This weekend I’m planning on watching “The Hip Hop Project” a new documentary on a community hip hop program for youth based in New York City. The movie has been getting mixed reviews ( positive) & (less positive), though it won 13 film festival awards. Recently the MPAA re-rated it from “R” to PG-13 despite the use of the “F-word” 17 times. Chris Rolle the founder of the Hip Hop Project was quoted in the Hollywood Reporter explaining his reasoning behind appealing the MPAA’s original ruling:
“We decided to appeal the R rating to allow teenagers access to see this film because they are the ones who need it most,” said Rolle, founder of the offscreen Hip Hop Project. “After years of working with teens, I know you have to reach them when they are young. Just as I didn’t have a parent to take me to the movies when I was a teenager, many of the young people who would benefit most from this film would have been denied access if the R rating stood.”
I’m hoping the movie will give some insight into the project and perhaps get some people energized about creating situations in their schools that could allow for opportunities for students to work within a hip hop paradigm. (I’ll try to post some thoughts on the film after I see it) As music educators explore ways of integrating hip hop in their classrooms in meaningful and appropriate ways, existing community programs can offer some ideas. James Frankel recently pointed out a program that is doing extremely positive things with youth from Jersey City in this vein.
If the documentary does well and people begin talking about it in the general public, it might not be far fetched to speculate that some parents, school board members, or principals may begin asking music teachers about the potential of making a space in the music program for hip hop and ways of engaging in music that might not currently be taking place in the music classroom. How would you react? Would you be prepared to make this type of adjustment in your own program?