that youth-driven research on hip-hop and popular culture is an instantiation of
reading and acting upon the world (Akom, 2009).
The urban space of the inner city has been an essential component in the construction of
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 38
meaning for urban youth. Spatial marginality from the more substantial structures of urban spaces
in the urban city has been pivotal in the shaping of identity among urban youth (Prier, 2009).
Murray Forman (2004) suggests that space and place are essential factors that influence identity
formation as it relates to the localized practices of the self. Specifically, Forman (2004) implies
that hip-hop music is most likely a significant factor in understanding how race, space, and place
has partially formed and shaped the art of hip-hop culture. According to Forman (2004), the
prioritization of spatial practices and spatial discourses that form the basis of hip-hop culture offers
a means through which to view both the ways that spaces and places are constructed and the kinds
of spaces or places that are built. In this regard, hip-hop music's narrative of marginal space is
often reflective of devastated urban localities (Forman, 2004).
It is widely known that the social and political origins of hip-hop were a resulted from the
Civil Rights movement, during a time when the unemployment was the most significant source of
poverty for Black males in the 1960’s (Powell, 2003; Prier, 2009). As the social and political
injustices continued for marginalized urban families in the 1980s, much of early hip-hop's counter-
narrative was a response to U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s Civil Rights legislation (Prier, 2009).
This legislation affected public funding for schools and community youth programs and
established policies that heightened forms of surveillance, hyper-policing, discipline, control,
punishment, and repression of urban youth in urban inner cities (Prier, 2009). College enrollment
and rate of employment began an unexpected and dangerously steep decline for Black and Latino
youth (Watkins, 2001). During the full two-term presidency, 1981-1989, Reagan ushered in the
neoliberal conservative era known as “Reaganomics,” which resulted in cutting back a range of
public social services that exacerbated long-held, existing tensions between the urban working
class and a state politics of economizing the general welfare (Prier, 2009). Also, the rate of high
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 39
school drop-out, teen suicide, mortality, and incarceration showed steady and, in some cases,
unprecedented increases (Watkins, 2001).
By Reagan’s second term, over one-third of black families earned incomes below the
poverty line. For black teenagers, the unemployment rate increased from 38.9 to 43.6 percent under
Reagan” (Kelley, 1997; Prier, 2009). Kelley (1997) goes on to further make mention that
Midwestern cities that were once the industrial heartland saw in increase of black teenage
unemployment rates that ranged from 50 to 70 percent in 1985. Federal and state job programs for
inner-city youth were also wiped out at an alarming rate (Kelley, 1997). Reagan’s “get tough on
crime” policies reinforced cruel disciplinary practices that came to a peak during the 80’s with the
beatings of Michael Stewart and Michael Griffith (Chang, 2005). It is also important to recognize
the hyper-politicized themes of hip-hop nationalism, as it depicts the patterns of economic division
of Black and Latino communities in comparison to their middle-class counterparts (Watkins,
2001). At one end of this class division structures were the poor and working-class Blacks and
Latinos, who were isolated in ghetto communities and experiencing severe social, economic,
spatial, and demographic isolation (Watkins, 2001). On the other end were the Black and Latino
middle and lower-middle class, who were supported through increased access to higher education
and professional employment (Watkins, 2001).
Michael Dyson's, Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip-Hop (2007), suggests that the
collapse of the steel mills, along with the outsourcing of jobs to foreign markets, in hand with the
virtually shutting down the social services of the state and the industrial base of America,
exacerbated and contributed to the material ruin of urban segments of black life; hip-hop was born
under these bleak conditions. Hip-hop's social and political stage was paved by groups such as the
Watts Prophets, Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sonchez of the Black Arts Movement during
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 40
1965-1975 (Dyson, 2007). These forefathers allowed for the most potent emergence of the hip-
hop movement that did not compromise truth-telling (Dyson, 2007). Urban youth were frustrated
with the old guard of Civil Rights Leadership, and adopted a politics of confrontation and
resistance to white mainstream society of whom they felt had abandoned, neglected, and mistreated
them socially, politically, and economically (Prier, 2009). Between 1987 and 1990, social/political
and gangsta discourses emerged in rap music out of a widespread dissatisfaction from the urban
community with the neoliberal policies of “Reaganomics” (Prier, 2009). These historical accounts
are just some examples of the many injustices that Black and Latino communities faced, and fueled
a movement that would ultimately lead these communities to speak out against the social injustices
that continued in urban communities through the use of the arts.
Tricia Rose (1994) states that the emergence of hip-hop's culture, language, attitude, and
artistic expression was a response to post-industrial, urban America, where the meanings and
messages of the art form were rooted out of poverty, joblessness, and social dislocation and
isolation of disenfranchised Black and brown neighborhoods. The post-civil rights generation of
African American youth inherited a world that was defined by sharp contradictions (Watkins,
2001). It was typically assumed that this generation would be the chief beneficiaries of the civil
rights struggle for racial justice and equality. For many Black and Latino youth, a less favorable
experience became a reality instead. Hip-hop was able to foresee the racial shifts and growing
discontent of a generation of young Black and Latino Americans. This generation was either
disappointed by the racial hostilities brought on by participation in the societal mainstream or were
dislocated from the center of social and economic life altogether (Watkins, 2001). By the mid-to-
late 1980s, Black and Latino youth were at the center of a virtual revolution in American popular
culture, as the musical expression of hip-hop and rap began to carve out a distinct and formidable
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 41
niche in the pop music industry (Watkins, 2001). Official industry reports indicate that by the late
1990s, rap music had surpassed country and pop, which made hip-hop the best selling genre in the
U.S. behind rock music (Record Industry Association of America, 2001).
Hip-hop is a way of life for young people, as it provides the space in which disenfranchised
youth “give voice and speak for themselves about the communities, conditions, and neighborhoods
in which they live” (Prier & Beachum, 2008). Youth can communicate about the “social
dislocation and isolation of poverty and pain, and the warehousing of black and brown
communities” in project areas of inner cities (Prier & Beachum, 2008). They also discuss
challenges with the law, family dislocation, and the internal struggle with issues such as black on
black homicide. Hip-hop is rooted in an extraordinarily aggressive public display of counter-
presence and voice (Rose, 1994). Rose (1994) states that rap music asserted its right to inscribe
one’s identity on an environment that seems Teflon resistant to its young people of color. She goes
on to make mention that there should be an examination of how and why hip-hop arose. This
inquiry can provide a deeper understanding of the logic of rap’s development as well as the
intertextual and dialogic qualities of rap about the diverse cultural and social context from which
it emerges (Rose, 1994). The work of Alim (2007) examines the field of language ideologies and
he cultural tension or cultural combat that resilient urban youth face on a daily basis as they form
their linguistic identities in creative and often unexpected ways. Hip-hop can be critically used as
a holistic approach to address the gentrification of language in lieu of White cultural and linguistic
norms (Alim, 2007).
Hip-hop has many uses for the use of working with resilient urban-youth. One of many
applications has been in the field of education and educational research (Morrell & Duncan-
Andrade, 2002; Petchauer, 2009). Petchauer (2009) explains that hip-hop's impact on education is
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 42
seen in at least three distinct ways. First, at an increasing rate, teachers are centering rap music
texts in urban high school curricula, often in the name of culturally responsive teaching and critical
pedagogy, to empower marginalized groups, teach academic skills, and educate students about
how aspects of their lives are subject to manipulation and control by capitalist demands (Petchauer,
2009). For example, English teachers at an urban high school in northern California were able to
witness the impact of Hip-hop music and culture with their students (Morrell & Duncan-Andrade,
2002). They were able to observe hip-hop's influence to transcend race, as students from a variety
of ethnic backgrounds were strongly influenced by the culture (Morrell & Duncan-Andrade, 2002).
At the same time, through the literacy practices associated with engagement, teachers also saw that
students in this non-mainstream cultural practice were exhibiting the critical and analytical skills
that the teachers wanted them to bring to the classroom (Morrell & Duncan-Andrade, 2002).
Educators were able to conclude that Hip-hop music and culture could be utilized to forge a
common and critical discourse that was centered upon the lives of the students, as well as transcend
the racial divide and allowed educators to tap into students' lives in ways that promoted academic
literacy and critical consciousness (Morrell & Duncan-Andrade, 2002). Alim (2007) states that
most Blacks in the United States since integration can testify that they have experienced teachers'
attempts to eradicate their language and linguistic practices in favor of the adoption of White
cultural and linguistic norms. Alim (2007) presents critical hip-hop pedagogies (CHHLPs) as a
holistic approach aimed at both students and teachers to interrogate the dominant discourse on
language and literacy and foregrounds the examination and interconnectedness of identities,
ideologies, histories/herstories, and hierarchical nature of power relations between groups.
Second, hip-hop exists as more than a musical genre (Petchauer, 2009). The creative
practices of hip-hop and the messages constructed in the music are woven into the processes of
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 43
identity formation by which youth and young adults conceive of themselves, others, and the world
around them (Chang, 2006; Ginwright, 2004; Morgan & Bennett, 2011; Petchauer, 2009; Rose,
1994). Hip-hop has emerged as a culture that encourages and integrates innovative practices of
artistic expression, knowledge production, social identification, and political mobilization
(Morgan & Bennett, 2011). Finally, higher education institutions around the world, particularly in
North America, are engaging hip-hop in an academically rigorous manner through courses,
research, conferences, and symposia. Currently, more than 100 institutions offer classes on hip-
hop, with many universities offering multiple courses in various departments (Petchauer, 2009).
The evidence provides the use of hip-hop in an educational environment. Unfortunately,
there is little scholarship on its use for wellbeing among resilient urban-youth, despite that many
articles make a note on the impact hip-hop has on identity formation (Chang, 2006; Ginwright,
2004; Morgan & Bennett, 2011; Petchauer, 2009; Rose, 1994).
Wellbeing. The evidence provides the use of hip-hop in an educational environment.
Unfortunately, there is little scholarship on its use for wellbeing among resilient urban-youth,
despite that many articles make a note on the impact hip-hop has on identity formation (Chang,
2006; Ginwright, 2004; Morgan & Bennett, 2011; Petchauer, 2009; Rose, 1994). Wellbeing was
selected as a topic for discussion to analyze and address the racist structures in the United States
that continue to marginalize, misdiagnose, and mistreat urban students based on their current,
oppressed circumstances. This entails exploring the current mental health system as a way to give
insight for those working with resilient urban-youth, by connecting the elements of hip-hop's
culture with urban youth. Participation in hip-hop has many positive results for resilient, urban
youth. This evidence will first be provided through the literature that supports hip-hop in therapy.
Next, hip-hop will be explored through the lens as an art, to provide proof of its impact on
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 44
neuroscience. Ultimately, hip-hop is a tool that connects all these components that can be used as
a tool to promote wellbeing among resilient urban-youth. This exploration for an alternative means
of treatment that can serve as a catalyst for change that will assist resilient urban-youth in the
development of awareness to their economic, social, and political circumstances to change their
oppressed conditions (Lake & Kress, 2013).
Hip-hop Therapy. Juvenile delinquency continues to remain one of the most troubling
social problems in society (Tyson, 2002). Regarding arrest data and self-report surveys, age 18
remains the peak year in life for offending, and adolescents commit crimes at higher rates than any
other group (Mendel, 2000; Tyson, 2002). Clinicians who work with delinquent youth and youth
who are at risk of becoming delinquent, are highly encouraged to develop and implement
innovative approaches to treatment (Tyson, 2002). With the inclusion of culturally sensitive
treatment modalities, clinicians have an opportunity to utilize hip-hop interventions as a way to
increase rapport among participants, as well as allow for participants to resonate with the social,
cultural, and political lyrical content found in rap music. The implementation of culturally sensitive
treatment has demonstrated promise through empirical research, which is significant to
practitioners working with at-risk and delinquent youth (Tyson, 2002). The literature on juvenile
delinquency and adolescents with behavior problems suggests that self-concept and peer relations
are two areas of significant interest (Zimpler, 1992). Tyson's (2002) study, compared his
experimental group of participants in hip-hop therapy versus those in a comparison group.
Tyson (2002) hypothesized that self-concept scores and peer relations scores would show
more significant improvement for members in the “Hip-Hop” treatment group than for members
in the comparison group. The hip-hop therapy group would utilize aspects of hip-hop,
bibliotherapy, and music therapy as part of their treatment (Tyson, 2002). The results of the study
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 45
indicate that hip-hop therapy might be a viable tool to assist practitioners working with at-risk and
delinquent youth (Tyson, 2002). The hip-hop therapy group reported improvement on the Index
of Peer Relations (IPR) measure, which was found to be in the appropriate direction (Tyson, 2002).
This result partially supports the hypothesis that hip-hop therapy group members would show
greater improvements on the IPR. When viewed as a resource and strength, the “hip-hop culture”
can be utilized to engage youth in treatment and improve their therapeutic experience (Tyson,
2002).
Arts Education. According to numerous research articles that have studied the power of
creative arts, significant evidence in redirecting disorganized and harmful behavior of youth has
been found (DiGarbo & Hill, 2006). Art can be used as a tool to empower urban youth in the
development of self-efficacy, increase confidence, and raise self-esteem, which is critical in
adolescence (DiGarbo & Hill, 2006). Moreover, participation in the fine arts, especially among
African American students, has led to a stronger commitment to academic success and higher
school commitment (Repress & Lutfi, 2006). Other research has concluded that creating art in the
presence of a skilled guide can offer a safe avenue for self-exploration, finding meaning in one's
life, and be an outlet for expressing longing and hope (DiGarbo & Hill, 2006). When a positive
environment is nurturing, stimulating, and encourages interaction, it fosters creativity. Social
scientist has also found that students who participate in the fine arts have higher academic
achievement and are less likely to have social, emotional, and behavioral problems (Repress &
Lutfi, 2006). A study by Franklin, Fernandez, Mosby, and Fernando (2004) stated that
participating in the fine arts such as music, painting, dance, and drama positively influences brain
performance, which is key to academic and emotional development. The arts have a direct impact
in the classroom as well, taking an approach that differs from the traditional classroom
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 46
methodologies.
Neuroscience. Socioeconomic disparities are associated with differences in cognitive
development (Noble, Houston, Brito, Bartsch, Kan, Kuperman, Akshoomoff, Amaral, Bloss,
Libiger, Schork, Murray, Casey, Chang, Ernst, Frazier, Gruen, Kennedy, Van Zijl, Mostofsky,
Kaufmann, Kenet, Dale, Jernigan, & Sowell, 2015). Noble and colleagues (2015) found in their
study that there are associations between socioeconomic factors and children’s brain structure.
Other factors, such as parental education and family income account for individual variation in
independent characteristics of brain structural development, in regions that are critical for the
development of language, executive functions and memory (Noble et al., 2015).
Indeed, both school-based and home-based interventions have resulted in substantial
cognitive and behavioral gains for children facing socioeconomic adversity, and small increases
in family earnings in the first two years of a child’s life may lead to remarkable differences in adult
circumstances (Noble et al., 2015). Many leading social scientists and neuroscientists believe that
policies reducing family poverty may have meaningful effects on children’s brain functioning and
cognitive development (Noble et al., 2015). By elucidating the structural brain differences
associated with socioeconomic disparities, researchers and educators may be better able to identify
more accurate endophenotypic biomarkers to serve as targets for intervention, with the ultimate
goal of reducing socioeconomic differences in development and achievement.
In a study conducted by Habibi, Cahn, Damasi, and Damasio (2015), they investigated the
effects of a music training program on the auditory development of children, over the course of
two years, beginning at age 6–7. Researchers wanted to focus on the development of the central
auditory process by assessing auditory event-related potentials and behavioral responses. The
study compared three groups of children of the same SES and cultural background in the Los
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 47
Angeles area, one group who participated in music training, another in sports training and lastly a
group who were not involved in any systematic training. Researchers both predicted and found
that the students who participated in music training had faster development in auditory processing
when compared to the other groups, which is most likely caused by the music group’s active
involvement in music training. This study is essential, as it provides neuroscientific evidence to
the importance of music education. Music is more than the perception of pitch, rhythm, timbre,
and loudness (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009). Peretz and Zatorre (2003) reviewed many other features
of music and the brain, including memory, emotion, performance (both singing and playing),
music reading, and the effect of music training. The contribution of memory to music processing
is crucial because music unfolds over time for us to a perceived time (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009).
According to research conducted on whole brain learning, fine arts require a higher order
of thinking skills, individual and group efforts, and an environment that allows for the freedom
that teaches and encourages responsibility (Repress & Lutfi, 2006). Studies on whole brain
