Framing and Reviewing Hip-Hop Educational Research

Abstract

Hip-hop has become relevant to the field of education because of its implications for understanding language, learning, identity, curriculum, and other areas. This integrative review provides historical context and cohesion for the burgeoning and discursive body of hip-hop scholarship by framing it according to three heuristic categories and briefly discussing the strengths and weaknesses for the field of education. The article then critically reviews three major strands of selected literature across these categories that are relevant to educational research. Finally, the article outlines new directions for future research and corresponding theoretical perspectives and strategic methods. With these purposes, this review is intended to inform both researchers unfamiliar with hip-hop and scholars who have centered hip-hop in their research agendas.