Rigorous Delight: How Hip-Hop Pedagogy Combines Academic Depth with Genuine Joy

"Exhaustingly fun."

That's how Professor Kisha Daniels describes her service-learning course, The Critical Pedagogy of Hip Hop, which partners with AVID classrooms at Jordan High School in Durham. Duke students and high schoolers analyze hip-hop lyrics as literature, explore connections between music and educational theory, and ultimately create their own song—all centered on the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar.

The Alchemy of Inspiration

In Daniels' classroom, inspiration transforms education into something extraordinary. The course continually has a waiting list, but what happens inside is more significant—a kind of educational alchemy where academic rigor and genuine joy become inseparable. Each week, Duke students and Jordan High students come together to analyze lyrics, reflect on identity, and co-create original music—turning theory into lived experience.

When designing the course, Daniels discovered powerful connections between hip-hop and influential educational theories.

"I realized how closely—if not identically—hip-hop aligned with foundational educational theories that have shaped me as an educator, like Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed and bell hooks' engaged pedagogy," she explains.

These approaches reject passive learning in favor of education that honors students' lived experiences. Just as hip-hop emerged as a way for marginalized communities to tell their own stories and challenge dominant narratives, Daniels' teaching creates space for authentic expression and critical thinking.

Building Bridges Through AVID

The partnership with AVID classrooms at Jordan High School extends this transformative approach beyond campus. AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) supports students who might be first-generation college-bound by placing them in advanced classes with additional support.

For Jordan High students, the collaboration provides new ways to engage with literature through hip-hop, a medium that resonates with them. Duke students witness theory in action as hip-hop's "knowledge pillar"—which emphasizes education and social consciousness—helps high schoolers connect with cultural identity while developing academic confidence.

The impact is evident when Dorian Burton, who teaches English and AVID at Jordan High, notes that students who typically skip school "show up on Friday" for these sessions.

"Even as interesting as I can be as a teacher, sometimes students want to roam the halls. But on Fridays when the Duke students came, I had 95% participation. They all showed up—and they were kind of upset when it was over."

From Classroom to Concert Hall

The course centers on Kendrick Lamar, whose work exemplifies how hip-hop can be simultaneously profound and accessible, critically acclaimed and commercially successful. This semester, the high school students chose to focus their songwriting project on "beauty and the beauty within"—exploring themes of self-worth and identity that resonate with Lamar's work.

André Mego, the course's returning alum and now producer, helped the students create the original beat for their song and witnessed their creative process firsthand. "I believe it's so important for students to tap into different parts of themselves that may not be what they're typically used to," he says. 

"It may even be uncomfortable at first, but I believe it continues on the mission of the course—to be unafraid of utilizing your own voice. Their engagement makes me so happy. It shows that when a space feels safe, students will be free—and greater than they can imagine."

As a capstone, both Duke and Jordan High students attended a Kendrick Lamar concert together—transforming the academic experience into a real-world celebration of what they've learned. It was a dream experience made possible through community support and planning.

"It was one of the best days of my teaching career," said Burton. "A couple of students said it was the best day of their life. I know that's going to be a core memory for all of them."

The Ripple Effect

The course's impact extends far beyond the semester, bringing together multiple generations of Duke-trained educators to create something meaningful with local youth—reinforcing the power of community-rooted teaching.

Dorian Burton, a Duke MAT graduate mentored by Daniels, now teaches English and AVID at Jordan High School. In Spring 2025, Burton hosted the course in his classroom and supported students throughout the collaboration. Reflecting on his return to Durham Public Schools as an educator, he shared:

"We've got a great community here. I'm thankful I was able to come to Jordan. There are a lot of Duke grads teaching here too, so it feels like I'm part of more than one family."

Mego, one of the first students to take the class is now a music producer in New York—and this spring, he returned to campus to co-create a new track with students, building the beat and helping guide their creative process. "It was a true pleasure and honor," Mego says. 

"A lesson I've learned is that greatness does not begin and end in one person or place—greatness is the connection that is shared amongst community. The greatness lies in between one another."

For Mego, returning to collaborate on the course was more than a homecoming—it was a way of paying forward what he experienced as a student. "Service-based learning is essential to every student. These classes quicken the onset time to become leaders... and I believe the students that see this through are given the highest human act in action: to inspire."

"It's just full circle," Daniels says. "I get really prickly good feelings when I think of that."

Revolutionary Fun

This approach to education defies traditional measurements. Yes, students learn literary analysis and historical context. But they also discover talents they never knew they had and experience the power of creating something meaningful together.

"They all say they never thought of themselves as artistic, but how this course helps them see that they have artistic bones that they didn't really know about," Daniels says.

Some even reconsider their career paths: "If I had taken this class when I freshman, I might have actually considered the teaching program."

This is rigorous delight in action—a pedagogy recognizing that joy and seriousness, creativity and analysis aren't opposing forces but essential partners in genuine education. It understands that fun isn't frivolous—it's revolutionary. It can change minds, build bridges, and ultimately, transform the world.

As the high school students' song about "beauty within" reminds us, sometimes the most powerful learning happens when we're having too much fun to notice we're being changed from the inside out.