learning have also found that there is a general symbol processing area in the frontal region that
the fine arts stimulate (Repress & Lutfi, 2006). This frontal region of the brain develops
capabilities in reading, math, and science, all of which are positively promoted through artistic
expression (Repress & Lutfi, 2006). The arts also contribute to basic reading skills, language
development, and writing skills associated with skills that emphasize focus and concentration,
expression, persistence, imagination, creativity, and inclinations to tackle problems (Repress &
Lutfi, 2006). According to the American Psychological Association, music can enhance spatial
reasoning involved in facets such as solving mathematical problems and creative scientific
processes (Repress & Lutfi, 2006). Drama shows consistent effects on narrative understanding as
well as component skills and interpersonal skills such as dealing with conflict (Repress & Lutfi,
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 48
2006). In the area of dance, contributions to increased self-confidence, persistence, social
tolerance, and appreciation of individual and group social development are also noted (Repress &
Lutfi, 2006). Finally, the visual arts help students to respond positively to science, geography, and
social studies, resulting in an increased subject acquisition and higher rates of retention (Repress
& Lutfi, 2006).
I-COPPE. The current mental health system is failing to meet the many needs of children
living in urban poverty (Frazier, Cappella, & Atkins, 2007). Children who grow up in urban
neighborhoods, concentrated with poverty, face unique, predictable, and profound risks (Frazier
et al., 2007). Needy urban families have many alarming needs that could the care from mental
health professionals. Unfortunately, mental health resources are scarce in these communities, and
service use remains alarmingly low (Frazier et al., 2007). An analysis of three national surveys
revealed that nearly 80% of youth who were in need of mental health services did not receive
services within the preceding 12 months, with rates approaching 90% for uninsured families
(Frazier et al., 2007). African American families, who disproportionately live in poor urban
neighborhoods, are more than one-and-a-half times as likely as whites to be uninsured (Frazier et
al., 2007). For the children and families fortunate enough to receive mental health services, the
attrition rates are higher than 50%, primarily among low-income, African-American children
(Frazier et al., 2007). What is available for those living in many urban, poor communities is a
disorganized network of services that do not allocate resources successfully to children in need,
nor do they provide access to quality services (Frazier et al., 2007).
Urban adolescents are exposed to a substantial amount of community violence which has
the potential to influence psychological functioning (McDonald & Richmond, 2008). Urban
adolescents report very high rates of community violence exposure (McDonald & Richmond,
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 49
2008). More than 85% witness some form of violence in their lifetime and as many as 69% report
direct victimization (McDonald & Richmond, 2008). These rates make it essential to examine the
effects of exposure to violence on the psychological wellbeing of urban adolescents. Depression,
anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and aggression have negative associations with
exposure to community violence in urban adolescents (McDonald & Richmond, 2008). The
relationships between community violence and mental health are not always consistent with
research findings, as the impact of community violence exposure on urban adolescents’
psychological functioning is not established (McDonald & Richmond, 2008). Some researchers
discuss desensitization among urban youth, as they learn to adapt to their environment by having
lower than expected mental health symptoms in response to community violence (McDonald &
Richmond, 2008).
Research on positive development is very minimal as the majority of research conducted
to date on adolescents' mental health has primarily been focused on psychological disorders (Suido
& Shaffer, 2008). Much vulnerable youth slip through the cracks with regards to mental health
concerns, which may place them at risk for developing future problems (Suido & Shaffer, 2008).
Similarly, not all youth with clinical levels of psychopathology experience a reduced quality of
life (Suido & Shaffer, 2008). Integrating both positive and negative indicators of wellbeing into
mental health assessment may yield a more comprehensive picture of functioning (Suido &
Shaffer, 2008).
The term wellbeing includes satisfaction with life as a whole and with specific dimensions
that include health, economic situation, and relationships (Prilleltensky, Dietz, Prilleltensky,
Myers, Rubenstein, Jin, & McMahon, 2015). According to Prilleltensky et al., (2015), complete
mental health requires clinicians to focus their attention on understanding and promoting
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 50
wellbeing. With the many psychological tools used to assess mental health, refining the measures
to evaluate wellbeing is essential. The refinement of measures that focus attention on wellbeing
can lead to better assessments as well as provide more effective interventions for individuals,
groups, and communities alike (Prilleltensky et al., 2015). With the introduction of the two-factor
model of mental health, clinicians and researchers have taken into consideration wellbeing as an
essential component of mental health (Prilleltensky et al., 2015). The premise of the two-factor
model is to both reduce mental illness and enhance one's wellbeing to have complete mental health
(Prilleltensky et al., 2015).
Prilleltensky et al., (2015) aimed to develop a tool with the minimum set of domains that
would encompass perceptions of wellbeing in central areas of life. Based on two relevant bodies
of scholarly work, components of wellbeing and measurements of wellbeing, researchers were
able to synthesize a six-domain scale of well- being: Interpersonal, Community, Occupational,
Physical, Psychological, and Economic (I COPPE). (Prilleltensky et al., 2015). The six domains
can provide clinicians, epidemiologists, and community researchers an opportunity to create
profiles of how individuals and groups function in crucial areas of life to generate interventions
that meet their needs (Prilleltensky et al., 2015). In Prilleltensky et al., (2015) scale, overall
wellbeing is a positive state of affairs, as perceived by individual respondents.
Overall wellbeing has been positively related to other studies that focus on specific aspects
wellbeing (Prilleltensky et al., 2015). The construct of interpersonal wellbeing reflects satisfaction
with the quality of relationships with influential people such as family, friends, and colleagues
(Prilleltensky et al., 2015). Prilleltensky et al. (2015) concluded that interpersonal wellbeing is
highly correlated with many positive outcomes, such as longevity, resilience, physical health,
mental health, and overall wellbeing and life satisfaction. The literature on resilient urban-youth
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 51
suggests that self-concept and peer relations are two areas of significant interest (Tyson, 2002).
The use of hip-hop as a therapeutic tool can empower resilient urban-youth, build their self-esteem,
and leads youth on the path to self-awareness (Flores-González et al., 2006). Programs such as
those described in Batey Urbano (Flores-González et al., 2006), provides youth a space in which
to express themselves, also helps youth become self-aware of their strengths and how to develop
their potential.
Families living in poverty face extraordinary pressures with diminishing community
resources (Atkins, Frazier, Birman, Adil, Jackson, Graczyk, Talbott, Farmer, Bell, & McKay,
2006). According to Atkins et al. (2006), children’s poverty is primarily concentrated in urban
communities, where exposure to community violence affects as many as 80% of children,
impacting children’s academic performance, and resulting in high rates of depression, and
disruptive behavior (Atkins et al., 2006). Among these barriers, several have been identified to
explain the low rates of mental health services utilization among urban, needy families (Atkins et
al., 2006). These barriers include but are not limited to stigma, lack of information, an inaccessible
location of services and difficulties with transportation, complexities of the mental health service
delivery and reimbursement systems, unresponsive providers, and competing for reliance on
alternative methods of help (Atkins et al., 2006). These alarming statistics give evidence to how
community plays a role in an individuals' wellbeing.
The construct of community wellbeing pertains to the level of satisfaction with one’s
community (Prilleltensky et al., 2015). According to Prilleltensky et al. (2015), community
wellbeing has also been shown to correlate with mental health, community participation, and sense
of belonging and to be inversely related to depression. Hip-hop can serve a means for youth to
achieve global awareness, and a critical understanding of and a connection with other people’s
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 52
struggles against oppression (Flores-González et al., 2006). It is at this point that youth understand
oppression and the ways it is manifested around the world: in capitalism, colonialism, racism, and
patriarchy (Flores-González et al., 2006). Because of their own and their community’s oppression,
they can understand, and identify with, other oppressed people and join in the social action to fight
oppression (Flores-González et al., 2006).
Prilleltensky and colleagues (2015) chose to focus on occupational wellbeing instead of
just satisfaction with work, due to many people not having paid employment, where occupations
such as stay-at-home parents or older adults volunteering in the community could also be taken
into consideration. According to Prilleltensky and colleagues (2015), occupation is a more
inclusive term than work. Therefore, occupational wellbeing can reflect the state of satisfaction
with one’s job, vocation, or avocation, as determined by the individuals themselves. Many youths
may not possess an occupation. Therefore the role of a student and the experiences will be in place
of this. Ginwright (2004) makes mention that hip-hop has an immense potential for transforming
the educational experience of marginalized youth. Ginwright (2004) further notes that hip-hop
culture is a highly efficient vehicle for engaging resilient urban-youth in learning. Music, language,
style of dress, poetry, and art can all be useful cultural vehicles to educate youth who have not
responded to the traditional ethnicity-based multicultural curriculum (Ginwright, 2004).
Prilleltensky and colleagues (2015) define physical wellbeing as a state of satisfaction with
one’s overall health and wellness. Research shows that physical wellness correlates highly with
overall wellbeing and is used in some measures (Prilleltensky et al., 2015). Hip-hop is an avenue
that addresses the physical wellbeing through breakdancing and emceeing. As mentioned in
Repress and Lutfi (2006), these elements of hip-hop promote self-confidence, persistence, social
tolerance, and appreciation of individual and group social development among resilient urban-
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 53
youth.
The construct of psychological wellbeing pertains to the level of satisfaction with one’s
emotional life (Prilleltensky et al., 2015). According to Prilleltensky and colleagues (2015),
psychological wellbeing has been associated with higher physical wellness and lower mental
illness. Prilleltensky et al. (2015) state that psychological well- being is different from overall
wellbeing and distinct from physical health. Hip-hop moves the soul of many urban youths,
making it particularly suitable for raising awareness of self and the social issues that directly affect
them (Flores-González et al., 2006). Hip-hop moves the soul because the rhythms, lyrics, and body
movements speak directly to the experiences of resilient urban youth (Flores-González et al.,
2006). Hip-hop can provide a space where youth can claim an ethnic identity that is typically
devalued by society (Flores-González et al., 2006). This empowering process builds their
psychological wellbeing and leads youth on the path to self-awareness (Flores-González et al.,
2006). Besides giving youth an avenue for self-expression, through hip-hop, youth can become
self-aware of their strengths and how to develop their potential, all that directly addresses
psychological wellbeing (Allen, 2005; Flores-González et al., 2006; Tyson, 2002).
According to Prilleltensky and colleagues (2015), economic wellbeing has to do with the level
of satisfaction with one’s financial situation. It has been found that favorable economic conditions
have been associated with better mental and physical health and life satisfaction overall
(Prilleltensky et al., 2015). Flores-González et al. (2006), provides evidence of a how the
community center of Batey Urbano implemented solutions to addressed the “digital divide” that
further marginalized their youth from a job market. Helping not only their youth and community
but hip-hop was also used as an avenue that helped resilient urban-youth discover their talents and
develop new skills (Flores-González et al., 2006). Hip-hop culture can be used to foster wellbeing
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 54
among high risk youth by providing an element to for them understand who they are as individuals
and as a community, to help them cope with their own and their community problems, and to
motivate them to take action to transform their lives and their community (Flores-González et al.,
2006).
The above evidence indicates there are benefits when youth participate in the arts, especially
in the areas of neuroscience, whole brain learning, and mental wellness. Hip-hop is an art form
that addresses all these areas of the arts through its four forms or “elements”—breakdancing,
graffiti, emceeing, and deejaying—young people seek to tell their stories of marginalization and
strategies for resistance (Flores-González et al., 2006). Hip-hop uses words, symbols, music, and
movement to narrate the reality of inner-city life and to protest the social injustice inflicted on
marginalized youth (Flores-González et al., 2006). Graffiti artists use symbols to tell their stories
by painting designs on buildings and trains while b-boys or break dancers’ intricate body
movements vent their frustration (Flores-González et al., 2006). DJs produce new music styles
with their innovative use of turntables, while MCs use rhymes and words to tell their stories
(Flores-González et al., 2006). The participation in hip-hop can serve as a vessel to promote
wellbeing among high risk as hip-hop not only serves as a creative outlet for youth to vent their
frustrations, but it serves as a forum where youth become aware of community problems and
understand the political, economic, and social forces that create these problems (Flores-González
et al., 2006).
The use of hip-hop as an alternative means to foster mental wellness among resilient urban-
youth is an avenue that should further be explored. Research has indicated the positive impact of
the arts, primarily when working with marginalized youth. Evidence has supported hip-hop as an
art form, although it is displayed in very non-traditional ways. Hip-hop continues to foster artistic
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 55
engagement and also serves as an outlet for the validation of resilient urban-youths' experiences
(Allen, 2005; Flores-González et al., 2006; Tyson, 2002). Further research should expound on
measuring wellbeing using the I COPPE scale with regards to hip-hop interventions among
resilient urban-youth. Hip-hop can also serve as a counter-hegemonic curriculum that focuses on
youth culture and resistance, racial identity and social reproduction, and counter-narratives, that
provide a space for students of color with alternate explanations of educational and social
inequities, while gaining a critical perspective of their world (Akom, 2009; Morrell & Duncan –
Andrade, 2002; Although there is evidence that supports this claim through a variety of research,
it is explicit just to examine hip-hop alone and mental wellness.
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework for this study focuses on the wellbeing of resilient urban-youth
(figure 4). The adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model provides a visual
representation that articulates how systems directly influence wellbeing among resilient urban-
youth (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002). This modified model continues to place the
youth at the center while implementing Ginwright and Cammarota’s (2002) youth development
model as the internal components of resilient urban-youths’ mental wellness. These internal
components include the construction of a critical consciousness as youth develop their self-
awareness, social awareness, and global awareness (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Flores-
González et al., 2006; Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002). Another revision was
necessary to incorporate two systems within the youth’s microsystem versus one, with each system
having its interrelational components. These systems include hip-hop’s decolonial praxis and the
overall environment of the youth. The interactions between these two systems define the youth’s
mesosystem (Jozefowicz-Simbeni & Allen-Meares, 2002). The goal for youth wellbeing that is
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 56
fostered by the development of critical consciousness would lead to social action and systemic
change (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Flores-González et al., 2006). This systemic change
within the youth’s environment will not only increase their social and cultural capital but also most
importantly provide more significant opportunities for youth to attain mental wellness.
Chapter Summary
Hip-hop is a global phenomenon. It is an international, transnational, multiracial,
multiethnic, multilingual community is made up of individuals with diverse class, gender, and
sexual identities (Morgan & Bennett, 2011). Its artistic practices are driving force that defines and
sustains its culture (Morgan & Bennett, 2011). Hip-hop's impact on youth identity serves as the
premise of inquiry for this paper. Literature has demonstrated hip-hop's role in the development of
youth's critical consciousness and wellbeing (Flores-González et al., 2006). This evidence has led
to the further inquiry of hip-hop's use as to tool for narrating the experiences of resilient urban-
youth. Hip-hop has also proven to offer youth with the opportunities to critique and delink from
coloniality in their everyday lives (Flores-González et al., 2006; Cervantes & Saldaña, 2015). Hip-
hop provides ways to explore critically and engage in decolonial horizons that break silences,
disrupt dominant narratives, and create a transformative consciousness among our youth (Alim,
2007; Flores-González et al., 2006; Cervantes & Saldaña, 2015). Through a decolonial lens, this
paper can add to the existing body of research by investigating how hip-hop culture can support
wellbeing among resilient urban-youth.
The review of the literature provides support for those working with resilient youth to
consider hip-hop as a decolonial tool that promotes mental wellness as well as provided insight
into how the research questions were generated. Resilient urban-youth, especially those from urban
communities, are already challenged with having to navigate the environment around them. It is
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 57
imperative that clinicians and educators provide an uplifting, safe, and welcoming space for
creativity, but more importantly a space for healing and wellness. This chapter provided an
overview of multiple philosophical, historical, and theoretical frameworks, along with a
conceptual framework, and reviews of empirical research that relates to a decolonial approach to
mental wellness, utilizing hip-hop. The sections of this chapter connect and integrate elements of
the hip-hop culture, which could serve as an alternative therapeutic approach for working with
resilient, urban youth. The provided research advocates for a paradigm shift in the way resilient
urban-youth are viewed. Necessary systemic changes that need to occur that support the removal
of these barriers and access to authentic mental wellness would provide the required capital to
community resources and the guidance required to make the psychological wellness possible.
Chapter 3 will explore the problem further by giving an overview of the methods research.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 58

