Whether KRS-1 was screaming “You Must Learn!”, Inspektah Deck admonishing us to “…speak the truth to the young black youth”, Slick Rick teaching lessons in “Hey Young World” or Nas encouraging the youth with “I Can”, hip-hop has always tried (to varying degrees of success) to incorporate the kids.  I get asked all the time for hip-hop music and educational material, and have found it a harder to find the music than I expected.

A year ago I asked my social media friends to to give me their favorite rap songs I could play for 3rd graders, and it was even more discouraging.  The list of songs I received were incredible, spanning classics and hidden gems from the great hip-hop albums (including De La Soul’s “Me Myself and I” that I actually use in the classroom now).  The problem is, “family-friendly” in hip-hop is completely relative.  In a genre not…