Re-release of Hip Hop Genius 2.0, Celebrating a Decade of Hip Hop Brilliance in Education

ST. PAUL, MN, February 15, 2022 – Original author, Sam Seidel of the Stanford d.school, along with new co-authors Tony Simmons and Michael Lipset from the High School for the Recording Arts, release today the 10th-anniversary edition of Hip Hop Genius – a book about hip-hop pedagogy. The book shines a light on the stories and practices of the High School for the Recording Arts in St. Paul, MN.

Since its original release in 2011, Hip Hop Genius has become a foundational text for a growing audience interested in the power hip-hop culture holds to address the long-standing inequities and pressing problems in our nation’s schools. Over the past decade, the book has been used as a text in college courses, teacher professional development programs, and by individual teachers and hip-hop heads. Hip Hop Genius received accolades from the Harvard Education Review, and education luminaries such as Pedro Noguera, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Herb Kohl, and Sir Ken Robinson.

Today’s 10-year anniversary release features new forewords by the High School for Recording Arts’ founder David “TC” Ellis, education superstar Gloria Ladson-Billings, and hip-hop superstar D Smoke. It also includes all original chapters, plus additional chapters that update and extend the theory and practice of hip-hop education.

Teachers, for far too long, have blamed students for their own inability to structure lessons in a way that identifies and incorporates students’ experiences, languages, and cultures into their lessons in authentic ways. Hip-hop genius is an essential guide for engaging and transforming today’s students into community leaders and lifelong learners. – D. Smoke

The new book also includes timely updates relevant to 2022 and beyond. Based in St. Paul, MN, the High School for the Recording Arts was at the center of protests following the murder of George Floyd, and the book speaks to the school’s ability to powerfully respond based on 22 years of innovative, hip-hop centered culture, values, and practice. It also comments on the school’s ability to nimbly navigate the pandemic and continue to seamlessly care for and educate students because of its already innovative, flexible school structure, with powerful lessons that could prove useful for other education professionals as well policymakers, parents, and young people.

Join the virtual launch party on February 15th, 2022 at 4 pm EST.

Sam Seidel is the Director of K12 Strategy + Research at the Stanford d.school and author of Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011). He speaks internationally about education, race, culture, systems, and design. sam has contributed to three anthologies: Starting Up: New Schools in New Times (Teachers College Press, 2012), Imprisoned Intellectuals (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), and The New Abolitionists: Prison Writing and (Neo)Slave Narratives (SUNY Press, 2005), as well as in education publications, such as Education Week, Voices in Urban Education, and UnBoxed. He is on the editorial board of Revolutionizing Urban Education: Hip-hop, Pedagogy, and Communities. Sam graduated from Brown University with a degree in Education and a teaching certification, was a Scholar-in-Residence at Columbia University’s Institute for Urban and Minority Education, and was a Community Fellow at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Michael Lipset is a scholar, author, educator, artist, creative producer and Hip-Hop head. His work sits at the intersections of critical arts pedagogies, education change, pushout re-engagement, teacher preparation and social justice. He holds a PhD in culturally sustaining school change from McGill University and an EdM in the Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Michael serves most proudly as the Director of Social Impact at the world-renowned High School for Recording Arts, a Course Lecturer at McGill University, and as a Researcher at the Center for Policy Design.

Tony Simmons is the Executive Director of High School for Recording Arts (HSRA), an independent public charter school and Studio 4 Enterprises, an educational services and management company. While working with numerous national recording artists and record companies as an entertainment lawyer, Tony met David “TC” Ellis and assisted him in the formation of Studio 4/High School for Recording Arts. During that time, he co-founded Another Level Records, the first national student-operated record label. In addition to his duties overseeing the day to day program at HSRA, Tony continues to work with students in exploring the Business of Music and mentoring those involved in Another Level Records, as well as overseeing the student-operated commercial radio and live video show entitled studio4allaccess, which airs every Friday evening on KMOJ 89.9FM Minneapolis/St. Paul is podcasted through iTunes.

Featured image: Gordon Cowie, Unsplash.