Figure 4. Conceptual Model of Critical Consciousness Development of Wellbeing for High Risk
Youth.

Self
Awareness
Social
Awareness
Global
Awareness
High Risk
Youth
Wellbeing
Hip-hop as a
Decolonial Praxis
CRT
Ecological
Systems
Model
Social
Capital
Family
Neighborhood
School
Community
Youth’s
Environment
Policies
Microsystem Microsystem
Mesosystem
Exosystem Exosystem
Macrosystem
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 59
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
The previous chapters provided a summary of the theoretical frameworks and concepts to
give a foundation for the research questions and methods of this study. Chapter 3 will provide an
overview of the methodology, which will include a discussion of its philosophical foundations, a
description of the research design and methodological approach, and the data analysis including
trustworthiness and the role of the researcher. The chapter will conclude with a summary.
This study will provide a phenomenological experience derived from a workshop on hip-
hop culture. The workshop will aid in compiling ethnographic data in order to fully obtain the
necessary narrative inquiry to answer the research questions of this study. Semi-structured
interviews will be used to gather information on the experiences of of resilient urban-youth from
a high school that shares the characteristics of an urban school. Student narratives will be the
primary data collection. Through participant narratives and reflections of their experiences as
resilient urban-youth who have participated in a one-day workshop, this study hopes to examine
the influence of hip-hop culture from a decolonial paradigm on wellbeing. The literature review
gives evidence of the lack of research on contemporary treatment models with resilient urban-
youth. Most research studies describe resilient urban-youth from a deficit model. Few studies
address the development of a critical consciousness among resilient urban-youth that implements
hip-hop culture to influence their wellbeing.
The research questions that frame this study are:
1. How can hip-hop culture be used as a decolonial tool to support the wellbeing of resilient
urban-youth?
2. How can resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences?
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 60
3. How can a workshop that introduces the artistic elements of hip-hop culture form a
connection between critical consciousness and wellbeing among resilient urban-youth?
Qualitative Methods
A qualitative approach to exploring the experiences of resilient urban-youth who are exposed
to a one-day hip-hop based workshop is appropriate for this study which can contribute to the
existing body of research on hip-hop and resilient urban-youth. The rationale for utilizing
qualitative methods for this study is based on the strengths to which qualitative research derives.
Qualitative research is a process-oriented towards the world, an inductive approach that focuses
on specific situations or people, and emphasizes on description rather than numbers (Maxwell,
2013). According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), qualitative research is interested in
understanding how people interpret their experiences, how they construct their worlds, and what
meaning they attribute to their experiences. The focus on meaning is central to what is known as
the “interpretive” approach to social science (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Qualitative methods
provide an understanding of how particular contexts within which participants act and the
influences that the setting has on their actions (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Qualitative methods
also provide a process by which events and actions take place, they identify unanticipated
phenomena and influences, and generate new grounded theories, and provide a causal explanation
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Finally, the qualitative research looks at causal relationships and the
processes that connect them (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Since the data is scarce regarding the experiences of resilient urban-youth who participate in
any of the elements of hip-hop culture, utilizing a qualitative approach will aid in the exploration
and understanding of meaning (Creswell, 2014). From the diverse selection of qualitative
approaches that could have been used for this study, a phenomenological, ethnographic, and
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 61
narrative approach from a critical philosophical lens was selected in order to obtain the necessary
data to answer the research questions.
First, a phenomenological approach was selected in order to depict the essence of an
experience, which would derive from the hip-hop workshop (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Phenomenology would provide a focus on the experience itself and how experiencing something
such as a workshop on hip-hop culture could be transformed into consciousness (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). Because phenomenology is a study of people's conscious experience(s), providing
a background on hip-hop culture can give access to youth's prereflective experiences (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016).
Second, ethnographic inquiry will provide a cultural description of the lived experiences of the
student participants as the workshop will serve as the platform for an intimate, social setting. The
purpose for each workshop facilitator is to establish an educational setting around hip-hop culture
that would allow the students to activate their own inquiry of hip-hop from first-hand participation
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Ethnographic data will be collected from the arts-based student
artifacts of the workshop. In Merriam and Tisdell (2016), Barone and Eisner (2012) state that arts-
based research is the effort to extend beyond the limiting constraints of discursive communication
to express meaning that would otherwise be ineffable. Visual materials will be used in the data
collection as it will give participants an opportunity to share their reality directly (Creswell, 2014).
This method can help researchers get closer to participants’ thoughts, emotions, and experience in
innovative ways (Lyon & Carabelli, 2016). Visual materials for this study will focus on the process
of knowledge production and facilitate expression outside of language through the use of hip-hop
culture (Lyon & Carabelli, 2016).
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 62
Lastly, narrative inquiry will be used to share the participants' experience after attending the
workshop on hip-hop. Participant narratives will be gathered through interviews after attending
the workshop in conjunction with the other qualifying data gathered from the qualitative methods
mentioned above. Interviewing for research purposes is a systematic activity in which a researcher
and participant engage in a conversation focused on questions related to a research study (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016). Interviews provide the researcher an opportunity to understand the views and
opinions of participants (Creswell, 2014). Interviewing is also essential when participants cannot
be directly observed (Creswell, 2014). For this study, a semi-structured interview protocol will be
used to allow for new ideas and concepts to be discussed based on what the participant has to say
about their experiences participating in a one-day, hip-hop workshop. The interviews for this study
will use a semi-structured approach. This allows the researcher to ask questions in no determined
order, where some items could be explicitly tailored to the individual as well as omitted if the
researcher finds that the items did not suite the interview (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In Merriam
and Tisdell (2016), Barone and Eisner (2012) state that arts-based research is the effort to extend
beyond the limiting constraints of discursive communication to express meaning that would
otherwise be ineffable. Visual materials will be used in the data collection as it will give
participants an opportunity to share their reality directly (Creswell, 2014). This method can help
researchers get closer to participants’ thoughts, emotions, and experience in innovative ways
(Lyon & Carabelli, 2016). Visual materials for this study will focus on the process of knowledge
production and facilitate expression outside of language through the use of hip-hop culture (Lyon
& Carabelli, 2016).
A critical philosophical lens will be used to that will draw on Critical Race Theory's
framework to guide the development of this qualitative inquiry. The goal of the critical approach
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 63
is to critique and challenge, to transform and empower (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). CRT consists
of fundamental insights, perspectives, methods, and pedagogies that seek to identify, analyze, and
transform structural and cultural aspects that maintain subordinate and dominant racial positions
(Solorzano & Ornelas, 2004). CRT shifts the research lens away from a deficit view of
marginalized communities as places full of cultural poverty disadvantages, and instead focuses on
and learns from the array of cultural knowledge, skills, abilities, and contacts possessed by socially
marginalized groups that often go unrecognized and unacknowledged (Yosso, 2005). Hip-hop
culture and CRT will serve as the catalyst that communicates the identities of resilient urban-youth
by narrating their individual experiences. By bringing in prominent members of the hip-hop
community to facilitate and provide a hands-on learning experience to the four major elements of
the hip-hop culture, it will allow for participants to not only hear the experiences of these artists
but provide a space for participants to construct meaning through hip-hop culture. This workshop
will provide a platform where youth become aware of community problems and understand the
political, economic, and social forces that create these problems (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002;
Flores-González et al., 2006).
Sample and Population
Site. The proposed site for this study is at a high school. The high school is located in the
northernmost part of Los Angeles County, approximately 80 miles from Downtown Los Angeles.
Sage High School’s student body comprises of 1,718 students from the following groups: 53%
Hispanic or Latino; 33.4% Black or African American; 8.2% White; 3% Two or more races; 1.7%
Asian, Filipino, and Pacific Islander; 0.7% American Indian or Alaskan Native; 82%
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged; 13.6% English Learners; 20.3% Students with Disabilities;
and 3% Foster Youth. There are many educational and environmental challenges that students of
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 64
the high school face on a daily basis. Due to the demanding needs that students bring to the campus,
the high school struggles with teacher retention, as well as programs for the students. Many parents
have less than a high school diploma. Eighty-two point four percent of these families have been
identified as economically disadvantaged. The current student to academic counselor ratio is
453:1. The school has faced many challenges, but despite their obstacles, 90.41% of students were
enrolled in courses required for UC/CSU admission in the 2014-2015 school year. 25.08% of
graduates completed all courses required for UC/CSU admission. By identifying resilient urban-
youth at the high school, this study can seek to examine how various systemic structures influence
their critical development.
Sampling Method. The population for this study will be comprised of high school students
who have been identified with an interest in hip-hop culture and deemed as resilient youth at the
high school. For this particular study, we are using purposive or purposeful sampling and
convenience sampling. Purposeful sampling is based on the assumption that the investigator wants
to discover, understand, and gain insight and therefore must select a sample from which the most
can be learned (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Convenience sampling was selected based on time,
location, and availability of respondents.
Participant Selection. Participants will be selected through an electronic questionnaire
that will be sent to their student email. The questionnaire will gather demographic information,
which includes gender identity, grade level, and SES information. Participants will then be asked
a series of questions that will identify their interest in hip-hop culture as well as interest in attending
a one-day workshop. Participants will be screened before the interview for the following criteria:
self-identification of interest in hip-hop culture; student self-reporting as a resilient urban-youth;
and self-identification as a student of the high school.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 65
Instrumentation. Once participants have been selected, they will be asked to attend a one-
day workshop that will provide a brief overview of each element of the hip-hop culture in hopes
that participants will produce new knowledge through the engagement of this event (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). Visual materials from arts-based methods will be collected from participant
production of the one-day workshop. Upon completion of the workshop, participants will be asked
to complete Prilleltensky et al., (2015) I-COPPE scale (See Appendix A) prior to individual
interviews, which will be conducted from a list of semi-structured interview questions.
Data Collection. For the researcher to obtain access to this study, the researcher will need
to get permission from the school’s principal to utilize the students at the high school for this study
(See Appendix B). Permission to access space for the workshop and interviews will also be needed.
Once the participants have been selected, the researcher will provide an informed consent for the
youth and their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) to sign, before participating in the study. As a
research protocol, participants will be reassured that their names would remain anonymous. All
participants will be reassured that any information shared would stay confidential unless otherwise
stated by the respondents, which also included the location of the workshop, to maintain
confidentiality.
Data Analysis
This is a qualitative study that will gather data from both interviews and visual materials.
Interview protocols were directly linked to the three research questions. According to research
experts, researchers must make every effort to start data analysis immediately following data
collection (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdale, 2016, Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Once the data is
collected from the interviews and visual materials, documentation of the findings will be reported.
Because image data can be so dense and rich, not all information can be used (Creswell, 2013).
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 66
Researchers will need to "winnow" the data, a process of focusing in on some of the data and
disregarding other parts of it (Creswell, 2013). Creswell (2013) recommends the use of multiple
approaches to enhance the researcher's ability to assess the accuracy of findings as well as convince
readers of that accuracy.
Through the process of triangulation, the findings will be compared to each other, the
current literature, and with Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a method of connecting the conclusions
within these broader perspectives. This process allows the researcher to uncover convergent and
divergent findings (Creswell, 2013). Member checking will be used to serve as a check throughout
the data analysis process. This process will allow for an ongoing dialogue of the participant's
reality and meanings, to ensure the truth value of the data (Creswell, 2013).
Qualitative Data Analysis
Creswell (2014), presents a six-step process for the utilization of interpreting the qualitative
data received from interviews, observations, and visual materials (see Figure 4). The first step is
to organize and prepare the data for analysis. This analysis involves transcribing interviews,
cataloging all of the visual material, and sorting and arranging the data (Creswell, 2014). The
second step is to read and look at all the narrative and ethnographic data where notes can be taken
to create a sketchbook of ideas that assist in describing the themes (Creswell, 2014). The third step
is to sort the data into categories and label these categories with a term based on the language of
the participants (Creswell, 2014). The fourth step will use the coding process to generate a
description of the themes for future analysis (Creswell, 2014). The fifth step will advance how the
description and narratives will be represented in the qualitative narrative (Creswell, 2014). The
sixth and final step is to interpret the findings of the qualitative data. The lessons learned will
capture the essence of the data (Creswell, 2014).
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 67
The data analysis process presented in this study will be an inductive and comparative
analysis strategy used to for analyzing and interpreting the qualitative data (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). The purpose of the inductive method will allow the researcher to work back and forth
between the themes and the data until the researcher has established a comprehensive set of themes
(Creswell, 2014). Based on the qualitative approaches used, several methods will be used to
analyze the phenomenological, ethnographic, and narrative data. Phenomenological analysis will
utilize techniques of both phenomenological reduction and imaginative variation. The purpose of
phenomenological reduction is to lead the researcher back to the hip-hop workshop experience of
the participants and to reflect on it, in order to suspend judgment so one can stay with the live
experience of the phenomenon in order to get at its essence (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Imaginative
variation has to do with trying to see the object of study – the phenomenon - from several different
perspectives, different positions, roles, or functions (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The overall aim is
to arrive to a structural description of an experience, which are the underlying and precipitating
factors that account for what is being experienced (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Ethnographic analysis will be presented through description, analysis, and interpretation.
Description will describe the students' experiences after attending the hip-hop workshop. Through
analysis, the researcher will be able to identify how the essential features of the workshop
interrelates to the participants, which will ultimately aid in the interpretation or the overall meaning
of the data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Interpretation will be supported through the analysis of
classification schemes, which would be terms commonly used from the youth to obtain
ethnographic data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Finally, the narrative inquiry derived from interview write-ups will consist of first-person
accounts of being a workshop participant. This study's narrative analysis focuses more on a holistic
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 68
review of each student participant rather than from a categorical analysis of abstracted units from
the completed stories. Each student narrative is viewed first in its entirety, and the parts within it
interpreted to the other parts of their story (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Ethical Considerations
The principal investigator (PI) is a guidance counselor at the school. The PI will explain to
the students that he is engaging in a research that is completely separate from his role as a counselor
at the school and that nothing that is learned through this process will be used directly to support
the students who attend the workshop/participate in the study when he is wearing his guidance
counselor hat. It will be further explained to the students that participation in this study is not
required in order to receive a benefit (e.g., get a letter or a better letter of recommendation from
for college). Students will be assured that participation is completely voluntary and whether a
student decided to participate or not, will have no impact on their status as a student of the school.
Throughout the design and implementation of this research study, ethical considerations
were followed by the researcher. All guidelines and procedures for the University of Southern
California Institutional Review Board were carefully reviewed and implemented during the
study. All participants were informed of the purpose and nature of the research study, and they're
consistent to participant was received. Participants were told that confidentiality and anonymity
throughout the study would be adhered to, thus ensuring ethical standards of practice.
Summary
The use of qualitative research will align with the literature. The researcher ensured internal
validity through the triangulation of data and member checking to provide a more complex analysis
to address the wellbeing of resilient urban-youth with the use of hip-hop culture as the catalyst.
Chapter Four will present the findings of this research study, with conclusions, implications for
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 69
practice.

