Connection Through an Art Form: Hip-Hop

Big global messages can come from small towns. Consider Snow Hill, a rural hamlet nearly 100 miles east of Duke University.

One of Snow Hill’s native daughters is Marlanna Evans — known as Rapsody — a Grammy-award winning artist whose socially conscious storytelling has made her one of the most consequential hip-hop stars in the modern music era.

Last month Rapsody arrived in the band room at Jordan High School in Durham to speak with 11th graders. The students had spent the spring semester studying Rapsody’s music along with Duke students enrolled in a service-learning course, The Critical Pedagogy of Hip Hop. Created in 2019 by education professor Kisha Daniels, the course allows her students to examine learning environments that engage and empower youth.

Emphasis is placed on the context of hip-hop as a foundation for instructional decision-making and social justice advocacy and activism. Through service-learning, the Duke students connect with middle and high school students to explore the origins of hip-hop, its influence on language and its role in social movements.

Jordan High teacher Dorian Burton said the collaboration between the high schoolers and the Duke students was about community. The academic goals included “understanding the songwriting process, narrative writing and figurative writing,” said Burton. He emphasized, “Poetry!”

A group of people chatting and laughing in a high school classroom
Grammy Award–winning artist Rapsody, second from right, talks with Duke juniors Alana Weisberg, left, and Kat Zhang.
Two people on the left stand and laugh with a person on the right in a high school setting.
From left, Professor Kisha Daniels and her former student, Andre’ Mego, a music producer, with Jordan High 11th grader Aidan Castillo-Matute

Rapsody’s end-of-the-semester appearance in the Jordan band room was at the behest of music producer André Mego, a Duke alum who was one of the first students to enroll in Daniels’ hip hop class and has continued to support it. Daniels wanted Rapsody to visit, calling her a “homegrown” artist, and called Mego, who works closely with Rapsody.

Mego talked about the importance of service-learning as a means of giving back. “The highest level of motivation is purpose,” he told the students. “The second is service.”

Duke student Alana Weisbergsaid small group conversations with the high schoolers centered on community and ways they could talk musically. “Everyone was really into it, and they made this song,” Weisberg said about her group. “It was really like the foundation for everything.”

The groups wrote original lyrics, then laid their songs on top of a beat created by Mego at a studio. They recorded two music tracks — “Living Loyal” and “The Cookout” — and shared their work with Rapsody during her visit.

Two people clapping while there are people sitting at the foreground in a high school setting.
Daniels cheers with Jordan High School teacher Dorian Burton
A group of high schoolers sitting and listening.
Jordan High 11th grader Jayla Biggs listens intently to Rapsody.

The results of the collaborations align near-perfectly with the raw-edged lyrics penned by Rapsody. Her music challenges traditional narratives with songs that reflect on topics such as boys growing up without their fathers and the wisdom and achievements of Black women.

Rapsody said it’s important to speak with young people. “I travel a lot,” she said. “But anytime I have a chance to speak to young people I don’t hesitate. I have to do that.”

Two years ago, Daniels’ class collaborated with students at Durham’s Neal Middle School where they studied the music of Brazilian rapper Dudu de Morro Agudo .

Last year, Daniels’ students and Jordan’s AVID students explored the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar and celebrated their research by attending a concert by Lamar and fellow superstar SZA in Charlotte, N.C.

While growing up in Snow Hill, authenticity and individuality was encoded in Rapsody’s creative DNA. “I came up in an era where it was considered lame to be like anybody else,” she said. “But I also know, nobody can tell your story.”

Burton said his students didn’t know what to expect before Rapsody’s visit. “But they saw how down-to-earth, personable and humble she was,” he said. “I think she gained a few fans.”