The 5-Step Plan
Five Steps to Academic Success:

We have developed an array of Hip Hop based activities geared towards
enthusiastically engaging your students academically. The residual effects
of these activities encourage social interaction with peers, teaches valuable
learning interventions, and is suitable for implementation into  most
secondary and higher educational curricula.
There are five steps we effectively use to empower students academically.
These steps connect students to education while using Hip Hop as a
"bridge".  A brief overview of each one of these steps is listed below:


Usually well read and able to articulate, an MC controls the crowd through
the use of well thought out story lines and a voice for the people.  Within
our curriculum we have dedicated this first element to the development of
our English / History component. We know that through using techniques
introduced by MCs we can help improve short term and long-term
memory, comprehension skills, public speaking and overall writing skills.

The one element is based around the DJ (Disc Jockey) who plays a large
role in Hip-Hop. The DJ controls the music being played; he/she
needs to be very knowledgeable of music old and new.  Through Music we
can gauge the social, economical and political climates of past years. We
have created linkages between music and epochs; by cross-referencing
circa dates of particular songs we can teach history surrounding that
particular year and time.

The another element surrounds the physical aspect of Hip-Hop that is
called B-Boying. B- boys and girls could commonly be seen carrying
cardboard or pieces of linoleum waiting for the next battle to occur.
Battles usually  consisted of two groups coming together in a dance
contest. This contest was an exhibition of physical movement inspired by
Hip-Hop music. By our own recollection we can remember how much
energy we burned break-dancing. These movements combined upper
body strength, balance and rhythm and would be a perfect compliment to
existing physical education curriculum.

This element revolves around the artistic visualization of Hip-Hop.
Typically known as graffiti, Hip-Hop artists used the streets as one huge
canvas to create the artwork. Most of the art would be labeled criminal and
offensive. These murals served as artistic representations gracing the side
of buildings and trains often with messages pertaining to their social and
economical surroundings. Many Graffiti artists were denied recognition
through the eyes of America.  Influenced by artists such as Jacob Lawrence,
Da Vinci and Picasso, graffiti artists dedicated their work to making Hip-Hop
colorful. We use graffiti to teach art history and supplement the
accompanying curriculum.
The Fifth Component in our plan is that of Mindset Transference(MT).
Mindset Transference is an academically oriented student development
model,which encourages enthusiastic application to academic
curriculum.  We believe it has the overall ability to change the face of
education. It can and will, serve as an additional resource in the
classroom to help underachieving and honors students, alike. MT,
however, does not stop there! It is a philosophy, which is applicable in
other areas as well, such as the corporate world.