Figure 5. Overview of Qualitative Data Analysis. Adapted from “Research design. Qualitative,
quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4
th
ed.)” by Creswell, J. W. (2014). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 70
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
Introduction
Hip-hop practitioners have reported the positive outcomes of being a part of the hip-hop
community. In an interview with Lamonte Goode aka B-boy Tales, he was able to describe the
positive impact hip-hop culture has had on his life, specific to breaking (L. Goode, personal
communication, October 30, 2017). Tales explained how breaking kept him from joining a gang,
expanded his conscious awareness, improved his overall physical and psychological wellbeing,
provided opportunities to travel to different parts of the world, as well as be a part of the
entertainment industry for different movies and music videos (L. Goode, personal communication,
October 30, 2017). Like many hip-hop artists, Tales is one of many who shares the statement, "hip-
hop saved my life" (L. Goode, personal communication, October 30, 2017). In another interview
with Carl "DJ Hazze" Gilkey of Air Force Crew and Mighty Zulu Nation, he expressed a major
concern of the negative impact mainstream hip-hop has on our youth (C. Gilkey, personal
communication, October 2, 2017). DJ Hazze stated that "there is a level of ignorance that our
youth have towards hip-hop's foundation" (C. Gilkey, personal communication, October 2, 2017).
Both B-boy Tales and DJ Hazze spoke to the need for our youth to learn about the history of hip-
hop especially in recognizing the contradictions of mainstream hip-hop to the overall culture (C.
Gilkey, personal communication, October 2, 2017; L. Goode, personal communication, October
30, 2017). It can be safe to assume that much of hip-hop's contradictions stem from individuals
automatically associating it just to the linguistic element of rapping, ultimately disregarding the
overall benefits and contributions from the other elements provide.
Chapter 2 provided a historical overview of hip-hop's birth as a response to oppression,
marginalization, and colonization (Carter, 2016; Chang, 2005; Dyson, 2007; Morgan & Bennett,
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 71
2011; Rose, T., 1994). Emdin (2016) makes a strong connection to urban youth and indigenous
people that have assisted in gaining a deeper understanding of hip-hop and its use as a cultural
tool. Historical comparisons of collective oppression between urban youth and indigenous
populations uncover the evidence of forced relocation to regions with little resources, in an attempt
to ban language and customs and replace them with the "American culture." (Emdin, 2016; Zinn,
2003). Despite colonialism's attempt to dismantle both groups, each was able to cultivate and share
traditions through dress, music, dance, and rituals (Emdin, 2016; Zinn, 2003). Hip-hop's rich
history and culture have provided urban youth with a tool to creatively express the challenges
faced by residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged spaces while maintaining their dignity and
identity (Emdin, 2016).
Currently, educational research has started to explore the benefits of hip-hop pedagogy in
the classroom, which has shown to be a successful alternative for engaging youth in the classroom,
but there is minimal research of the use of hip-hop culture as a tool to promote wellbeing
specifically with urban youth (Emdin, 2016; Flores-González et al., 2006; Hill, 2009). Research
has already concluded the necessity for educators and practitioners to be innovative in their
planning and implementation of culturally sensitive treatments and preventions to support
wellbeing with resilient urban-youth (Goicoechea et al., 2014). Hip-hop is a creative and sensitive
approach that can address youth apprehension and resistance, but most importantly, provide a safe
space for youth to engage in critical thought (Allen, 2005; Goicoechea et al., 2014). In many ways,
hip-hop encourages young people to move through the various levels of conscious awareness, by
changing their thinking about themselves and community problems, and act toward creating a
more equitable world (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Flores-González et al., 2006).
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 72
After speaking to the artists used for this study, they were all able to agree on the benefits
of hip-hop, specific to promoting wellbeing. Evidence has shown the positive outcomes with
previous generations of hip-hop artists, which led to the overall inquiry of this study and use of
hip-hop to promote wellbeing with the current generation of youth. Like many things in life, it
takes time for individual to master their craft. Unfortunately, the time constraints for completing
this study only allowed for the opportunity obtain youth narratives on hip-hop culture after
attending a one-day workshop that highlighted the four artistic elements of hip-hop.
Purpose of the Study Restated
This chapter presents the qualitative findings used to examine the influence of a decolonial
approach to working with youth deemed high risk. This study was conducted to demonstrate hip-
hop culture's potential for having a positive influence on wellbeing and connection to youth critical
consciousness. The findings from student narratives provide insight into their engagement with
hip-hop culture today. This chapter presents the detailed findings, of this qualitative account of
youth perceptions of hip-hop culture in relation to their critical consciousness and wellbeing after
a one-day workshop on hip-hop culture. The plan allowed for triangulation from the student
interviews, artifacts analysis, and the literature on hip-hop culture and wellbeing. The findings of
the study were based on these three research questions:
1. How can hip-hop culture be used as a decolonial tool to support the wellbeing of resilient
urban-youth?
2. How can resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences?
3. How can a workshop that introduces the artistic elements of hip-hop culture form a
connection between critical consciousness and wellbeing among resilient urban-youth?
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 73
This study consisted of four phases: Phase 1: Student selection; Phase 2: Workshop; Phase
3: Student Interviews; and Phase 4: Interpretation of research findings. It was essential for the
researcher to maintain student anonymity as detailed accounts of the students' life experiences and
perceptions were documented. All research participants were given pseudonyms to protect their
identities. In addition, the collected artifacts from the workshop were also stored in a secure
location for student protection and anonymity (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007).
Phase 1: Participant Selection
A selective criterion was used to qualify students for participation in the study.
Convenience sampling was also taken into consideration which allowed the researcher to select
participants based on time, location, and availability (Creswell, 2014). Student selection was first
determined using an online survey distributed to the students via student email (See Appendix C).
Eligibility was based on the following five criteria: 1) youth who identified as students of the high
school; 2) were under the age of 18 at the time of the study; 3) availability to attend a one-day
workshop on hip-hop culture; 4) having experienced one or more risk factors (witnessing a violent
crime in my community; living in poverty; negative peer influences; witnessed abuse at home;
poor academic achievement); and 5) having the interest to know more about hip-hop culture.
Seventy-five students responded to the survey, which the researcher sorted through the
multiple responses to find 29 students who met the criteria for this study. Of the 29 potential
participants, seven students opted to participate in the study. The researcher gave his best efforts
to provide the students with information about the research study before having students commit.
Students were made aware that they were going to participate in a workshop on hip-hop and be
interviewed about their experiences at a later date. The researcher reviewed the Recruitment Tool
(Appendix D) with each of the students and answered any questions as well as addressed any
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 74
concerns before asking the students to return the signed copy of the Youth Assent-Parental
Permission form (See Appendix E). Each student created a pseudonym hence the broad range of
names used to identify the participants as seen in later sections of this study. The participants were
selected from diverse racial backgrounds, gender, and grade levels, to obtain a variegated purview
of youth experiences as described in table 1 below. Each student who committed to the study had
identified that there was a personal interest in learning more about hip-hop.
An Exploration of Hip-Hop
Phase 2: A Workshop
In order to answer the study’s research questions, a hip-hop workshop was designed as a
way to catalyze discussions, eliciting a youth narrative on critical consciousness and wellbeing.
The workshop provided a safe space for the students to deconstruct and engage in a hands-on
learning experience about the four artistic elements of hip-hop. Although the researcher could have
facilitated the hip-hop workshop alone, it was in the best interest of the study that experts were
invited to present on their artistic domains of hip-hop. Once the presenters were identified, a
workshop agenda (See Appendix F) was shared with the presenters to provide them with a structure
for the workshop. The overall workshop was broken into four sessions that provided an overview
of each artistic element of hip-hop, Deejaying, breaking, Emceeing, and graffiti art. The
composition of the workshop sessions included brief overviews of each art form through a visual
presentation and shared narratives about their involvement with hip-hop. Each presenter shared
how they were introduced to hip-hop culture and the impact that it had on each of their lives. The
were also able to discuss the changes within hip-hop culture over several decades, based on their
years of experience with participating in one of the four elements. It is important to make mention
the diverse backgrounds of each presenter. Each presenter was strategically selected based on their
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 75
gender, race, age, and SES to establish and maintain rapport with the student participants. The
presenters were purposefully chosen as an attempt to avoid the potential biases of having a
homogeneous group of workshop facilitators. Carl "DJ Hazze" Gilkey presented on the Deejaying.
He has been Deejaying and breaking for over 30 years and is a member of several hip-hop crews,
Air-Force Crew, Mighty Zulu Nation, and the founder of Hazze Dream Center. DJ Hazze was
selected based on his well-rounded knowledge of all the elements of hip-hop. Stella "B-Girl Stellz"
Fernandez spoke to the session on breaking. B-Girl Stellz is a member of the Heart Breakerz Crew,
an all female breaking crew. She has over 10 years of experience in breaking and has competed on
a global level. She was also chosen to provide a female perspective on breaking, but also to discuss
breaking's evolution over the years with regards to competitions, styles of dance from different
regions, and the influence of culture in shaping a dancer's identity. Ernesto "Nes" Cortez facilitated
the session on Emceeing. He is a member of Innovators Crew and has been rapping and breaking
for over 10 years. He is another artist who is involved in participating in multiple elements of hip-
hop. He spoke to the evolution of rapping and shared the different sub-genres of rapping. He
challenged the students to critically engage and confront the dominant narrative through music.
Finally, John "Zender" Estrada shared his experience with graffiti. He had been involved in graffiti
since the late 1970's in Los Angeles. He was able to speak about graffiti's evolution as well as
describe the differences between the East and West Coast styles. Zender promoted the artistic
element of graffiti to dispel any misconceptions the students may have had about graffiti and its
legality.
Upon the conclusion of each discussion, the students were given the opportunity to engage
in a hands-on lesson learning experience of a particular hip-hop element. During the workshop,
students were asked to write a rap verse, which was used as artifact data (See Appendix G) to
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 76
cross-reference participant responses with the I-COPPE scale and interviews conducted in
subsequent phase of the study approximately one week after the workshop. Once the workshop
was completed, each student was presented with a raffled prize and reminded about the interviews.
Participant Descriptions
Phase 3: Interviews
Approximately one week after the workshop, students were called in to record their I-
COPPE scale responses and complete their interviews. All students were available to participate
for the interview. The conversations were recorded and transcribed to present the findings in a
descriptive and narrative form rather than as a scientific report (Creswell, 2014). The I-COPPE
scale responses were also used to gauge students' perceptions of their wellbeing. Upon completion
of the interviews, each student was given a $10 gift card for their participation in the study.
Through narrative inquiry, a holistic analysis of each student enabled the researcher to portray the
experiences of each student. Student profiles were created to support the qualitative research to
acknowledge the factors of meaning-making. The seven research participants comprised of three
female students and four male students. Table 1 provides a brief overview of the students'
background specific to gender, race, and grade level. A description of the students' background
will be used to connect the I-COPPE Scale responses, workshop artifacts, and student interviews.
Table 1
Overview of Research Participant Demographic Information
Name Gender Race Grade Level
Alexander Male Hispanic or Latino Freshman
Bambino Male Hispanic or Latino Freshman
Beast Male Hispanic or Latino Junior
Brandy Female African American Senior
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 77
Charles Male Hispanic or Latino Sophomore
Evan Shem Female Hispanic or Latino Senior
Natalia Female African American Senior
Note. Names are pseudonyms
Student Profiles
Alexander. Alexander is a freshman who identifies as a Hispanic or Latino male. He lives
in a two-parent household with his father and stepmother, who are both immigrants. His father
works as an in-home health care provider, and his stepmother works as a housekeeper. Alexander
has older siblings who do not live with him, but he is in frequent contact with them. Alexander is
currently in a relationship and states that his relationship satisfies him. He enjoys being a part of
the high school football team as well as participates in graffiti art. Alexander was very articulate
in discussing his wellbeing, specific to completing and responding to the I-COPPE Scale
(Prilleltensky et al., 2015).
Alexander perceived his Overall Wellbeing (OV_WB) to be average. Alexander stated, "I
put a six because overall, I'm not in a place where I want to be." When asked to expand on his
answer, he explained that he felt that he "can do things better" and that he was not working to his
highest ability. He clarified that he wasn’t just referencing his overall wellbeing to him as as
student, but regarding his life as a whole. He stated that his interpersonal relationships, specific to
his family, was the primary influence that negatively impacted his Overall Wellbeing. He
mentioned his siblings, "And then some things with relationships…and my family members that I
don't live with, like my brothers and sisters. And it was really getting to me." Alexander also
mentioned the relational discourse, specific to his step-mom. He stated, "Everything she would tell
me, if I was doing good in anything, it would just bring me down." When asked about his
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 78
perceptions about the future of his overall wellbeing, he was optimistic and foresees improvement
in to his overall wellbeing due to his interpersonal relationships and success as a student as there
has been some improvements to the relationships that were negatively affecting his wellbeing.
Alexander's Overall Wellbeing provided insight to his Interpersonal Wellbeing (IN_WB)
and the vital role relationships play in his wellbeing. He mentioned that there were some negative
experiences with friendships in the past, but has found a new group of peers that he takes a liking
to. Alexander explained, "With my friends I recently lost, not lost like died, but lost friends that
were a lot to me, that really helped me through some tough times, and they really did me dirty."
He is optimistic with the peer group he is currently around. He explained that his friends have
actually taken an interest in him as well as encourage him in a positive way as he explains, "My
friends right now, they look like they're here to stay, unlike the other people."
When discussing Community Wellbeing (CO_WB), Alexander stated that he not pleased
with the community and describes it as "scary" and has "a lot of violence and stuff." He is looking
forward to moving to a neighboring city. Alexander mentions that he is not satisfied as a student,
Occupational/Student Wellbeing (OC_WB), and makes mention of the challenges to acclimate to
the high school from middle school, "I didn't really believe a lot of people who came and talked to
the middle school and said, "It's going to be hard, it's going to be a transition." He explained that
he did poorly his first semester, especially with dealing with the family issues which ultimately
affected his psychological wellbeing. He states, "So, with a bad mentality coming into school as a
student, it kind of affected the way I was learning and my focus that I had in class."
Alexander is optimistic about the future because he understands what the expectations are
as a high school student. Alexander mentioned that playing high school football played a
significant role in his Physical Wellbeing (PH_WB) and hoped to continue playing high school
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 79
football because of the positive impact it has on his life. When discussing his Psychological
Wellbeing (PS_WB), He stated that he "still doesn’t think that he is in a good place" and still has
challenges with thoughts. Alexander stated that he hopes in a year from now that his negative
perceptions will change and that he will "achieve everything and slowly get to his goal." When
discussing Alexander's current financial situation, Economic Wellbeing (EC_WB), he mentioned
that he was happy because he is receiving a weekly allowance. He hopes that his family will also
be in a better financial position within the next year due to his father applying for his U.S.
citizenship, allowing him more employment opportunities.
After reviewing the I-COPPE scale responses, the researcher was interested in obtaining
student feedback regarding the workshop. When Alexander was about the workshop he stated that
he didn't really know what to expect at the start, but "really suggest this workshop for a lot of
people." He stated that being able to get different perspectives from the other students helped him
to connect with them. He stated that he had "a lot of fun" as well as "enjoyed the learning part."
When asked what stood out the most to him, he mentioned the sessions on Deejaying and
Emceeing. Alexander said that he really didn't know that Deejaying was as difficult until it was
presented to him. He said once "he got used to it, (he could see) how easy it could be, to make
some cool noises and beats. Alexander highlighted how the session on Emceeing provided him
with an understanding of "where music was going right now." Overall, he enjoyed hearing the
presenter's story and felt that he was able to "get a better understanding" of hip-hop culture,
especially how it was used in the past with youth versus how he perceives it being negative used
today. Alexander stated, "Instead, (hip-hop) now is (about) all the drugs and drinking and all that."
Alexander was able to connect the two sessions he enjoyed in a rap verse he wrote in Emceeing
workshop.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 80
"Welcome DJ Haze to the city of the Antelope.
Showing us your skills on your crazy fast wild flow.
Without the 1's and 2's what would we do, breaking would be a phase, breaking wouldn’t
be in place.
Thankful for the DJ being so amaze, having a discontinued table in play."

Bambino. Bambino is a freshman who identifies as a Hispanic or Latino male. He lives
with his father and mother in a two-bedroom apartment along with his siblings. Bambino was
enthusiastic about being a participant in this research study. He has taken up breaking within the
past year and expressed that he wanted to learn more about hip-hop culture. When asked about his
experience as participant in the workshop, he stated that he "didn't know much about the elements
of hip-hop culture" and thought it was strictly about breaking. Bambino went on to say that the
workshop really taught him a lot about hip-hop, but the session on breaking was his favorite as
depicted in his rap verse from the MC session.
'Til I break, pop, drop, then I lock.
Uh, bringing out the Snoop Doggy Dog flow.
Spinning on my head like I'm on top of the globe.
Watch out, Imma drop a power move.
Windmilling 'til the end of the groove."

Bambino's is a very upbeat person who has a positive outlook on his life as shared through
his I-COPPE scale responses (Prilleltensky et al., 2015) as well as through the researcher's
interaction with the student. When Bambino was asked about how he perceived his Overall
Wellbeing (OV_WB), he was able to share that there was an increase over the year from average
to above average. Bambino stated that through reflection, he needed to start focusing on himself.
When asked what that did for him, stated that focusing on himself made him think about the future,
specific to his career and life goals. The reflection triggered him making changes to "better" his
life.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 81
Bambino is very satisfied with his interpersonal relationships, Interpersonal Wellbeing
(IN_WB), and goes on to say, " I'm always going to be there for the people that I love. I'm just not
going to give up on them, because they're the main people for me living." He does not have any
complaints about the community and is excited that his parents are in escrow for a house
(Community Wellbeing, CO_WB). He is challenged as a student and expressed that there was a
decline in his Occupational/Student Wellbeing (OC_WB) within the past year. Some of it having
to do with the transition from middle school to high school. His Psychological Wellbeing (PS_WB)
has a lot to do with his overall outlook on life. His ability to be reflective and make the necessary
changes to improve his overall quality of life is a great characteristic that Bambino possesses.
When asked about his optimism, he stated, "Basically, I just let everything go. Then whatever the
past is, is the past." Bambino had an interesting perspective on his Physical Wellbeing (PH_WB)
and felt that it would decline in the future. When asked why he felt this way, he felt that his physical
wellbeing would decline, "Because everybody gets lazy." He stated that it wasn't his intention to
get lazy, but assumes that this would be his future outcome. When Bambino was asked about his
Economic Wellbeing (EC_WB), he stated, "(he) wasn't concerned" and "feels that everything is
going great."
Beast. Beast is a junior who identifies as a Hispanic or Latino male. He comes from a
single parent household where his mother is the sole provider. I would describe Beast as a very
reserved person. It took him a few sessions during the workshop to fully interact with the other
participants. He mentioned to researcher during the workshop that he didn't want to overpower the
dynamic of the group nor interfere with the other participants' learning. When asked why he felt
that way, he stated that it was because he overheard that the other participants are participating in
a hip-hop element and because of this he felt more like an imposter. He was also under the
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 82
impression that the participants were acquainted with one another before the workshop. Some of
his ambivalence was due to him coming late to the workshop. Once the assumptions proved to be
false, he was fully engaged and was able to provide significant contributions to the sessions. He
went on to state his experience of attending the hip-hop workshop as "an absolute amazing and
fun experience." When Beast was asked to expand more on his workshop experience, he stated, "I
really did gain all this experience and (the workshop) broadened (my knowledge) a little bit more."
Beast mentioned his prior knowledge of hip-hop culture, specific to the MC's. He takes an interest
in 80's and 90's hip-hop music and mentioned that Wu-Tang Clan, N.W.A., and Gang Starr were
some of his favorite groups to listen to. When discussing wellbeing with Beast, he was very
articulate in his responses to both the I-COPPE Scale (Prilleltensky et al., 2015) and interview
questions. He stated that his current status as a high school junior year has impacted his Overall
Wellbeing (OV_WB) due to the difficulty. Beasts states, "Rather than (my) sophomore year, (my
junior year) is way more difficult and there's much more stress on you." I asked him what it was
about being a junior that was so stressful and difficult, he stated that it was because of him having
to manage "school, time, clubs, and all that." He also mentioned that his "procrastination" and
"laziness" also were factors that impacted his Overall Wellbeing.
He has expressed that his current class standing as a junior has given him the opportunity
to be more involved with school and meet new people. He stated that he is really quiet and shy,
but has challenged himself to get out of his comfort zone, ranking his Interpersonal Wellbeing
(IN_WB) at an eight. Beast goes on to describe Community Wellbeing (CO_WB), but also feels
that by him helping out the community could improve how he views community wellbeing. As
mentioned, he is challenged this school year because of his course load. He stated that he was
unprepared for the junior year which is more difficult in comparison to his sophomore year. He
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 83
feels that procrastination has a lot to deal with his Occupational/Student Wellbeing (OC_WB).
When asked about his Physical Wellbeing (PH_WB) he described it to be "somewhere in the
middle range" and mentioned that he struggles with self-image. Beast stated over the year, he has
worked to to accept who he is and learned to like himself. When asked what changes he made, he
responded that he "started doing exercises." He is optimistic about the future and states, "Hopefully
next year, I'll be like a different person."
Beast perceptions about his Psychological Wellbeing (PS_WB), was high. He says that he
"always tries keeping it positive and never been negative." He also mentioned that his inner-
confidence has increased his psychological wellbeing and I quote, "There's always a bright side,
like, you can do it." The past year brought some financial challenges for Beast's family. He
mentioned that his mother lost her job last year which took a toll on his Economic Wellbeing
(EC_WB). Since his mother was able to regain employment the past few months, he has started to
help his mother with work on the weekends and hopes to find employment over the summer to
help his family financially.
Brandy. Brandy is a senior who identifies as an African-American female. She is very
involved at her school both academically and athletically. Her parents are divorced and her mother
is the sole provider for the family of five. She is in contact with her father, but stated that her
mother has been financially responsible for her and her siblings. Brandy has applied to several
four-year colleges and hopes to attend a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in
pursuit of being a doctor. She has a deep understanding of her critical consciousness, and the role
hip-hop has played in shaping her identity. When the researcher asked Brandy about hip-hop
culture, she mentioned that X-Clan was one of her favorite hip-hop groups because, "It relates to
me a lot because I've experienced racial stuff." Brandy is known for speaking out against
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 84
oppression through campus activism and the spreading of knowledge among her peers as well as
teachers. She stated the workshop was very beneficial for her and hopes more workshops like the
one she attended would be available to the community. When asked what she enjoyed the most
about the workshop, the session on Emceeing was her favorite. Brandy said, "I just gravitate back
towards that all the time because I like how you can use the words, but it doesn't sound bad, but
you're ... It's like so, you can make it ... it's ... telling a story." She wrote the following verses about
the workshop experience:
"Never knew how much history I lacked knowledge of
But to have the ability to be enlightened is a blessing
No I'll never be ashamed to address it
DJ Hazze taught me a lesson and I respect it

MC, master of the ceremony
So poetic that his level of intellect
Is a power that kills off what we see on the internet
He makes a lot of sense that is why his mic drop is his exit that remains prominent."
When discussing Brandy's wellbeing, she described to have increased her Overall
Wellbeing (OV_WB) in comparison to the previous year. Brandy described her past year as not
"on track" and continues by stating, " I wasn't really pleased with where I was at." She explained
that her interpersonal relationships were a significant factor in her wellbeing. Brandy stated that
since she "changed her life," she is "doing a lot better" because she has been able to set goals for
herself.
She also described an improvement with Interpersonal Wellbeing (IN_WB). Brandy mentioned
that in the previous year she struggled with her relationships with friends and family. Since then,
she has made efforts to choose meaningful friendships and strengthen the bond between her and
her parents. Brandy foresees her interpersonal wellbeing increasing once she starts college and
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 85
stated, "I know I'm going to make strong relationships/good bonds with people that I meet, you
know, in college. I hope for that to happen."
Brandy voiced her dissatisfaction with the community (Community Wellbeing, CO_WB)
and mentioned that her race and the community violence were significant factors for why she was
displeased with her community. She stated the following regarding her race, "Yeah, just being
African American in general, is just hard. It's a struggle every day. It's always been." She said the
following about the community violence, "So, I'm just not pleased with it at all, especially with all
the shootings and everything that's happening. It's not great. It hasn't been right for many years."
Brandy feels that her perspective on community wellbeing will change once she attends college as
it will provide her with a safer environment and the ability grow as an individual. Overall, she is
satisfied with her Occupational/Student Wellbeing (OC_WB). As mentioned, she is excited to start
college. She said that her parents had high academic expectations for her and her siblings, which
she is grateful for because of the educational opportunities it has given her so far. She is pleased
with her Physical Wellbeing (PH_WB) and attributes this to her involvement with being a multi-
sport athlete. Brandy discussed some of the challenges of playing multiple sports, specific to the
mental challenges she faces. She recalled an instance where she wanted to quit the track and field
season before it started because of the mental obstacles it brought her. After speaking to her parents
and coach, their response to her wanting to quit changed her mind. Brandy said both her parents
and coach told her, "It just depends on what you make of it, and you shouldn't just stop doing
something that you like to do if it's hard, or, you know if it's a struggle for you. It should only make
you want to do it more." She has been able to finish her year by being invited to compete at the
state level and said that she's happy that she didn't quit.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 86
Brandy mentioned that there was improvement in her Psychological Wellbeing (PS_WB),
and had to make some tough decisions of disassociating with some of her "friends" in order to
improve her psychological wellbeing. She described this as "a learning moment" for her. Brandy
describes her Economic Wellbeing (EC_WB) as a challenge. She recalls a time when her family
were in poverty and says, "There was a time we were in poverty. We were homeless. No lights, no
gas, no water, no nothing." She mentioned that there are still financial hardships that her family is
still enduring, specifically with her mother being a single parent, caring for her and her three
siblings. Brandy mentioned that this experience led to her "wanting more for (her)self" and that
she "wants better". She hopes that her education will provide her with the opportunities to have a
better life.
Charles. Charles is a sophomore who identifies as a Hispanic or Latino male. He comes
from a very musical and artistic family. He lives with both parents and siblings. Charles has taken
a particular interest in hip-hop culture, specific to breaking. Charles has indicated that breaking
has served as a creative outlet for him and was very thankful to be selected to participate in this
research study. He has had a lot of exposure to hip-hop culture as he watched his DJ as a small
child. Charles is interested in pursuing a higher education degree in fine arts. Charles was excited
to be a part of this research project and stated that the workshop was the "missing puzzle" for him
starting as a b-boy. He stated that, "knowing the history and the backgrounds of how all the
dancing, Deejaying, Emceeing, and graffing, started", made him want to learn more, now that he
has "the tools" to build on. I asked Charles to share his rap verse from the Emceeing session with
me and was enthusiastic to share what he learned.
Not in my best and I need to wake up
But pretty pumped cuz I'm learning about hip-hop
These rappers are nothing close to perfection but just so infectious
To our minds saying the same rhymes all the time
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 87
Just causing brevity with the wrong type of energy
Making life so divisionary

