Hip-Hop and Climate Change

In this lesson, students explore the intersection of music and climate change and create their own original rap songs.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students share fun facts about hip-hop, learn about hip-hop as a cultural and social movement, and view examples of hip-hop intersecting with environmental concepts.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students research a climate change topic and create a class rubric for evaluating student-created raps.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students create and share an original rap about a climate change topic as a means to express their feelings and emotions through music.

Positives

• This lesson connects students to music and how it intersects with environmental concepts.

• Students explore their feelings about climate change topics and solutions as they express themselves through the creation of an original rap song.

• This lesson provides high-quality resources for student research on the topic of climate change.

• Students facilitate their learning through independent research on a topic of interest and note-taking.

• Students have the opportunity to share their creative works in the presentational mode of their choice.

• Student groups learn how to develop a rubric for assessing musical works.

• Completed Student Documents and Final drafts of the rap songs can serve as assessments.

• This lesson could be taught in ELA, music, or social studies classes.

Additional Prerequisites

• This lesson is intended to be a six-day lesson. You can spend one day on the Inquire section, two days on the Investigate section, and three days on the Inspire section.

• You can learn to pronounce Xiuhtezcatl’s name correctly by watching this video.

• Towards the end of the hip-hop forestry video, Dr. Thomas RaShad Easley mentions people who were lynched, which may be upsetting to students.

• This lesson uses the term hip-hop to refer to the deeper cultural movement and the term rap to refer to the style of music that came out of hip-hop culture.

• Using AI tools like ChatGPT to write the rap would be considered cheating for this lesson. However, students with experience in responsible AI use may be able to use AI tools to support them with certain elements of the writing process.

• This resource provides further clarification on the distinction between a chorus and a hook.
  

Differentiation

• The Student Document can be shared digitally or printed.

• Examples of climate change topics can be shared during the brainstorming session to support students if needed. While some students may prefer to see a list of options to select from, others may welcome less structure and the freedom to research independently, thus creating a more personal rap song without topic limits during the Inspire section.

• Teachers can preselect climate change topics to assign to groups for research.

• Students can work independently, in pairs, or in groups to write their raps.

• Students can use this resource for support with song structure.

• This video is a spoken word poem from Prince Ea. The video features poetry over music and can be used to inspire students’ writing process and support students in making connections between hip-hop and poetry.

• The following resources can provide additional support with rhyme schemes:

• Rhyme Scheme Rap

• Seven Basic Rhyme Schemes

Music has impacted people's spirits and connected people for decades and counting. With this lesson, students can hone their creative talents by writing hip-hop songs with climate change content. Songs have the ability to connect with a wide range of people and cultural identities, which is crucial for pushing climate action. Even though there is limited science to back it up, the lesson is appropriate and interesting for pupils and has passed our science review.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.

Supporting Standards

• Science
  • ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
    • MS-ESS3-5. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
• English Language Arts
  • Speaking & Listening (K-12)
    • SL.PE.6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
    • SL.UM.6.5 Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information.
  • Writing (K-12)
    • W.IW.6.2 Write informative/explanatory texts (including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes) to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
    • W.WP.6.4 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning; flexibly making editing and revision choices; sustaining effort to fit composition needs and purposes; and attempting to address purpose and audience.

Note On Standards:

This lesson is aligned to SubjectToClimate standards. Review the aligned standards directly in the lesson plan document and teacher slideshow.