Summer Hip Hop Literacy Program
This program was started in 2014. The idea of teaching literacy skills through writing hip hop poetry was the brainchild of Dr. Shuaib Meacham, then a new professor in UNI’s College of Education, who brought the idea here from the University of Delaware. Participants range in age from 10-17, and we typically serve 40 students. The program runs 4 days a week for 4 hours a day for 6 weeks. The participants write their own hip hop poetry, which gives expression to their concerns and their dreams. They are then taught to match their poetry with beats, to produce a polished hip hop performance. Through this, they gain experience in music production, as well as writing.
Their performances have been enthusiastically received by many groups in the community. They may typically have a total audience of several hundred over the course of a year. The kids were also invited to participate in the World Leisure Festival in Hangzhou, China in 2016. The international audience was also enthusiastic about their performance, and the kids got a thrill when some people asked if they were “rap stars” back home. In a very real sense, they are!