When discussing wellbeing with Charles, he was able to articulate what has contributed to
his wellbeing specific, to Prilleltensky et al. (2015) I-COPPE Scale. He scored high throughout
the questionnaire. When asked about his Overall Wellbeing (OV_WB) Charles states, "Well, I'm
a very positive person." I asked him to to expand on what helps him to have such a positive outlook
on life and he attributes it to his "mindset". Charles says, "I've always had that mentality in my
head that things could be worse; that I have it better than most kids."
Although he experienced a break-up with his girlfriend earlier in the school year, Charles
indicated that he was delighted with the quality of relationships with influential people in his life
(Interpersonal Wellbeing, IN_WB). He mentioned that his parents and siblings were a great
support and provided him with positive affirmations since he was young. He mentioned that when
he was dealing with the break-up, his brothers and my family "would always give a reason to keep
my head up." He is pleased with his community and has an optimistic perspective on the
community's growth (Community Wellbeing, CO_WB). Charles said, "Well, I grew to love where
I live at." One of the challenges that he mentions was in Occupational/Student Wellbeing
(OC_WB). He talked about the struggles of his freshman year and felt that the challenges were
due to not knowing what to expect from high school. The difficulty with the transition from middle
school to high was also an issue that both Alexander and Bambino shared. According to Charles,
he is trying to take school more seriously and feels his education would play a significant role in
his future.
Charles has also faced some health (Physical Wellbeing, PH_WB) concerns over the year
and was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. He talked about how it took a toll on him and states, "I
felt like I couldn't eat nothing. And so, that made it even worse because I wouldn't eat as much as
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 88
I used to." He mentioned that once he started to play on the soccer team at school, it increased
his awareness for his health. Charles says, "It helped me exercise, I would eat way better because
I knew what it would do for my health. And yeah, I wanna be ripped."
Charles's perception of his Psychological Wellbeing (PS_WB) is high. As mentioned regarding
his overall wellbeing, his family has been a major contributor to fostering psychological wellness.
Charles also mentioned that his spiritual practice has been a huge influence and explains that,
"when I pray it helps me to get closer to (God) and which makes me feel better and look at
situations differently realizing things could be worse." Charles did not have anything negative to
discuss regarding his Economic Wellbeing (EC_WB). He perceived his economic wellbeing to be
high. Charles stated, "I feel like my parents have always done a good job to keep me ... Well, we
have food on the table for us every day and I'm satisfied with it."
Evan Shem. Evan Shem is a senior in high school and identifies as Hispanic or Latino
female. She very involved on her campus and is awaiting admittance to several 4-year colleges.
Evan Shem is one of five siblings who come from a two-parent household. She has faced some
challenges as one of her parents was incarcerated for a mental health issue. Evan Shem has had to
overcome many obstacles such as caring for her younger siblings while her father was at work,
going to the public library to complete her homework because her family could not afford internet
service. Although Evan Shem has faced some hardships, she has not once talked about the
challenges as obstacles to prevent her from achieving success, but as obstacles to help build on her
progress. Evan Shem wants to advocate for underrepresented populations by studying to be a
lawyer who defends for those individuals that are misrepresented by the judicial system. She also
mentioned that she wants to become president of the United States.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 89
Evan Shem mentioned that she enjoyed the hip-hop workshop and felt that it was very
impactful for her specific to observing how it brought individuals from all backgrounds together.
She states, " I also want to see the openness in our community like there was in the workshop with
the other participants…no one's judging others because they're not at the same level that everyone
else is." I asked her to share a verse of her rap from the Emceeing workshop, and she shared,
Our MC doing more than just spitting bars
Hoping we'll go far just shooting for the stars
Wants rap to be more than money, women, and cars
He's passionate, that's why he's helping Chris in this cause

In our discussion about wellbeing, Evan Shem was acutely aware of how she saw her
wellbeing. When discussing her Overall Wellbeing (OV_WB), she mentioned that she had to work
on self-love over the past year and felt very cynical about what she was doing with her life. She
states, " I always looked at everything that I did wrong and all my flaws rather than focusing on
what I did right." She mentioned that once she started to focus on loving herself and accept who
she was, her overall wellbeing became better for her. Evan Shem mentions that she perceives her
overall wellbeing is decreasing over the next year when she goes to college and explains, "I'm
gonna have to try and find new friends, cope to the new community, and it's just gonna be so much.
I feel like somewhere in all that I'm kinda gonna lose who I am a bit, but then again try and find
myself again." She states that attending college outside of her community will provide her another
opportunity to rebuild and focus on "self-love."
Currently, Evan Shem perceives her Interpersonal Wellbeing (IN_WB) high and attributes
this due to her friendships. She states, "With my friends, I think it's a strong 10." When asked to
explain more about her interpersonal relationships, she told that her friends have all experienced
some challenging situations during their high school career. Evan Shem mentioned that before
meeting them that she was isolated and a very reserved person. It wasn't until she met these group
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 90
of females in an advanced placement class that she was able to build a strong bond and friendship.
She mentions that because of her group applying and potentially attending different colleges, the
dispersion of friends would lead to a decline in her interpersonal wellbeing.
Evan Shem mentioned that she is neutral in her perceptions about her Community
Wellbeing (CO_WB). She states that " it has its good and its bad parts." When asked to elaborate
on her statement, she explains, "In this community, there's a lot of people who take things for
granted." She stated that there is a lack of respect for people, especially women in the community.
She shared her experiences of having to walk in the city and that she's even had children as young
as five and six-year-old catcalling. She stated that it is the responsibility of the older generation
who should set an example, which would make the community more pleasant.
With regards to Evan Shem's Occupational/Student Wellbeing (OC_WB), she perceived it
to be high. She explained her enjoyment as a student and her appreciation for the adults who are
available for students. Evan Shem sees her wellbeing as a student declining from the current year
due to her going to college and having to "look out for herself." She mentioned that due to college
being "different stress," it is the primary reason for the decline. Evan Shem described an increase
in her Physical Wellbeing (PH_WB) and stated that the increase was attributed to her accepting
herself for who she was. She explained that social media played a factor in her skewed perception
of self. She states, "It's kind of like I wanted to be like those people on Instagram where they're
life is all perfect and like they're going on a detox or this new diet or whatever, and it's just like I
wasn't that person, and it kind of hurt the way I saw myself, and I didn't really like how my physical
appearance looked." I asked what attributed to the increasing perception of her physical wellbeing
and she explained, "And then this year I kind of found myself like, "You know what, you are who
you are, and you just embrace it." Evan Shem current perceives her Psychological Wellbeing
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 91
(PS_WB) as high and mentions that since she has begun working on herself by focusing on the
positives and not following social media, it has led to her being happy with herself. She mentions
that college will have a major impact due to having to acclimate to a new environment.
Economically, Evan Shem perceived her Economic Wellbeing (EC_WB) to be low. She
attributed to the low scores to the financial hardships her family has faced over the years. She
stated that despite the economic challenges of not being able to afford certain luxuries such as
purchasing new shoes and clothes every new school year, she has learned to be "happy with it."
She mentioned that it was particularly difficult for her the previous year due to her negative outlook
on her life. She states, "I feel like last year I was more resentful towards my financial situation and
would realize that "Oh, I don't have enough money for this," so I kind of just saw everything worse
last year." Evan Shem concluded that she doesn’t feel that her economic situation would affect her
overall wellbeing. She explains her response by saying, "I don't feel like my financial situation
will have much effect on my overall wellbeing because through the years I've always struggled
financially, and I kind of learned to cope with that and kind of better myself not always looking at
materialistic stuff."
Natalia. Natalia is a senior who identifies as an African-American Female. Natalia has
faced some challenges throughout her life. She has been in foster care since her freshman year.
She mentioned that she was placed in the foster care system and placed with her grandmother. She
mentioned that her life was stable until her grandmother passed away which she had to be separated
from her other siblings who were all placed in different foster homes. Natalia mentioned that she
is pleased with her current foster family and has expressed that despite the challenges that she has
faced, it has motivated her to pursue a career as a forensic psychologist. Academically, Natalia is
very involved on her school's campus through various clubs, sports, and campus activities. She
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 92
expressed her love for hip-hop specifically with dance. She stated that she "Krumps" and "Clown
Walks", which are two dance styles similar to popping and locking. When Natalia was asked about
her experience with the hip-hop workshop, she highlighted enjoying how to spin on her head,
learning about the different styles of graffiti, and making her own rap verse. She wrote,
"Cause Ernesto had me stressin
But now I'm writing blessins
Cause I'm writing when I feel deprived
I grab my pad and my pen
Now I feel so revived"
When Natalia was asked about her Overall Wellbeing (OV_WB), she mentioned since her
involvement with the community and with school, it has increased her overall wellbeing. In the
prior year, she mentioned that her overall wellbeing was low and stated, "I wasn't as happy in life
in general." She mentioned that the passing of her grandmother as well as finding out that her
biological mother was terminally ill, impacted her overall wellbeing. Currently, she perceived her
wellbeing to be high and stated that music and dance has been a great influence. Natalia mentioned
that she perceived her Interpersonal Wellbeing (IN_WB) to be neither good or bad. She stated that
she doesn't have close bonds to students on campus as she did in previous years and is not as close
as she would like to be with her siblings. Natalia stated that she is hopeful that her interpersonal
wellbeing would increase the following year as she attends college and will have the opportunity
to strengthen the relationships with her siblings. She described her Community Wellbeing
(CO_WB) to be high and attributed it to the location she is in. Natalia states, " I'm in a real nice
neighborhood. Maybe 'cause I live in a part of town that's more nicer. It's quiet on that side." The
researcher asked if her perception would be different if she lived closer to her school campus and
stated that she "would feel way lower" about her community wellbeing.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 93
Natalia stated that she is very happy with her status as as student and perceived her
Occupational/Student Wellbeing (OC_WB) as high. She stated that since she has taken more
challenging classes, the classes gave her a motivation to want to learn and challenge herself. She
stated that she wants to continue to challenge herself specifically because she "likes to fight."
Physically, Natalia is very satisfied with her Physical Wellbeing (PH_WB). She stated that being
an athlete has given her the opportunity to focus on how she looks and feels. She stated that she
has never had a problem with her physical wellbeing.
Natalia shared her Psychological Wellbeing (PS_WB) as increasing over the year. She
stated that being separated from her siblings was difficult for her. She said, " I'm a foster kid. So,
I'm not even in the same city as my siblings, and I don't get to see them nor talk to them like that.
It's kind of hard. So I kind of grew very emotional from that." Natalia said that being in school has
helped her to increase her psychological wellbeing. She stated, " I've kind of used school as the
outlet for (being separated from my siblings), to not really think about it, that's why I'm involved
in so much stuff." Natalia concluded with the wellbeing scale describing her Economic Wellbeing
(EC_WB) as having increased over the year. She stated that being placed in a stable foster home
has led to the increase over the year. She hopes that it will increase over the next year as she will
be attending college by saying, " I will be stable next year, I know that for a fact, because you
know I got plans."
Phase 4: Research Findings
The promotion of personal, relational, and collective wellbeing provides a multifaceted
understanding of the parts that make up wellbeing as a whole (Prilleltensky, 2005). The research
questions were used to gather information on how students are obtaining wellbeing to a particular
site (personal, relational, or collective) and how hip-hop supports wellbeing in these areas.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 94
Research question one will examine personal wellbeing through the application of hip-hop culture.
Relational wellbeing will be explored in research question two through examples of youth
narratives as relates to one of CRT's tenants of counter-storytelling. Finally, this study will review
hip-hop culture's contribution towards the development of youth critical consciousness in hopes to
catalyze collective wellbeing among resilient urban-youth.
Research Findings pertaining to research question one

RQ1: How can hip-hop culture be used as a decolonial tool to support the wellbeing of resilient
urban-youth?

The first research question focused on gathering information regarding the students'
perceptions about their wellbeing and how hip-hop culture could be used as a tool to support
wellbeing in their lives. The current literature defines wellbeing as satisfaction with life as a whole
and with specific dimensions that include health, economic situation, and relationships
(Prilleltensky, et al., 2015). Students were asked, "In what ways are you concerned about your
personal wellbeing?"
Alexander mentioned that he was concerned with the "emotional stuff" with regards to his
wellbeing. Bambino was the only student who responded to not being concerned with his personal
wellbeing. Beast mentioned that his only concern has to do with his psychological wellbeing and
that he wants to make sure he is not being "lazy" or "useless", but rather stays motivated in
accomplishing his life goals. Brandy mentioned that she is concerned with her economic
wellbeing, especially because she is going to college. Charles mentioned that he is "slightly"
concerned about his physical wellbeing due to his diabetes and stated, " I still have to take care of
myself and watch what I'm eating." Evan Shem stated that she was very concerned with her
emotional wellbeing and said, "I think I'm very concerned when it comes to my emotional
wellbeing the most because if I don't have that emotional stability and happiness I feel like
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 95
everything else I'm gonna' look at is not gonna' look so great." Natalia mentioned that she is
concerned with her overall wellbeing and wants to make sure that she "doesn't back track" but
continues to advance with her life.
The student responses to the question provided information regarding their understanding
of wellbeing, which allowed the researcher to make a connection between hip-hop and wellbeing.
The shared by students answering the question, "How can the elements of hip-hop culture be used
to achieve wellbeing in your life?" The students were able to provide examples of how they are
already using the hip-hop or how they would use the elements of hip-hop to achieve wellbeing in
their lives. Alexander mentioned how he currently uses graffiti to achieve wellbeing and states,
"Well, I love graffiti. I feel like graffiti talks to me, it calms me down. I feel like it's a very
beautiful thing, even though it can be illegal, I still like it. I feel like sometimes that's a way
to take out your emotions, grabbing a spray can, going on the wall. Or even getting a black
book and start doing what you do."
Charles explained that hip-hop has had such as positive influence on his life as it has
brought his family closer together. He also makes mention that he uses music and dance to "lift
him up" and gave the following example,
"Well, there's been a lot of times where I've just been thinking in my mind and I just put
my headphones on, and I go to the bathroom and I lock myself in and I just start dancing.
Yeah. And honestly, that's made me feel way better. Way, way better."

Evan Shem described to have used hip-hop to bring her siblings closer together. She
mentioned that she would have rap battles with her siblings. She described her experience with
using rap and stated,
"I know that with me and my siblings we sometimes had rap battles... It was so much fun
doing those, and I felt really connected with my siblings at that point to have rap battles
because sometimes our rap battles are just trash. But that didn't matter because they've seen
the worst and the best of us. So when we're dropping bars they're there to support us, and
then when we say something dumb they're there to laugh at us, but then later it just really
connects."
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Other students mentioned the lack of community support around hip-hop. Brandy
mentioned that the community promotes hip-hop negatively and that hip-hop "is not being
supported in the way that it should be." Brandy and other students agreed that hip-hop could have
a positive impact on their community, especially with events such as the hip-hop workshop they
attended. Natalia said,
"Nowadays what you seeing, and what is going on in our community, all you see is fighting
at parks. Parks are where you go to play. Let's turn some music on, let's get the breaking
and dancing, I just see it could be way better."

