THE MC: Theory of Hip Hop Evolution, Music and Culture
Hip Hop For Change, Inc. has taught over 25,000 students throughout the world, from the Bay Area to El Salvador. The goal and objective of this program is to inspire youth to have a new look at Hip Hop as a vehicle of healthy self-expression and community empowerment, as a means to navigate through the challenges that they are facing. Our education department is dedicated to providing experiential curriculum that details the history, culture and societal impact of Hip Hop through engaging and interactive presentations. We deeply believe in the power of Hip Hop educational pedagogy as a means to introduce young people to historic and current examples of this culture’s founding principles: peace, love, unity and having fun!
ELEMENTS: Hip Hop History & Culture
Our most popular one hour workshop explores the history, growth and evolution of Hip Hop as a culture. Students will interact with all elements of Hip Hop culture hands-on; scratching like a DJ, Breaking like a B-Boy and Rapping like an EmCee.
GO DJ!:DJ’ing Workshop
Our one hour DJ workshop shows how Hip Hop started by looping and mixing break beats back in New York during the early 70’s. Guest DJ instructors will teach Students how to blend, cut and scratch records on live turntables to get the party started and keep it going!
WRITE ON:Graffiti Workshop
In this one hour work- shop, our professional “Writers” will review the legacy of Graffiti from ancient times to present. Students will be shown various styles of Graf- Writing to create their own “piece” that represents them in a bold and colorful way.
WORD UP!: The EmCee Workshop
The EmCee Workshop is a one hour workshop on the art of EmCeeing/Rap- ping. Students will review different styles and techniques of rapping, lyricism, song writing and performing in order to “Speak their Truth” and write their own verses to perform in a “Cypher.”
BREAKINg BARRIERS:Break Dance Workshop
We’ll have the students rockin’ for an hour with this fun and fast paced workshop. Our special guest B-Boys and B- Girls get busy with the kids, showing them basic break dancing moves as well as and other Hip Hop dance styles.
THE MC is A 5 part program divided into separate but related sessions.
Meet our senior artist educators:
Marlon Richardson, AKA Unlearn The World (he/him/his)
Education Director
Marlon Richardson, AKA UnLearn The World, is a New York-born and bred EmCee, Producer, Actor, Writer, Activist, and Hip Hop Educator. Having been raised and groomed in the Culture, Music, and Movement of Hip Hop, UnLearn has toured internationally and has released several mixtapes and albums over the course of 20 years in the music industry. UnLearn has always understood and revered Knowledge as an essential 5th element of Hip Hop.
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This understanding is the core motivation behind UnLearn being one of the more active and prominent Hip Hop teaching artists in the Bay Area; lecturing, presenting and leading classes on EmCeeing/Rapping, Beat Making, DJ’ing and the history of Hip Hop in traditional school settings as well as Juvenile detention centers.
In addition to being one of the more popular and dynamic EmCees and performers in the Bay Area, he is also Director and host of Return Of The Cypher, the only weekly Hip Hop event in San Francisco, as well as the Vice President of the All Tribes San Francisco Chapter of Zulu Nation.