Youth Culture Power : A #HipHopEd Guide to Building Teacher-Student Relationships and Increasing Student Engagement

Jason D. Rawls is an educator for Columbus City Schools as well as adjunct professor at Tiffin University, Ohio University, and Columbus College of Art & Design. He holds an Ed.D. in educational administration from Ohio University. Additionally, he is an accomplished hip-hop producer, artist, and DJ, working with such acts as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Beastie Boys, and Aloe Blacc and has released over 20 albums.

John Robinson is an emcee, producer, entrepreneur, and educator. He has released over a dozen albums and toured the world. As a record label president, he has expertise in social media, online marketing, and web development. He currently works in education as a teaching artist in New York City public schools. John is also a partner in CodeScty which uses original Hip-Hop music, animated videos, youth culture, and more to teach computational thinking skills to underserved youth.

Jay ARE is the hip-hop duo of Rawls and Robinson. The two met during the independent hip-hop era of the late 1990’s and formed the group after working on several projects together.Their first album, The 1960’s Jazz Revolution Again, was released in 2009. The album highlighted the history of jazz and its connection to hip-hop. Their second album, Youth Culture Power, coincides with this book as each song title matches a chapter in this book. While the book fleshes out the album with research, theoretical explorations, and autobiographical experiences, the album is intended to inspire, motivate, and entertain teachers, administrators, parents, and members of the community. The book and album introduce Jay ARE’s philosophy, Youth Culture Pedagogy, which is intended to strengthen teacher-student relationships and increase student engagement using youth culture as a catalyst.