Beast mentioned that hip-hop has promoted his interpersonal wellbeing, specifically with
his relationship to his brother. He stated,
"I say hip-hop brought me and my brothers closer because they introduced me to hip-hop.
When you can relate to certain groups or songs, or artists, they kind of bring you closer and
have a better bond with each other and all that."
When students were asked how hip-hop could be used to promote wellbeing at school,
many mentioned having dance battles as well as using graffiti to paint the school with murals. One
student stated that hip-hop could be used for teachers to build relationships with their students on
campus. Alexander gave the following example,
"I feel like having the music is a good way for students to express themselves. Like,
sometimes on Fridays …I feel like with the teachers and principals, they should all come
together and make a group, maybe for learning how to dance or paint and stuff, maybe that
could take kids out of the streets and stuff."
Discussion
The answers recorded from student interviews provided insight to answering research
question 1. The students either shared how they are already using hip-hop or described how hip-
hop could be used to support their wellbeing. It is important to note that each student defined using
a different artistic element of hip-hop towards achieving wellbeing. The descriptions provided
affirmation for hip-hop's use in supporting wellbeing among resilient urban-youth. For example,
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 97
in Charles's case used above, he mentioned an incident where he used hip-hop culture to increase
his wellbeing. He stated that there was a time when he needed his "spirits lifted," and used music
and dance to enhance his wellbeing. Charles's use of hip-hop is an example of self-determination,
where hip-hop was used to exercise control over his emotions, voice, and choice (Prilleltensky,
2005). Hip-hop culture is a collective, where many persons and experience add to its infrastructure.
Charles's use of hip-hop is an example of an individual strategy to support personal
wellbeing, unfortunately, is considered to be limited according to Prilleltensky (2005). Therefore,
it is essential to incorporate the relational and collective sources of wellbeing, which the hip-hop
culture promotes, ultimately allowing an individual to increase their personal, relational, and
community wellbeing (Prilleltensky, 2005). Students described the use hip-hop culture as an outlet
to promote wellbeing in their lives. Many of the students shared that hip-hop is a tool for
individuals to share their experiences. Beast states,
"It helps me understand better, things about my community and about what other people
are going through in their lives that I can possibly relate to. There's always a message in
the music that you can find an answer in."
The student shared one approach for the use of hip-hop to support wellbeing, but also as an
alternative method to share a narrative, which is the focus of research question two.
Research Findings pertaining to research question two
RQ2: How can resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences?
"N.W.A., they talked about police brutality in one of their songs. You know, F' the police
and all that." – Beast
Hip-hop has often been used to provide a counter-story as a method to tell the stories of
people's experiences who are often not recognized (Chang, 2005; Solorzano & Yosso, 2002). Hip-
hop's counter-stories uses words, symbols, music, and movement to narrate the reality of inner-
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 98
city life and to protest the social injustice inflicted on minoritized youth (Flores-Gonzalez et al.,
2006). In line with CRT's story telling, this study examines the approaches youth narrate their
experiences through hip-hop.
When students were asked ways in which they were currently sharing their experiences
with others, there was a variety of responses. Some students indicated that they use social media
as a platform. Other students described using talking circles within their campus organizations and
with their peers during and outside of school. Another group of students described sharing their
experiences through dance and art. For example, Natalia stated that she uses dance to share her
personal experiences. She said,
"I've used dance as a way to help other people…to tell my story to help people that might
have a story like mine to let them know I've been there, I know how it is."
Hip-hop's use as an alternative method to share a narrative ultimately can aid towards
attaining wellbeing. Many youths take pride in being able to tell their stories and may like hip-hop
because it often discusses "street reality" and gives voice to issues that might otherwise be silenced
(Allen, 2005). Youth were able to provide examples ways in which hip-hop could be used to share
their narrative, the narratives of youth who may share a similar experience as themselves, as well
as regarding some of the issues they encounter. Evan Shem gave an example of how graffiti could
be used to share a narrative. She stated,
"I feel like in graffiti, there's so much beauty in it…you see a lot of color, and I feel like
that's someone's life… Sometimes it's not the brightest color, but it's still an experience that
they shared."
Other students mentioned Emceeing as a useful tool to narrate current issues happening in society.
Beast cited the group N.W.A. and their use of rapping to address police brutality. He also
mentioned the impact that hip-hop could have with raising awareness around societal issues. He
said,
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 99
"(Artists) can make a song about a social issue and it'll get big. What I think is ... hip-hop
can help me gain experience and open my eyes… how to solve a problem, lead me in a
direction."
Not all narratives in hip-hop are positively presented, specifically to the master narrative
that state hip-hop promotes violence and degrades women. When youth were asked to respond to
statement, "hip-hop encourages violence and degrades women," their responses were very similar
as many did not agree with the statement. Bambino replied,
"I would tell them, basically, they shouldn't discriminate on something that they haven't
done before. If they haven't actually seen the true colors of hip-hop, they would just need
to find out. They shouldn't just be discriminating it if they haven't tried it."
Other students mentioned that the statement only highlights the commercial aspect of hip-hop and
not the culture in its entirety. For example, in Evan Shem's response, she stated, "They're only
looking at one specific part of hip-hop… they're ignorant." Charles mentioned that he has always
viewed hip-hop as, "…a brotherhood with respect for one another…I've never really seen that it
promotes violence at all." Although many are unfamiliar with hip-hop culture, workshops such as
the one used for this study can be used to debunk any misconceptions that one may have regarding
hip-hop. Brandy mentioned that her views of hip-hop changed after attending the workshop. She
stated that "after attending the workshop… I learned (hip-hop) is more of storytelling… of what
we could change, of what needs to be done."
Discussion
People of color often buy into and even tell majoritarian stories or master narratives,
ultimately distorting and silencing the experiences of people of color (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002).
Master narratives are dominant accounts that are often generally accepted as universal truths about
particular contexts and groups (e.g., all urban schools are dangerous, hip-hop all promotes violence
and degrades women) (Harper, 2015). Hip-hop culture is victim to the master narrative to
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 100
deemphasize hip-hop's message to the White audience while pushing the dance moves and styles
of dress to market the music (Emdin, 2016). The students provided many examples for efficiently
using hip-hop as a narrative tool. Hip-hop can be used to build on one's relational wellbeing
through the sharing of experiences, narrated with the different elements.
Research Findings pertaining to research question three
RQ3: How can a workshop that introduces the artistic elements of hip-hop culture form a
connection between critical consciousness and wellbeing among resilient urban-youth?

Ginwright and Cammarota (2002) argue that for youth to truly transform their lives, they
need to develop a critical consciousness or understanding of the more substantial forces that
oppress them, their communities, and other oppressed people, to engage in social action to fight
oppression efficiently. It is necessary to examine the role of systems outside of the student and
how it affects one's ability to achieve wellbeing. Through the use of Freier's (1993) praxis of
critical reflection and action, hip-hop can help resilient urban-youth with their collective wellbeing
by enhancing opportunities for control and self-efficacy (Prilleltensky, 2005). Once a young
person realizes his or her efficacy and ability to transform his or her own and others’ experiences
for the better, he or she grows intellectually and acquires the confidence to handle a variety of
challenges (Cammarota, 2011). Cammarota (2011) also mentions, once young people feel they can
contribute to improving the lives of others, they become confident about cultivating positive
changes in their own lives.
According to Marc Lamont Hill (2009), hip-hop is a rich site for identity work among youth
because it responds to their experiences, traditions, imaginations, and desires. Hill (2009) also
provides examples of the use of hip-hop within educational contexts as a way to improve student
motivation, teach critical media literacy, foster critical consciousness, and transmit disciplinary
knowledge. The workshop that students the students participated in was to provide an opportunity
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for students to learn about the foundational elements of hip-hop as a method for developing their
critical consciousness. According to Ginwright and Cammarota (2011), youth must develop self-
awareness, or a critical understanding of who they are and how social forces shape their racial,
class, gender, and sexual identities. At the self-awareness level, young people use hip-hop culture
to express pain, anger, and the frustration of oppression through rap, song, and poetry, or the
spoken work (Ginwright and Cammarota, 2002).
Research has provided evidence to the role hip-hop plays on youth identity, which research
question three wanted to examine specific to the development of critical consciousness concerning
wellbeing. It was hoped that the re-introduction of the elements of hip-hop through a workshop
would elicit conversations on the students' critical consciousness. Therefore, this study needed to
first examine the role hip-hop culture has on shaping the students' identity. Students mentioned
that hip-hop has provided them the opportunity to be a part of a community, allowing them a space
to showcase themselves through the various artistic elements. For example, Alexander explained
how graffiti has given him a space to not feel judged in comparison to when he is surrounded by
individuals who are not a part of the graffiti community. Brandy mentioned how groups such as
X-Clan has really shaped her identity because she is able to relate to their music and states,
"Hip-hop plays a big role in shaping who I am as a person because ... you know, for
example X-Clan, they're all about the social issues in society… It relates to me a lot
because I've experienced racial stuff."
Natalia mentioned that hip-hop makes up most of her identity and has a great impact on her
wellbeing. She explained,
"I think hip-hop shapes me a lot, it kind of makes up, like, 90% of me, literally, because I
feel like without music, writing, and dance, I honestly don't know how I would have
progressed within my wellbeing."
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 102
Next, the researcher wanted to examine if the workshop provided a creative space for
critical conversations to occur hoping that it increased the students' self-awareness. Interview
questions such as, "How has this workshop raised your level of self-awareness?" were asked with
the students. Many of the students provided examples of how the workshop raised their level of
self-awareness, but Brandy's response to the question provides a great example of the positive
impact of hip-hop on developing acritical consciousness. Brandy explains that since the workshop
she has been more mindful as to what she listens to, especially with hip-hop music. She stated that
there is more of a focus on the content of the music rather than just the rhythm. She states, "Well,
I started to be more aware of myself after attending the workshop especially with the songs of
today." Brandy further explains that since the workshop, she questions the content of the music
and the appropriateness of the lyrics. She says,
"So when I hear (music), I question if it's okay for me or even for the children in my
household…today's music, I wouldn't even allow them to listen to it, because I know how
bad it can be. I became really aware to if now, after attending the workshop."
Alexander expressed how he was able to resonate with the workshop facilitators regarding
the positive impact that hip-hop has had on their lives. He also mentions the learning that occurred
for him knowing that hip-hop can provide "life changing opportunities" and he know understands
that, "hip-hop culture is more than what it seems like." Other items asked how the students could
use hip-hop to challenge the systems of oppression. Many of the students discussed the impact of
the music and the responsibility of the MC's. Beast responded with, "Emceeing can influence
people in the right way, they can lead you in a direction where you want to be a part of something."
Evan Shem's response to the question painted a picture of hip-hop being used as a tool to address
the injustices that lower socioeconomic communities face. She states,
" MC's have a platform to talk about the injustices, and it kind of gets more people involved.
I know that people in lower socioeconomic communities are not really involved in
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politics…So hip-hop can make people passionate about wanting change…to step out of
their comfort zone, and if they're not cool with something that the government is doing
they know that other people feel the same way."
The overall consensus seemed to understand the power that the hip-hop culture has in
raising awareness to many of the current events. One example, Alexander mentioned how graffiti
could be used to increase awareness to around community violence as well as with more global
concerns such as the recent Douglas High School shooting. There were many different responses
similar to Alexander's regarding the power hip-hop could have with creating change. The students'
level of understanding gave great insight into how students were addressing global concerns and
making connections to other people's struggles against oppression. Natalia shared that hip-hop has
made her question everything specifically with mainstream culture. Natalia stated that by
"questioning everything" it has connected her to other people's struggles, especially during dance
practices. Clown walking and Crumping has given her a space to unite with others who are faced
with similar challenges. She states,
"You can't be stereotypical of others… It's kind of like you want to take two struggles
and turn it into a power…you're all trying to progress, you're moving and you're doing
something, to really unite to help change a lot of the bad."

Discussion
The interview data provided great insight into the use of hip-hop as a tool to develop
resilient urban-youths' critical consciousness. The student responses were common, and they
similarly described hip-hop's use for building empathy with others especially with the shared
experiences of oppression. Students also discussed the obvious influence hip-hop has on society
and expressed the need for hip-hop culture to be more vocal about the risk factors impacting
resilient urban-youths' wellbeing. While all students appreciated the workshop and hip-hop, some
students were already using hip-hop to engage in critical conversations and to increase their
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 104
wellbeing. The hope is for students to use hip-hop as a way to develop their critical consciousness
that will collectively engage them to challenge and transform not only their lives, but the
communities around them (Flores-Gonzalez et al., 2006).
Summary

Chapter four provided the qualitative analysis gathered from student interviews after
attending a one-day educational workshop on hip-hop. The workshop was divided into four
sessions where a guest speaker was asked to present on their area of expertise. At the end of each
session, students were given the opportunity to engage in critical discussions with the other
students and speaker then were provided time to participate in a hands-on learning experience of
each artistic element of hip-hop. During the session on Emceeing, students were tasked to write a
rap verse, which would later be used as a research artifact for data analysis. The workshop's
purpose was to serve as a vehicle for students to address the systemic inequities that impact their
wellbeing. Also, the workshop sought to give students a transformational experience by providing
them with a counter-narrative to the dominant perspectives of hip-hop. Also, Prilleltensky's (2015)
I-COPPE Scale was administered to the students before the interviews as a way gather students'
perceptions about their wellbeing. The workshop artifacts and I-COPPE scale responses were then
cross-referenced with the interview responses to help answer the research questions. The interview
questions were open-ended, allowing students to respond freely. The findings support the claims
of hip-hop's use as a decolonial tool for developing resilient urban-youths' critical consciousness,
ultimately supporting their wellbeing. The qualitative data suggests the following findings for the
three research questions.
Research question one asks, how can hip-hop culture be used as a decolonial tool to
support the wellbeing of resilient urban-youth? The interview responses provided evidence for the
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 105
use of hip-hop to increase their wellbeing. The areas of focus included examining hip-hop culture's
connection to the different dimensions of Prilleltensky's (2015). I-COPPE scale on wellbeing.
Students were able to share examples of ways in which they were already using hip-hop to promote
their wellbeing either through music, dance, graffiti, or poetically. Common themes included
students' use of hip-hop as a positive approach to wellbeing during negative moments in their lives.
Research question two asks, how can resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate
their own experiences? Through the interviews, students shared various ways to utilize hip-hop as
a narrative tool. The study showed how students would use hip-hop as a form of communicating
with other people that may be experiencing similar challenges as themselves. The students also
provided examples of how each element could be utilized to give a narrative about the current
social issues impacting their wellbeing. Current scholarship has focused the use of hip-hop as an
alternative cultural intervention for the classroom. Unfortunately, research is limited to the
therapeutic benefits that hip-hop has especially with youth sharing their narratives.
Research question three asks, how can a workshop that introduces the foundational
elements of hip-hop culture support the development of a critical consciousness amongst resilient
urban-youth? The study uncovered evidence that the workshop increased students' level of self-
awareness. Many students shared their lack of knowledge regarding hip-hop's foundation before
attending the workshop. During the interview, students stated that the workshop increased their
overall understanding of the function and contributions of each element that make up the hip-hop
culture contrary to mainstream's definition that only refers to the Emceeing element.
The interview responses suggest that hip-hop has provided a platform for students to make
connections to other people's struggles. Students also shared various ways in which they are
currently using hip-hop to increase their self-awareness but also expressed the need for artists to
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 106
use their influence to speaking out against issues that are negatively impacting their communities.
The intended outcome would be for youth to develop an awareness about the social problems of
capitalism, colonialism, and racism, that would collectively lead towards a more equitable world.
All the students shared various ways that hip-hop could be used to develop their critical
consciousness and support their wellbeing. As further research concludes the positive impact hip-
hop culture has with resilient urban-youth, this study hopes to challenge further inquiry around
wellbeing.
Chapter 5 will entail an overview of the study by providing a summary of the literature
review, the methodology, and the findings. The chapter will conclude with the recommendations
for practice.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 107
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
Introduction
Since its birth, hip-hop has revolutionized youth culture in the U.S. and has spread to be an
international phenomenon (Chang, 2005; Hill, 2009, Ogbar, 2007; Rose, 2008). Although hip-hop
has spread globally, many critics continue to argue that hip-hop culture negatively impacts society
by encouraging violent behavior (Rose, 2008). Further investigation will give evidence to the
record labels being the ones responsible for deemphasizing hip-hop's message through their
"packaging" that is intended for mainstream culture (Emdin, 2016). Thankfully, recent scholarship
on hip-hop state the opposite to the false claims regarding hip-hop, by providing evidence on how
the elements of hip-hop culture – rap music, turntableism, breaking, graffiti, fashion, and language
– can be used in classrooms to improve student motivation, teach critical media literacy, foster
critical consciousness, and transmit disciplinary knowledge (Hill, 2009).
Unfortunately, there is very little research that examines the use of hip-hop as an alternative
approach to support wellbeing among resilient urban-youth (Allen, 2005; Emdin 2016; Flores-
González, et al., 2006; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Hill, 2009; Tyson, 2002). Much of today's
scholarship focuses on implementing hip-hop curriculum in the classroom, but research is lacking
that supports hip-hop in the area of mental health. Current studies on mental health mention the
necessity for practitioners to implement culturally sensitive treatments and interventions when
working with resilient youth populations as a way to establish rapport and increase youth
engagement (Goicoechea, Wagner, Yahalom, & Medina, 2014). Therefore, the hip-hop culture
should be considered as an alternative tool for working with resilient urban-youth, specifically to
support their wellbeing.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 108
This chapter provides a summary of the study, which will include a brief overview of the
issues identified in Chapter 1. The chapter will also include the background of the study, the
purpose and problem of the study restated, and a review of the literature and methodology used.
In addition, a summary of the significant findings, implications, and recommendations for practice
will be detailed to conclude the paper.
Summary
Background of the study
Hip-hop culture receives a lot of negative criticism from conservative critics as they argue
that hip-hop is responsible for society's moral decline through the promotion of sexual amorality
and criminality (Rose, 2008). The stories of life in the ghettos depicted by rappers, unfortunately,
then become the dominant narratives for defining poor, urban youth and ultimately leaving room
for misinterpretation of systemic inequities. The excessive blame from these massive social and
political structures only masks the truth of the ghetto as a systemic matrix of racial, spatial, and
class discrimination that has defined urban city life since the first half of the twentieth century
(Rose, 2008).
Many would respond to the negative critiques of hip-hop by arguing that hip-hop creates
awareness to the social problems of capitalism, colonialism, racism, and patriarchy that lead youth
into taking social action (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002). Hip-hop can be used critically to
educate resilient urban youth who have been linguistically marginalized and profiled about how
language is used and, of importance, how language can be used against them (Alim, 2007). Flores-
Gonzalez et al. (2006) state that hip-hop is “the cultural and political voice of an entire generation
of youth" that emerged as an outlet for the frustration engendered by the social and economic
marginalization of inner-city youth. Hip-hop can be used to engage youth as a culturally sensitive
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 109
alternative approach for wellbeing (Tyson, 2002). Many forces impact urban youth's wellbeing
with community violence being one of them (McDonald & Richmond, 2008). The four artistic
elements of hip-hop—breaking, graffiti, Emceeing, and Deejaying— can provide young people
with an outlet to share their narratives of marginalization and help to develop strategies for
resistance (Flores-Gonzalez et al., 2006).
Problem of the Study
As a CRT approach to working with urban youth, hip-hop can encourage youth to use
words, symbols, music, and movement to narrate the reality of inner-city life and to protest the
social injustice inflicted on them (Flores-Gonzalez et al., 2006). Hip-hop presents many
opportunities for those in the helping professions by providing a creative and culturally relevant
alternative for treatment among resilient urban-youth (Allen, 2005; Tyson, 2002). Hip-hop can
artistically foster the critical consciousness of youth deemed high risk by raising awareness of their
self, community, and global issues, ultimately leading to their wellbeing (Allen, 2005; Chang,
2005; Flores-Gonzalez et al., 2006; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Rose, 2008; Tyson, 2002;
Winslade & Monk, 2007).
Hip-hop culture has been embraced as a strategy for enhancing health and wellbeing within
a variety of U.S.-based and international practice from prevention to intervention, along with the
spectrum of generalist practice (Allen, 2005; Travis & Deepak, 2011; Tyson, 2002). These
strategies have shown promise in therapeutic modalities to improve individual, group, and family
mental and behavioral health and as a mobilizing tool for broader social change and community
wellbeing (Allen, 2005; Flores-González et al., 2006; Travis & Deepak, 2011; Tyson, 2002).
Purpose of the Study
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The purpose of the study was to gather information on high school students' experiences
and perceptions after attending a one-day workshop introducing them to hip-hop culture. The
workshop was used to serve as space for critical discussions around hip-hop to occur. Studies
indicate that hip-hop can engage youth discussions on critical consciousness, which plays a vital
role in wellbeing (Flores-Gonzalez et al., 2006; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002). The collected
narratives gathered from the student interviews provides critical insights to youth experiences and
perceptions on hip-hop culture concerning their wellbeing. This study hopes to add to the lack of
scholarship giving evidence of the use of a decolonial praxis of hip-hop culture to improve the
wellbeing of resilient urban-youth.
Research Questions
It is vital that researchers begin to connect the relationship between critical pedagogy and
wellbeing among youth deemed resilient youth. It is the responsibility of practitioners to adjust
their approaches to more culturally relevant strategies relatable to youth culture (Flores-González
et al., 2006; Prier & Beachum, 2008). Hip-hop culture is a competent tool that should be further
examined, as previous studies have affirmed positive outcomes to wellness when working with
resilient urban-youth populations (Allen, 2005; Dyson, 2007; Flores-González et al., 2006; Prier
& Beachum, 2008; Tyson, 2002). The following research questions guided this study:
4. How can hip-hop culture be used as a decolonial tool to support the wellbeing of resilient
urban-youth?
5. How can resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences?
6. How can a workshop that introduces the artistic elements of hip-hop culture form a
connection between critical consciousness and wellbeing among resilient urban-youth?
Review of Literature
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Since the birth of hip-hop, it served as a means for youth to address issues of identity,
racism, poverty, and the many inequities that pertain to youth living in urban communities. The
elements of hip-hop comprise of the four artistic aspects of (1) Deejaying and turntablism, (2) the
delivery and lyricism of rapping and emceeing, (3) breaking and other forms of hip-hop dance, (4)
graffiti art and writing (Chang, 2005; Morgan & Bennett, 2011). The emergence of hip-hop's
culture, language, attitude, and artistic expression was a response to post-industrial, urban
America, where the meanings and messages of the art form were rooted out of poverty, joblessness,
and social dislocation and isolation of disenfranchised minoritized urban neighborhoods (Rose,
1994). Hip-hop exists more than just a musical genre (Petchauer, 2009). The creative practices of
hip-hop demonstrates its processes of identity formation by which youth and young adults
conceive of themselves, others, and the world around them (Chang, 2006; Ginwright, 2004;
Morgan & Bennett, 2011; Petchauer, 2009; Rose, 1994). The ability to use hip-hop as a voice and
outlet proves it use for resilient urban-youth to not only construct meaning, but as a vehicle in
promoting wellbeing.
Hip-hop can be used to engage youth in the process of consciousness-raising, that is, the
process of becoming aware of one's own position in the world and what to do about it (Alim, 2007).
Hip-hop presents many opportunities for providing a creative and culturally relevant alternative
for working with resilient urban-youth (Allen, 2005; Tyson, 2002). Hip-hop can artistically
develop the critical consciousness of youth deemed high risk by raising self-awareness,
community-awareness, and global-awareness, ultimately supporting wellbeing (Allen, 2005;
Chang, 2005; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Rose, 2008; Tyson, 2002; Winslade & Monk, 2007).
By simultaneously examining the use of hip-hop culture as a tool for developing resilient urban-
youths' critical consciousness and wellbeing, it can provide an understanding of how oppressive
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 112
social forces impact them. This examination is a worthwhile exploration of the pervasiveness of
systemic inequities that impede productive progress. The process for resilient urban-youth to
developing critical conscious begins with raising self-awareness through an understanding of the
influence social forces have in shaping identities (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Flores-
González, et al., 2006). Researchers have expanded upon youth identity development to form a
connection between critical consciousness and social action and its impact on the wellbeing of
resilient urban-youth (Flores-González et al., 2006; Friere, 2000; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002).
The review of literature sought to capture relevant knowledge that supports hip-hop culture
as a decolonial praxis for the development of resilient urban-youths' critical consciousness and
wellbeing. Several frameworks were used to provide the philosophical foundations for this study.
The goal was to expand on the existing literature on the development of resilient urban-youths'
critical consciousness concerning wellbeing where hip-hop would serve as a platform the address
the inequities of race, access, and opportunity among youth deemed resilient youth. As presented
in Chapter Two, the literature review provides evidence supporting the use of hip-hop in
constructing resilient urban-youth critical consciousness, ultimately aiding in their wellbeing
(Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002).
Methodology
From the diverse selection of qualitative approaches that could have been used for this
study, a phenomenological, ethnographic, and narrative approach from a critical philosophical lens
was selected to obtain the necessary data to answer the research questions. These qualitative
approaches helped the researcher explore the experiences of resilient urban-youth exposed to a
one-day hip-hop workshop. These approaches were appropriate to contribute to the existing body
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 113
of research on hip-hop and resilient urban-youth. The study consisted of four phases, student
selection, the workshop, student interviews, and interpretation of the research findings.
In Phase One, student selection was determined using an online survey distributed to the
students sent to their student email. The survey consisted of fifteen items, and selection was based
on the following five criteria: 1) youth who identified as students of the high school; 2) were under
the age of 18 at the time of the study; 3) availability to attend a one-day workshop on hip-hop
culture; 4) having experienced one or more risk factors (witnessing a violent crime in my
community; living in poverty; negative peer influences; witnessed abuse at home; poor academic
achievement); and 5) having the interest in learning more about hip-hop culture. Seven students
were finally selected to participate in the study.
In Phase Two, the seven youth selected were asked to attend a workshop on hip-hop culture
as a way to catalyze critical discussions, eliciting a youth narrative on critical consciousness and
wellbeing. The workshop was facilitated by four veteran artists who had expert knowledge of their
art form. Workshop facilitators provided the students with an overview of their area of expertise
and concluded each session with a hands-on learning experience. Workshop artifacts were
collected to interpret the research findings.
Phase Three consisted of using the interview protocol created by the researcher which
included 11 questions that followed a semi-structured interview. Before the interviews, students
were asked to complete Prilleltensky's (2015) I-COPPE Scale, as a way to gather information on
how the students perceived their wellbeing. The I-COPPE Scale responses were discussed with
the students to serve as a primer to introduce wellbeing and to make connections to hip-hop culture.
The interviews ranged from 30 – 45 minutes and each interview was recorded and transcribed. In
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 114
the fourth phase, workshop artifacts and I-COPPE Scale responses were cross-referenced with the
participant responses which provided the findings of this study.
Findings
The qualitative data analysis suggests the following findings related to the three research
questions as presented in Chapter Four of this dissertation.
Research Question 1
How can hip-hop culture be used as a decolonial tool to support the wellbeing of resilient urban-
youth?
The analysis of data collected from student interviews indicates that students were already
using hip-hop as a decolonial tool to support their wellbeing. Students shared examples of dancing
and listening to hip-hop as a method for "lifting up their spirits" as well as increasing their self-
awareness. All the students agreed that hip-hop is a successful strategy for attaining wellbeing in
their lives. Also, students felt that hip-hop should further be promoted to support the wellbeing of
youth in their school and community.
Research Question 2
How can resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences?
The analysis of data collected from the interviews indicated that there are various ways in
which resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences. Students shared both
personal experiences of they how they and hip-hop artists use the different artistic elements of hip-
hop. The use of hip-hop to create a narrative is aligned CRT's approach to counter-storytelling as
many of the students provided examples of how both artists and themselves were using hip-hop to
address social issues as well as for meaning-making. The interview data support the use of hip-
hop as means for resilient urban-youth to narrate their experiences.
Research Question 3
How can a workshop that introduces the artistic elements of hip-hop culture form a connection
between critical consciousness and wellbeing among resilient urban-youth?
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 115
The analysis of data collected from the interviews shows that after attending a workshop
on hip-hop culture, students were all in agreement that the workshop increased their overall
understanding of the function and contributions of each element that make up the hip-hop culture.
Students were able to share how the would use hip-hop to engage in critical conversations to
address systemic inequities in their lives. They shared personal experiences as well as gave
examples of how they and other hip-hop artists used the different artistic elements of hip-hop to
bring awareness to social issues. The student responses were typical, and they similarly described
hip-hop's use for building empathy with others especially with the shared experiences of
oppression. The data was clear in showing hip-hop's connection to critical consciousness and
wellbeing among resilient urban-youths.
Limitations
As mentioned in Chapter One, there is very limited research that provides evidence of the
use of hip-hop to promote wellbeing among resilient urban-youth, which made it difficult to
compare the findings of this study to other research. Additionally, having an all day workshop on
hip-hop seemed to result in cognitive overload with students. At certain points during the
workshop, students seemed to be disengaged as they expressed some dissatisfaction with the
overall length and mentioned the overwhelming amount of information on hip-hop culture. During
the interview, students had difficulty with answering some of the questions and needed
clarification.
Implications for Practice
The findings of this study responded to the research questions and achieved the goal of
examining the use of hip-hop as a decolonial tool for developing youth critical consciousness and
wellbeing. Three questions were answered: (1) how hip-hop culture can be used as a decolonial
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 116
tool to support the wellbeing of resilient urban-youth, (2) how resilient urban-youth can use hip-
hop culture to narrate their experiences, and (3) how a workshop that introduces the artistic
elements of hip-hop culture can form a connection between critical consciousness and wellbeing
among resilient urban-youth. The current study adds to the body of literature that provides
evidence of hip-hop as a culturally relevant strategy for working with resilient urban-youth. The
goal of this study is to provide scholarly proof of what hip-hop has already been doing over the
decades for urban communities with regards to developing critical consciousness and wellbeing.
There is a growing body of research on hip-hop pedagogy that specifically utilizes the
linguistic element of hip-hop both in the educational and therapeutic settings. These approaches
have served to build rapport among resilient urban youth as well as engage them with their
learning. With only one element being explored, hip-hop educators need to expand on the body of
scholarly hip-hop research that encompasses the use of the other elements. As mentioned, hip-hop
is not comprised of the art of rapping, but encompasses all the elements that make up its overall
composition.
Recommendations for practice
The following recommendations for future research are based on the overall findings of the
study. As mentioned throughout this study, practitioners need to consider the value of hip-hop
culture as a useful tool for working with resilient urban-youth, specific to the development of their
critical consciousness and wellbeing. Students mentioned the impact hip-hop has had on their lives,
whether it was to cope with some of life's challenges or strengthen relationships within their
community, hip-hop was utilized a method to achieve wellbeing.
Current hip-hop practitioners need to take ownership of teaching and in sharing the culture
to the next generation. All students agreed that hip-hop serves as a voice for their age and the
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 117
power it has in bringing awareness to the current issues of inequity, poverty, and racism through
the different art forms. Many mentioned their dissatisfaction with the way hip-hop is going as well
as feel that they are in need of mentors to provide them with the guidance to keep the voice of hip-
hop alive.
Finally, communities need to stop feeding into the misconceptions of hip-hop by providing
spaces within the community for young people to engage and participate in the various art forms
of hip-hop. Students had expressed that they would have liked to participate in more than just a
one-day workshop on hip-hop. If community centers helped to teach students any of the four
elements, it would have the potential to engage our youth in the development of their critical
consciousness, ultimately leading them into wanting to make a difference in their own lives and
community. It would be worth examining implementing a hip-hop based curriculum specific to
learning a certain element of hip-hop.
Recommendations for future research
This study examined resilient youths' perceptions about hip-hop culture and its connection
to wellbeing. Replicating this study with veteran hip-hop artists would be interesting. Findings
from the study provided evidence of the use of hip-hop with students who possessed limited prior
knowledge to hip-hop culture. By replicating the study with veteran hip-hop artists', it could
provide a complete look at the role hip-hop has on wellbeing due to the artists having spent more
time participating in a particular artistic element.
Next, it would be worth further exploring the impact of hip-hop and wellbeing through a
comparison of urban youth and non-urban youth. Future studies can employ other qualitative
approaches such as a focus group, which could provide a broader range of data. Although this
study provided some positive outcomes for the students who participated in this research, the data
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 118
is insufficient to showing proof that there is a connection to hip-hop culture and resilient urban-
youths' wellbeing. Future studies may consider using an experimental design that would utilize a
modified I-COPPE Scale, assessing wellbeing before the workshop and after attending a series of
seminars over a more extended period, versus just a one-day workshop. Potentially breaking up
the workshop sessions that would allow students more time to engage and experience a particular
element, could minimize cognitive overload.
Finally, there would need to be modifications to several of the interview questions. Many
of the questions were not high school student friendly due to the semantics used. Students
expressed that they had a difficult time answering some of the questions because of the way it was
phrased. For example, one question asked, "what are some ways (students) can use hip-hop to
challenge the injustices that we are faced with today?" Multiple students mentioned that they
needed clarity. These questions may intimidate a younger audience as well as the researcher
missing out on critical findings that could benefit the overall study.
Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to provide supporting evidence of the decolonial praxis of
hip-hop as an alternative tool for attaining mental wellness among youth deemed resilient youth
by answering the three research questions:
1. How can hip-hop culture be used as a decolonial tool to support the wellbeing of
resilient urban-youth?
2. How can resilient urban-youth use hip-hop culture to narrate their experiences?
3. How can a workshop that introduces the artistic elements of hip-hop culture form a
connection between critical consciousness and wellbeing among resilient urban-
youth?
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 119
In summary, this qualitative study examined the perceptions and experiences of students
who attended a one-day workshop on hip-hop. This study serves to inform those working with
resilient urban youth to consider the use of hip-hop culture as an alternative to support wellbeing.
Students in urban communities face many risk factors that impact their wellbeing and hip-hop has
served as a voice for many to address these concerns. As practitioners who serve as cultural agents
for youth, we have an obligation to implement culturally relevant practices that not only help youth
with developing their critical consciousness, but provide opportunities for them to attain wellbeing.
The findings suggested that youth who had an interest in hip-hop culture were utilizing the
different elements of hip-hop to achieve wellbeing.
Not all youth who come from urban communities identify with hip-hop culture. Therefore,
practitioners need to be mindful that this approach is not a one size fits all. For those practitioners
with limited knowledge of hip-hop culture, understanding hip-hop's foundation beyond the
linguistic element can provide a holistic understanding of its influence on society (Emdin 2016;
Flores-González, et al., 2006; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2002; Hill, 2009). Practitioners need to
move beyond the mainstream version of hip-hop as it gives a false representation of the culture.
Therefore, hip-hop advocates and educators must take action towards hip-hop's liberation by
restoring its foundational principals and gives space for its narratives with youth identified as
resilient youth. Hip-hop presents many opportunities for those in the helping professions by
providing a creative and culturally relevant alternative for treatment among resilient urban-youth
(Allen, 2005; Tyson, 2002). This study helps explain how hip-hop has been a positive solution for
urban youth, which has long promoted mental wellness that is culturally relevant.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 120
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APPENDIX A
I COPPE SCALE (Prilleltensky et al., 2015)
Overall Wellbeing (OV_WB): positive state of affairs, as perceived by individual respondents.
When it comes to the best possible life for you, on which number
(Higher numbers reflect a higher level of wellbeing for this category)
do you stand now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
did you stand a year ago? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do you think you will stand a year from now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Interpersonal Wellbeing (IN_WB): satisfaction with the quality of relationships with important
people such as family, friends, and colleagues.
When it comes to relationships with important people in your life, on which number
(Higher numbers reflect a higher level of wellbeing for this category)
do you stand now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
did you stand a year ago? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do you think you will stand a year from now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Community Wellbeing (CO_WB): satisfaction with one’s community.
When it comes to the community where you live, on which number
(Higher numbers reflect a higher level of wellbeing for this category)
do you stand now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
did you stand a year ago? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do you think you will stand a year from now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Occupational/Student Wellbeing (OC_WB): satisfaction with being a student
When it comes to your status as a student, on which number
(Higher numbers reflect a higher level of wellbeing for this category)
do you stand now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
did you stand a year ago? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do you think you will stand a year from now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Physical Wellbeing (PH_WB): state of satisfaction with one’s overall health and wellness.
When it comes to your physical health, on which number
(Higher numbers reflect a higher level of wellbeing for this category)
do you stand now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 127
did you stand a year ago? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do you think you will stand a year from now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Psychological Wellbeing (PS_WB): satisfaction with one’s emotional life.
When it comes to your emotional and psychological wellbeing, on which number
(Higher numbers reflect a higher level of wellbeing for this category)
do you stand now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
did you stand a year ago? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do you think you will stand a year from now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Economic Wellbeing (EC_WB): satisfaction with one’s financial situation.
When it comes to your economic situation, on which number
(Higher numbers reflect a higher level of wellbeing for this category)
do you stand now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
did you stand a year ago? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do you think you will stand a year from now? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 128
APPENDIX B
PERMISSION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH STUDY
Dear Dr. ____________,
I am writing to request permission to conduct a research study at Antelope Valley High School. I
am currently enrolled in the Doctorate of Educational Leadership program at the University of
Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, and am in the process of writing dissertation. The
study is entitled: A Decolonial Praxis of Hip-Hop: Hip-Hop Culture's Connection to Resilient
Youth's Critical Consciousness and Wellbeing.

I hope that the school administration will allow me to recruit 6-10 students of various race,
gender, sexual orientation, and grade level, to participate in a one-day workshop on your campus.
Student selection will be conducted through an anonymous 1-page digital questionnaire (copy
enclosed) that will be used to screen potential participants from the school. Interested students,
who volunteer to participate, will be given a consent form to be signed by their parent or
guardian (copy enclosed) and returned to the primary researcher a week before the workshop.
Upon receiving consent, participants will be asked to complete a wellbeing assessment (copy
enclosed) before the participating in the workshop. Upon completion of the workshop, students
will be asked complete the same wellbeing assessment before asked to participate in an
interview regarding their workshop experience.

If approval is granted, student participants will complete the online screening questionnaire on
their free time. Once students are screened, I will like permission to meet with the students after
school to provide them with further information about the study. Also, I am seeking permission
to utilize the school library on Saturday, December 16th, 2017 to host and conduct student
interviews. The interview results will be used for the dissertation and individual results of this
study will remain absolutely confidential. Should this study be published, only pooled results
will be documented. No costs will be incurred by either your school or the individual
participants.

Your approval to conduct this study will be greatly appreciated. I will follow up with you next
week and would be happy to answer any questions or concerns that you may have at that time.
You may contact me at my email address: chaggard@usc.edu or directly at (818) 419-4102.
If you agree, kindly sign below and return the signed form in the enclosed self-addressed
envelope. Alternatively, kindly submit a signed letter of permission on your institution’s
letterhead acknowledging your consent and permission for me to conduct this study at your
institution.

Sincerely,
Christopher Haggard and the University of Southern California

Enclosures:
(1) Screening survey (2) Wellbeing assessment (3) Interview questions
cc: Dr. Alan Green, Research Advisor, USC
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 129
APPENDIX C
HIP-HOP INTEREST QUESTIONNAIRE
This questionnaire will be used for selection to participate in a research study. All information will
be kept confidential and will not be shared with persons outside of this research. Pleas read the
questions below. Questions 1- 6 is to gather background information. For questions, 7-14, tell us
whether you agree or disagree by selecting the option next to your answer.
* Required
1. Student ID number *

2. To which gender identity do you most identify? *
o Male
o Female
o Transgender Male
o Transgender Female
o Gender Variant/Non-Conforming
o Not Listed
o Prefer Not to Answer
3. Grade Level *
o 9th
o 10th
o 11th
o 12
th

4. Are you over the age of 18? *
o Yes
o No
5. How would you describe yourself? *
o American Indian or Alaska Native (A person having origins in any of the original
peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains a
tribal affiliation or community attachment.)
o Asian (A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast
Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan,
Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.)
o Black or African-American (A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups
of Africa – includes Caribbean Islanders and other of African origin.)
o Hispanic or Latino (A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central
o American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.)
o Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (A person having origins in any of the
original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.)
o White (A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle
East, or North Africa.)
6. Do you participate in the free-reduced lunch program? *
o Yes
o No
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 130
7. I have experienced one or more risk factors (witnessing a violent crime in my community;
living in poverty; negative peer influences; witnessed abuse at home; poor academic
achievement)?
o Agree
o Disagree
8. I would be interested in participating in a 1-day workshop on hip-hop. *
o Agree
o Disagree
9. I know the 4 major elements of hip-hop culture. *
o Agree
o Disagree
10. I enjoy hip-hop music. *
o Agree
o Disagree
11. Hip-hop plays a role in shaping my identity. *
o Agree
o Disagree
12. Hip-hop culture can be used as a form of communication. *
o Agree
o Disagree
13. Hip-hop culture can have a positive influence on youth *
o Agree
o Disagree
14. Hip-hop culture has increased my awareness of social problems. *
o Agree
o Disagree
15. I am interested in knowing more about hip-hop culture. *
o Agree
o Disagree

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 131
APPENDIX D
RECRUITMENT TOOL

A Decolonial Praxis of Hip-Hop: Hip-Hop Culture's Connection to Resilient urban-youth's Critical
Consciousness and Wellbeing

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Christopher Haggard at Antelope Valley
High School, 44900 N. Division Street, Lancaster, CA 93535. Please read through this form and ask any
questions you might have before deciding whether or not you want to participate.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This research study aims to understand the affects of hip-hop culture and wellbeing among young people.
We are asking your help because we do not know much about how kids your age are using the different
elements of the hip-hop culture as a way to attain wellbeing. We will use this information to educate parents,
schools, and community agencies that work with youth, to explore creative and innovative ways to achieve
wellbeing that relates to youth culture.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
The study procedures include completing questionnaires, participating in an interview and a workshop. The
workshop will take place at Antelope Valley High School's Library on Saturday, January 20, 2018, from 9
AM - 3 PM.

The workshop will be broken into four sessions that will introduce each of the four artistic elements of hip-
hop culture. The sessions will be presented by artists who have extensive experience and knowledge with
hip-hop culture. Participants in the workshop will be given the opportunity to engage in a hands-on learning
experience after each session. The use of audio recordings and photography will take place during the
workshop. You can choose whether you agree to disagree to be recorded or have your photograph taken.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will receive a $10 gift card to In'n'Out, and be entered into a free raffle for a prize bag worth
about $25. The raffle will be drawn at the end of the workshop and the prize given out. The gift
card will be issued at the end of the interview. You do not have to answer all of the questions in
the interview to receive the gift card.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact Christopher Haggard
at chaggard@usc.edu.

If you would like to participate in this research, and you are under 18, permission from one of your care
givers is required. Please take this package home, discuss the study with your caregiver. If your caregiver
agrees to allow you to participate, please have your caregiver sign the document in the care giver
signature section. When you return the signed document to me, we will go over the document and you
will then be asked to sign it.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 132
APPENDIX E
YOUTH ASSENT-PARENTAL PERMISSION FOR NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Parkway,
WPH 400,
Los Angeles, California 90089-4033

YOUTH ASSENT-PARENTAL PERMISSION FOR NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH
This form will also serve as the “Youth Assent” and “Consent/Permission form for the
Youth to Participate in Research.” In this case, “You” refers to “your child.”

A Decolonial Praxis of Hip-Hop: Hip-Hop Culture's Connection to Resilient Urban-
Youth's Critical Consciousness and Wellbeing

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Christopher Haggard, under the
supervision of Alan Green, PhD., at the University of Southern California. Your participation is
voluntary. You are eligible to participate in this study if you are a student of Antelope Valley
High School, will not have turned 18 at any time during this study, you have been exposed to
issues such as poverty, community violence, and/or problems within your environment, and you
have an interest in hip-hop culture and are willing to attend a one-day workshop which will be
held at Antelope Valley High School's Library during a Saturday.

You should read the information below, and ask questions about anything you do not understand
before deciding whether to participate.

Please take as much time as you need to read the consent form. Your child will also be asked
his/her permission. Your child can decline to participate, even if you agree to allow participation.
You and/or your child may also decide to discuss it with your family or friends. If you and/or your
child decide to participate, you will both be asked to sign this form. You will be given a copy of
this form.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This research study aims to understand the affects of hip-hop culture and wellbeing among young
people. We are conducting this research study because we do not know much about how kids your
age are using the different elements of the hip-hop culture as a way to attain wellbeing. It is hoped
that we will use this information to educate parents, schools, and community agencies that work
with youth, to explore creative and innovative ways to achieve wellbeing that relates to youth
culture.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to participate in a one-day workshop on
hip-hop culture. The workshop will take place at Antelope Valley High School's Library on
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 133
Saturday, January 20, 2018, from 9 AM – 3 PM. This workshop will be broken into four sessions
that will introduce each of the four artistic elements of hip-hop culture. The sessions will be
presented by artists who have extensive experience and knowledge with hip-hop culture.
Participants will be given the opportunity to engage in a hands-on learning experience after each
session. The use of audio recordings and photography will take place during the workshop. You
can choose whether you agree or disagree to be recorded or have your photograph taken at the
signature section of this form.

Upon agreeing to this study, you will be asked to complete a questionnaire called the I COPPE
Scale to assess your wellbeing. (See attached). This questionnaire will be given twice, prior to the
workshop and prior to the interview. This assessment should take approximately 10-15 each time.

Upon completion of the workshop, you will be asked to participate in a one-on-one interview, that
will take approximately 30-45 minutes that will ask questions about your experience participating
in the workshop (See Attached). The interview will be audio-taped for the purpose of the
interviewer to go back and review any items that were missed during the interview. You do not
have to answer any questions you do not want to. Your answers will be recorded and shared for
the purpose of this study, but your identity will remain confidential. You can ask questions about
this study at any time. If you don't want to answer a question, you don't have to. If you want to
stop answering questions, you can leave the study. Absolutely nothing will happen to you if you
decide to leave the study. No one will be upset, and we will not tell anyone. (Please see attached
interview questions)

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will receive a $10 gift card to In'n'Out, and be entered into a free raffle for a prize bag worth
about $25. The raffle will be drawn at the end of the workshop and the prize given out. The gift
card will be issued at the end of the interview. You do not have to answer all of the questions in
the interview to receive the gift card.

POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
There are no anticipated risks or discomforts to your participation in this study. You do not have
to answer any questions you don't want to.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY
You may not directly benefit from your participation in this study. It is hoped that researchers will
use the results of this study to educate parents, schools, and community agencies that work with
youth, to explore creative and innovative ways to achieve wellbeing that relates to youth culture.

CONFIDENTIALITY
We will keep your records for this study confidential as far as permitted by law. However, if we
are required to do so by law, we will disclose confidential information about you. The members
of the research team and the University of Southern California’s Human Subjects Protection
Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors research studies to protect
the rights and welfare of research subjects.

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 134
Parents and teachers will not have access to your responses.

The data will be stored for coding purposes and will be stored in a locked filing cabinet that will
only be accessible by the researcher. Participants will have the right to review/edit the audio-
recordings, photographs and/or transcripts. Parents cannot access their child’s responses. The
researcher will be the only one who will have access to the audio-recordings, photographs, and
collected artwork which will be used for educational purposes. Children's personal identities will
be disguised using pseudonyms. The audio-recordings will be kept indefinitely and stored in a
securely locked cabinet to maintain confidentiality. Photographs will be kept indefinitely and
stored in a securely locked cabinet to maintain confidentiality. Artwork created by the Subjects
will be given back to the participants upon completion of the study. Personal information will only
be needed at the beginning of the study as a way to accurately attach any work created in the
workshop, interview transcripts, to the correct child. Once research data is collected and assigned
to the correct child, the subjects will be given a pseudonym. The researcher will be coding for
major themes from the face-to-face interviews that will be audio recorded. After each meeting,
collected material will be stored in a secure, undisclosed location in order to prevent access by any
person other than the researcher.

At the completion of the study, direct identifiers will be destroyed and the de-identified data may
be used for future research studies. If you do not want your data used in future studies, you should
not participate.

CERTIFICATE OF CONFIDENTIALITY
Any identifiable information obtained in connection with this study will remain confidential,
except if necessary to protect your rights or welfare (for example, if you are injured and need
emergency care). A Certificate of Confidentiality has been requested from the Federal Government
for this study to help protect your privacy. This certificate means that the researchers can resist
the release of information about your participation to people who are not connected with the study,
including courts. The Certificate of Confidentiality will not be used to prevent disclosure to local
authorities of child abuse and neglect, or harm to self or others.

When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no identifiable
information will be used.

PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Your participation is voluntary. Your refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of
benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent at any time and
discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies
because of your participation in this research study. Participation may be terminated by the
investigator without regard to the participant’s consent if they engage in behavior that places
themselves or other participants at risk outside of the study (for example, if you physically threaten
another participant).

ALTERNATIVES TO PARTICIPATION
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 135
You do not have to participate in this study if you don’t want. Your grades, school record, etc.,
will not be affected, whether or not you participate in this study.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact Christopher
Haggard at chaggard@usc.edu.

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant or the
research in general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to someone
independent of the research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review Board
(UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or
upirb@usc.edu.

SIGNATURE OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT

I have read the information provided above. I have been given a chance to ask questions. My
questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I agree to participate in this study. I have
been given a copy of this form.

AUDIO/VIDEO/PHOTOGRAPHS

□ I agree to be audio-recorded

□ I do not want to be audio-recorded

□ I agree to be photographed

□ I do not want to be photographed

Name of Participant

Signature of Participant Date

SIGNATURE OF PARENT(S)/LEGALLY AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE

I have read the information provided above. I have been given a chance to ask questions. My
questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I agree to allow my child participate in this
study. I have been given a copy of this form.
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 136

Name of Parent/Legally Authorized Representative (1)

Signature of Parent/Legally Authorized Representative (1) Date

Name of Parent/Legally Authorized Representative (2)

Signature of Parent/Legally Authorized Representative (2) Date

SIGNATURE OF INVESTIGATOR

I have explained the research to the participant and his/her parent(s)/Legally Authorized
Representative, and answered all of their questions. I believe that the parent(s) understand the
information described in this document and freely consents to participate.

Name of Person Obtaining Consent

Signature of Person Obtaining Consent Date

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 137
APPENDIX F
WORKSHOP AGENDA
Saturday | Date | 9 AM – 3 PM | School Library
Topics:
Time allotted | 30 min | Agenda topic: Introductions | Presenter: Researcher
Discussion Conversation:
• The workshop will begin with personal introductions from the Subjects, researcher, and
the guest presenters through an ice-breaker. This will be used to establish rapport
between the subjects and presenters.
• Workshop rules/guidelines will be created by Subjects to establish group norms
Time allotted | 60 minutes | Agenda topic: Deejaying | Presenter: DJ Hazze
Discussion Conversation:
• Presenter will give the Subjects a historical overview of deejaying from visual examples
that would be displayed on a television screen and from other visual examples. (10
minutes)
• Presenter will share examples from his own experiences on how the art has shaped his
critical consciousness towards wellbeing. Subjects will have the opportunity for a Q&A
with the presenter. (20 minutes)
• Presenter will give a live demonstration as a way to lead into an interactive/hands-on
opportunity for the Subjects to participate. (30 minutes)
Time allotted | 60 minutes | Agenda topic: Emceeing | Presenter MC Nes
Discussion Conversation:
• Presenter will give the Subjects a historical overview of deejaying from visual examples
that would be displayed on a television screen and from other visual examples. (10
minutes)
• Presenter will share examples from his own experiences on how the art has shaped his
critical consciousness towards wellbeing. Subjects will have the opportunity for a Q&A
with the presenter. (20 minutes)
• Presenter will give a live demonstration as a way to lead into an interactive/hands-on
opportunity for the Subjects to participate. (30 minutes)
Time allotted | 90 minutes | Agenda topic: Breaking | Presenters: BGirl Stellz
Discussion Conversation:
• Presenters will give the Subjects a historical overview of breakdancing from visual
examples that would be displayed on a television screen and from other visual examples.
(15 minutes)
• Presenters will share examples from their own experiences on how the art has shaped
their critical consciousness towards wellbeing. Subjects will have the opportunity for a
Q&A with the presenters. (30 minutes)
• Presenter will give a live demonstration as a way to lead into an interactive/hands-on
opportunity for the Subjects to participate. (45 minutes)
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 138
Time allotted | 90 minutes | Agenda topic: Graffiti | Presenter Zender One
Discussion Conversation:
• Presenter will give the Subjects a historical overview of Emceeing/Rapping from visual
examples that would be displayed on a television screen and from other visual examples.
(15 minutes)
• Presenter will share examples from his own experiences on how the art has shaped his
critical consciousness towards wellbeing. Subjects will have the opportunity for a Q&A
with the presenter. (30 minutes)
• Presenter will give a live demonstration as a way to lead into an interactive/hands-on
opportunity for the Subjects to participate. (45 minutes)
Time allotted | 30 minutes | Agenda topic: Closing| Presenter: Researcher
Discussion Conversation:
• Group Share Out – recap what was learned; share their artwork with group and
presenters (15 minutes)
• Raffle Prizes (5 minutes)
• Final Q&A (10 minutes)

Regarding the presenters, excerpts of the following documentaries will be shown to
the participants. The links are below and categorized based on art form.
• Video on Breakdancing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9qGw1iDqko
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmXWmGT1I-M&list=RDYEKRAn-
ZleM&index=16
• Video on Deejaying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEKRAn-ZleM
• Video on Emceeing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8MeX2Qz5vM
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5klCpKCbuM&list=PLYX9lJd_R1efkpHw
C-wZXXLwCiXhkDAU2
• Video on Graffiti: http://documentaryvine.com/video/style-wars/
o http://documentaryvine.com/video/bomb-it/

A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 139
APPENDIX G
WORKSHOP ARTIFACTS
Alexander's Rap:
Welcome DJ Haze to the city of the Antelope.
Showing us your skills on your crazy fast wild flow.
Without the 1's and 2's what would we do, breaking would be a phase, breaking wouldn’t
be in place.
Thankful for the DJ being so amaze, having a discontinued table in play.

Nes Steps on the scene killing everything in between
Aint no joke this cat has mad flow
Speaks some real facts dissing on fake cats
MC Nes with the flame and he with the b-boy gang

Bambino's Rap:
Uh alright check it. Here I go DJ Hazze got me mixing on the table
Got me scritchin and scratchin
I'm gonna help people record a record label

Imma help Nesto record this fire mixtape
We gonna drop it on y'all like we killing this place
Uh yeah, imma keep it going
I aint ever gonna stop

'Til I break, pop, drop, then I lock
Uh, bringing out the Snoop Doggy Dog flow
Spinning on my head like I'm on top of the globe
Watch out, Imma drop a power move.
Windmilling 'til the end of the groove

I drop the spray can on the floor
Watch me spray my name on my door
Graffiti is the way to go
All my bars are coming straight from the dome

Beast's Rap:

We hip-hopping, we're moving the party don't stop
DJ Hazze is on the stage
Disengage from the cage
Let this wild flow hit you
The scratches, the breaks, and the remixes
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 140
Let them subdue you and break through
For only you can witness the endeavor

Brandy's Rap:

Never knew how much history I lacked knowledge of
But to have the ability to be enlightened is a blessing
No I'll never be ashamed to address it
DJ Hazze taught me a lesson and I respect it

MC, master of the ceremony
So poetic that his level of intellect
Is a power that kills off what we see on the internet
He makes a lot of sense that is why his mic drop is his exit that remains prominent

Charles's Rap:

Not in my best and I need to wake up
But pretty pumped cuz I'm learning about hip-hop
These rappers are nothing close to perfection but just just an infection
To our minds saying the same rhymes all the time
Just causing brevity with the wrong type of energy
Making life so divisionary

Evan Shem's Rap:

DJ Hazze scratching these different tracks
Rhythm and style these beats don't lack
Consuming this new info like it’s a snack
None of this is possible without Grand Master Flash

Our MC doing more than just spitting bars
Hoping we'll go far just shooting for the stars
Wants rap to be more than money, women, and cars
He's passionate, that's why he's helping Chris in this cause

Natalia's Rap:

I woke up early to meet DJ Hazze
His turntables had me amazed
He got turning then mixing
Man, my mind started trippin'

Cause Ernesto had me stressin
But now I'm writing blessins
Cause I'm writing when I feel deprived
A DECOLONIAL PRAXIS OF HIP-HOP 141
I grab my pad and my pen
Now I feel so revived
I wanted to go to bed
Until Stellz started spinning on her head
Then Chris hit some tricks
I got hyped but then I almost tripped

Abstract (if available)

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Asset Metadata

Creator Haggard, Christopher Patrick (author)

Core Title A decolonial praxis of hip-hop: hip-hop culture's connection to resilient youth's critical consciousness and wellbeing

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 08/16/2018

Defense Date 06/11/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag critical race theory,hip-hop,OAI-PMH Harvest,resilient youth,wellbeing

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Green, Alan (committee chair), Baca, Reynaldo (committee member), Hinga, Briana (committee member)

Creator Email chaggard@usc.edu,haggard.christopher@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-71604

Unique identifier UC11671202

Identifier etd-HaggardChr-6770.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-71604 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-HaggardChr-6770.pdf

Dmrecord 71604

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Haggard, Christopher Patrick

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA